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Fire lookout · Cassia County, Idaho

Mount Harrison Lookout

Summit lookout; the earliest documented structure is 1942 (some sources say the 1930s), and the two-story R-6 cab dates from 1977. Open to visitors on summer weekends when the road is open.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Open to visitors on summer weekends; Forest Service page showed the road closed when read

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Paved access road, open after July 1 per Visit Southern Idaho
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingTwo-story hip-roof R-6 cab on a concrete baseThe design: R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1942
Height
265 ft (80.8 m)
Elevation
9,265 ft (2,824 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Sawtooth National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Cassia County, Idaho
Coordinates
42.30895, −113.65892 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-mount-harrison

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 4.0 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. 1942 BuiltFirst lookout on the summit per NHLR; the 1942 Minidoka forest history quoted by Forest Lookouts Idaho says it was established and maintained through fire season. Other sources say 1930s.Sources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1942 and 1960
  3. 1960 AlteredTrailer lookout added, per firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts; a July 1962 newspaper item reports a trailer house taken to the stationSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1963 StaffedGlen E. Anderson family of Heyburn lived in the trailer and manned the lookout; a 1964 report says they did so the year beforeSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1966 StaffedDave Gillett of Declo took over from Jim Reid, who had been draftedSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1977 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  7. 1977 Replaced by a new structureOutdated buildings and trailer replaced by a $25,000 two-story permanent cab; NHLR and other sources give 1977 as the cab's build yearSources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  8. 1985 StaffedJim Sheridan listed as lookout personnel 1985-2007; a 1999 newspaper profile says he spent every summer there for 15 yearsSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1985 and 2020
  10. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout Register; the NHLR page gives the registration date as September 27, 2020, and Idaho Fire Lookouts gives 2020Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  11. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Mount Harrison Lookout sits on a 9,265-foot summit about 15 miles south-southeast of Burley, Idaho, in the Sawtooth National Forest.1,2 The lookout on top today is not the first one there. The National Historic Lookout Register says a structure went up on the mountain in 1942 and was replaced by the present cab in 1977.1 A 1942 forest history of the Minidoka National Forest, quoted on a local lookout site, says a lookout was set up on the mountain and kept in service through the fire season, and that radios were used for communication.3 Other sources put the first post in the 1930s, so the earliest date is still unsettled.2,4

The early setup was simple. Lookout histories note a trailer lookout added in 1960.2,5 In July 1962 a newspaper item reports that a trailer house was taken to the station so the lookout crew could live in it during fire season.3 An August 1964 newspaper item describes that trailer as 26 feet long, with a collapsible observation tower stored in special containers in its bedroom.3

Staffing records are patchy but name several people. The August 1964 item says the Glen E. Anderson family of Heyburn would make the trailer their home for the next few months, and that they had manned the controls the year before.3 A July 1966 item says Dave Gillett of Declo took over from Jim Reid, who had been drafted.3 Jim Sheridan is listed as lookout personnel from 1985 to 2007, and a 1999 newspaper profile says he had spent every summer there for 15 years.2,3

By 1977 the outdated buildings and the trailer were being replaced. The Forest Service planned a two-story building for $25,000, built to withstand heavy weather at the summit, with storage below and living quarters and lookout space above.3 The cab that stands now is a hip-roof R-6 design on a concrete base.2,5,4 A September 1977 article also says the Cassia division of the forest is noted for a history of large fires, and that the new lookout is expected to help with early detection.3

Sources describe staffing at the lookout as seasonal: the Register says it is generally staffed during fire season, while firelookout.com says it is sometimes staffed in the summer.1,2 The lookout was added to the National Historic Lookout Register in 2020.1,5

The Forest Service says the lookout is open to visitors on summer weekends.4 That same page showed the road to the lookout as closed when it was read, while Visit Southern Idaho notes the paved access road opens after July 1.4,6 Check current road conditions before you drive up.

  1. Mount Harrison Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/mount-harrison-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mt. Harrison Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/harrison.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mt. Harrison, Forest Lookouts Idaho, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/mt-harrison.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Mt. Harrison Lookout, Sawtooth National Forest, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/sawtooth/recreation/mt-harrison-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Harrison, Mount Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/harrison-mount-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Mount Harrison & Lookout, Visit Southern Idaho, https://visitsouthidaho.com/adventure/mount-harrison-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Mount Harrison Lookout - 2011
Mount Harrison Lookout - 2011 (2011)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Mt. Harrison L.O.
Mt. Harrison L.OPhoto: Zach Vickery, Rex Kamstra, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Harrison in 2014
Mt. Harrison in 2014 (2014)Photo: Zach Vickery, Rex Kamstra, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Harrison in 2017
Mt. Harrison in 2017 (2017)Photo: Zach Vickery, Rex Kamstra, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Harrison, Mount Lookout
Harrison, Mount 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 630 m.

    • NHLR: 42.30895, −113.65892
    • Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): 42.31463, −113.65890
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 42.31463, −113.65890

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: ownership, access Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  4. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: what it is built of, design, 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
  5. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: staffing, 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
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height 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, agency, access, 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.