Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho
Lochsa Peak
Clearwater NF lookout two miles south of Lochsa Ranger Station: 1930 tree-top observatory, 1931 L-4 cab; last staffed 1941; burned early 1950s; no source describes remains.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Usable lumber salvaged and the rest burned, in the early 1950s or 1953; no source describes what remains
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?
- No, you have to hike
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Two-story buildingL-4 cab on an 8-foot log crib (1931), first an observatory in a fir tree top (1930)The design: L-4
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1930
- Height
- 65 ft (19.8 m)
- Elevation
- Unknown
- Agency
- Clearwater National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Idaho County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 46.31026, −115.33473
- Registers
- Not on a lookout register
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-lochsa-peak
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 its recorded height.
Downloads about 4.2 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
- 1930 BuiltObservatory built in the cut-off top of a fir tree about 65 feet up; crow's nest established in 1930Sources: idaholookouts.weebly.com, facebook.com
- 1930 First staffedEarnest Hartman and Harry Chenoweth are the names listed for 1930Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, facebook.com
- 1931 BuiltL-4 cab erected atop an 8-foot log cribSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com, fs.usda.gov
- 1941 AbandonedAbandoned after the 1941 season; firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts say 1940sSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
- 1941 Last staffedFinal season staffedSources: idaholookouts.weebly.com, facebook.com
- 1953 BurnedUsable lumber salvaged, then the rest burned; the Forest Lookouts copy of Hartig's text says early 1950sSources: idaholookouts.weebly.com, facebook.com
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Lochsa Peak lookout stood about two miles south of the Lochsa Ranger Station, in Idaho County on the Clearwater National Forest.1,2 The first structure, from 1930, was an observatory built in the cut-off top of a fir tree about 65 feet up.3,2 The L-4 cab that most sources describe went on an 8-foot log crib in 1931, though one account says the whole lookout dates to 1930.1,3,4,2
Earnest Hartman and Harry Chenoweth are the staff named for 1930, the only year Idaho Fire Lookouts lists names.5 Staffing continued each season through 1941; the site was abandoned after that.3,2
Flooring and usable lumber were recovered and taken to the Lochsa Ranger Station; the rest was set on fire.2 Louis Hartig's history places the burning in the early 1950s,3 while the Forest Service post that quotes his text gives 1953.2 Four current sources list the lookout as gone.1,5,4,6
None of the sources we read describes what, if anything, remains on the site today, or whether the public may visit it.1,5 The Lochsa Historical Ranger Station, on U.S. Highway 12, served as the administrative base for the lookouts and was designated an interpretive site in 1976.7 Its listed 2026 season ran from May 23 to September 1.7
- Lochsa Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra), https://www.firelookout.com/id/lochsapeak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- #throwbackthursday Lochsa Peak Lookout, Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests (Facebook), https://www.facebook.com/NPClwNFs/posts/throwbackthursday-lochsa-peak-lookout-was-located-approximately-two-miles-south-/5694230867268875/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Lochsa Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (Ron Kemnow), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/lochsa-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Clearwater National Forest Lookouts, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259185 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Lochsa Peak – Idaho Fire Lookouts, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/lochsa-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Idaho Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Lochsa Historical Ranger Station, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/nezperce-clearwater/recreation/lochsa-historical-ranger-station (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) (opens another site) Gave us: photos, 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, staffing, visiting details, 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
- Clearwater National Forest Lookouts (USDA Forest Service) (opens another site)
- #throwbackthursday Lochsa Peak Lookout (Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests (Facebook)) (opens another site)
- Lochsa Historical Ranger Station (USDA Forest Service) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Lochsa Peak on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Lochsa Peak on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
- Lochsa Peak on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.