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Fire lookout · Kootenai County, Idaho

Monument Mountain Lookout

Monument Mountain lookout, Kootenai County: camp and platform tower in the early 1920s, 1953 L-4 tower, removed 1975; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. L-4 tower removed in 1975; no source describes what remains on the site

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site drive-up. Neither page says whether a road reaches the summit today.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower20-foot treated timber L-4 tower, replacing a log cabin with cupolaThe designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1924
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Coeur d'Alene National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Kootenai County, Idaho
Coordinates
47.72547, −116.44134
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-monument-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 4.5 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. 1920 EventCamp with a platform tower; the sources say only the early 1920sSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1924 BuiltLog cabin with cupolaSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. No record between 1924 and 1953
  4. 1953 Replaced by a new structure20-foot treated timber L-4 tower replaced the cupola cabin, which was removed soon afterSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1955 First staffedMr. and Mrs. Mark HouseSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 1956 StaffedMr. and Mrs. David CarlsonSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. 1957 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Dale E. Tritten; listed only by Idaho Fire Lookouts, citing a Coeur d'Alene Press item dated 07/18/1957Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. 1959 StaffedJohn WilsonSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  9. 1961 StaffedGuy Smith, listed for 1961 to 1968Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  10. 1972 Last staffedMike Kaminski; the last name on either pageSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  11. 1975 RemovedL-4 tower removedSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  12. 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.

The Monument Mountain lookout stood about 16 miles east of Coeur d'Alene, in Kootenai County, Idaho, at 5,101 feet.1,2 The mountain got a camp and a platform tower in the early 1920s, and a log cabin with a cupola followed in 1924.1,2

In 1953 a 20-foot treated-timber L-4 tower took the place of the cupola cabin, which came down shortly after.1,2 An L-4 was a 14-by-14-foot prefabricated live-in cabin design.3

Known staff on the lists include Mr. and Mrs. Mark House in 1955, Mr. and Mrs. David Carlson in 1956, John Wilson in 1959, Guy Smith from 1961 to 1968, and Mike Kaminski in 1972.1,2 One page also lists Mr. and Mrs. Dale E. Tritten for 1957, citing a Coeur d'Alene Press item dated July 18, 1957.2

The L-4 tower came down in 1975.1,2 The pages also disagree on the agency. The Forest Fire Lookout Association names the Coeur d'Alene National Forest, while Idaho Fire Lookouts names the Idaho Department of Lands.1,2

Neither page describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today, or whether the public can reach it.1,2 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site drive-up, but the page does not say whether a road still reaches it.2

  1. Monument Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.firelookout.com/id/monumentmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Monument Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/cda-region/monument-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Cabin Architecture, Keeping Watch, University of Idaho Library, https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/keeping-watch/about/cabin-architecture.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Monument Mountain Lookout
Monument Mountain LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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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: 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.