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Fire lookout · Lemhi County, Idaho

Lake Mountain Lookout

Lake Mountain lookout near Salmon: camp 1918, log cabin and L-4 cab in the 1920s-30s, CCC building 1938, vandalized 1973, gone 1974 (destroyed or removed, sources differ).

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Vandalized 1973; gone by 1974. Sources differ: destroyed (two sources) or removed (one). No source describes the site today.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Two-story buildingL-4 cab on a log cabin; 1938 CCC building on an eight-foot log base with a railed platformThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1928
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Salmon National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lemhi County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.02093, −114.08412
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-lake-mountain

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.7 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1918 EventCampSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1923 StaffedTrapper Paul Penslin went up for the fire season (Salmon Herald item)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1924 EventTelephone line connected the lookout with SalmonSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1928 BuiltLog cabin (firelookout.com; Forest Lookouts gives 1931)Source: firelookout.com
  5. 1931 BuiltFlat-top log cabin (Forest Lookouts; date differs from firelookout.com)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1934 AlteredL-4 cab added (Forest Lookouts; firelookout.com dates the L-4 to 1938)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1938 BuiltCCC crew from the Forney camp completed a new lookout building on an eight-foot log base (Recorder-Herald, Oct. 1938)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1938 AlteredCabin converted to a garage and L-4 cab added on the roof (firelookout.com)Source: firelookout.com
  9. 1941 StaffedJoseph Howard had charge of the station (August 1941)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1951 StaffedEdwin Peterson listed as lookout (July 1951)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1955 EventStill occupied; used as a relay station for the radio at Copper Creek Ranger StationSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1955 and 1973
  13. 1973 EventVandalized in August 1973; damage estimated at $800Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  14. 1974 DestroyedDestroyed 1974 (firelookout.com); Idaho Fire Lookouts lists it as destroyedSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  15. 1974 RemovedForest Lookouts says the lookout was removed in 1974Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  16. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Lake Mountain stands about 14 miles southwest of Salmon, in Lemhi County, Idaho, on the Salmon National Forest.1,2 Forest Lookouts says the lookout is located at the head of Lake Creek, south of Williams Creek.3

The site had a camp in 1918.1 A 1923 Salmon Herald item says a trapper, Paul Penslin, had gone up to the lookout for the fire season to assist firefighters.3 By 1924 a telephone line connected the lookout with Salmon.3

Sources disagree on the first log cabin.1,3 Firelookout.com gives 1928, while Forest Lookouts lists a flat-top log cabin in 1931.1,3

The L-4 cab's date also varies.1,3 Forest Lookouts says an L-4 cab was added in 1934.3 Firelookout.com says the old cabin was converted to a garage in 1938, with an L-4 cab added on its roof.1

In October 1938 a Recorder-Herald item, quoted by Forest Lookouts, reported that a CCC crew from the Forney camp had completed a new lookout building.3 The building stood on an eight-foot log base and had a railed platform all the way around.3

Joseph Howard had charge of the station in August 1941.3 Edwin Peterson was the lookout in July 1951.3

In September 1955 the Post-Register said the lookout was still occupied because it served as a relay station for the radio at Copper Creek Ranger Station.3

In August 1973 vandals did extensive damage.3 The Recorder-Herald reported that the lookout had not been opened that season, that 14 windows were broken, and that the damage was estimated at $800.3

Sources disagree on what happened next. Forest Lookouts says the lookout was removed in 1974.3 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed in 1974.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists it as destroyed.2

No source describes what remains on the summit today, or whether the public can reach it.

  1. Lake Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/lakemtn319.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Lake Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/lake-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Lake Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/lake-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: dates, links idahofirelookouts.com · No licence stated; facts only (coordinates, status/built/destroyed year parsed from each entry's short excerpt). Thumbnail photos mirrored with credit per the project's photo policy. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: what it is built of, design, agency, ownership, links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.