FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lemhi County, Idaho

Long Tom Lookout

Salmon-Challis National Forest lookout staffed since at least 1920, rebuilt four times, with the current R-6 cab built in 1977 and still staffed each summer.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. Drive-up access; generally staffed during fire season.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Lookout sits about half a mile south of the actual summit.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2026)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6The designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
8,128 ft (2,477 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Salmon-Challis National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lemhi County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.34237, −114.57515 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-long-tom

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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 EventTelephone line construction crew strung a new line to Long Tom and Blue Nose mountains.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1920 StaffedA lookout station already existed on Long Tom mountain; smoke chaser Frank L. Hall was injured near it.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1923 BuiltTwo-story log-framed cab built, the first of four structures on the mountain.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  4. 1933 RebuiltReplaced by a cabin and a barn.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  5. 1940 RebuiltL-4 cab on a log crib built in the 1940s.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  6. 1949 AlteredCatwalk reconstructed by Joe Denny.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1949 StaffedChester "Chip" Beaty and Jeanne Kellar Beaty staffed the lookout 1949-1950; Jeanne's account was later published as "The Lookout Wife" in 1953.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. 1950 AlteredHigh-frequency radio installed at Long Tom.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1951 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Harold L. Edwards staffed the lookout.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1951 and 1972
  11. 1972 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Ralph Roads staffed the lookout; family drove up for a birthday dinner.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  12. 1974 StaffedMargie Cook staffed the lookout.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  13. 1977 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  14. 1977 Replaced by a new structureCurrent 10-foot concrete base with R-6 flat cab built between June 1 and October 5 by Wes Dana Sr., Jim Sherman, and Chuck Rummler, while Chet Rackham staffed the mountain that season.Sources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  15. 1986 StaffedAlexia Cochrane staffed the lookout.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  16. No record between 1986 and 2007
  17. 2007 StaffedAlexia Cochrane staffed the lookout as relief, 2007-2009.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  18. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout Register, September 30, 2020.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  19. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Long Tom Mountain has carried a fire lookout since at least 1918, when Forest Service crews were stringing new telephone lines across the Salmon forest, including a line running to Long Tom and Blue Nose mountains.1 By 1920 there was already a lookout station on the mountain: that July, smoke chaser Frank L. Hall was thrown from a horse nearby and broke his thigh, and was carried seven miles down the mountain by stretcher to reach help, a trip that newspaper accounts called out as especially hard given how remote the site was.1

The current lookout is the fourth structure on the mountain.2 A two-story log-framed cabin went up in 1923, followed by a cabin and barn in 1933, and then an L-4 cab on a log crib sometime in the 1940s.2,3,4 That tower got a reconstructed catwalk in 1949, courtesy of Joe Denny, and a high-frequency radio was installed in 1950.1

The lookout that stands today was built between June 1 and October 5, 1977, by carpenter Wes Dana Sr. with helpers Jim Sherman and Chuck Rummler, while Chet Rackham staffed the mountain as that season's Forest Service lookout.1 It's a 10-foot concrete base topped with an R-6 flat cab, sited about half a mile south of the actual summit.2,3,4

Long Tom has a long record of people living up there through the fire season. Chester "Chip" Beaty and Jeanne Kellar Beaty staffed the lookout in 1949-1950; Jeanne's account of the experience was later published as "The Lookout Wife" in 1953.3 Mr. and Mrs. Harold Edwards were there in 1951, Margie Cook staffed it in 1974, and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Roads were on the mountain through the 1970s, their family once driving up to share a birthday dinner at the lookout.3,1 Idaho Fire Lookouts also credits Alexia Cochrane with staffing the tower in 1986 and again as a relief lookout from 2007 to 2009.3

The tower was added to the National Historic Lookout Register in 2020.2,3 It remains drive-up accessible and is generally staffed through the summer fire season on what is now the Salmon-Challis National Forest.2,3

  1. Long Tom, Idaho Lookouts (Weebly), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/long-tom.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Long Tom Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/long-tom-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Long Tom Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/long-tom-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  4. Long Tom Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/longtom.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Long Tom Lookout - 2008
Long Tom Lookout - 2008 (2008)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1964
1964 (1964)Photo: US Forest Service, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1932
1932 (1932)Photo: University of Idaho, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Long Tom in 1940
Long Tom in 1940 (1940)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the National Archives and Records Administration, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Long Tom in 1964
Long Tom in 1964 (1964)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the National Archives and Records Administration, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Long Tom in 1992
Long Tom in 1992 (1992)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the National Archives and Records Administration, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Long Tom L.O.
Long Tom L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the National Archives and Records Administration, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Long Tom in 2024
Long Tom in 2024 (2024)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the National Archives and Records Administration, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Long Tom in 2024
Long Tom in 2024 (2024)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the National Archives and Records Administration, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Long Tom Lookout
Long Tom LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 660 m.

    • NHLR: 45.34237, −114.57515
    • Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): 45.34797, −114.57787

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1977
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1923

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, staffing, photos, 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
  4. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) 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
  5. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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

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