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Fire lookout · Lemhi County, Idaho

Oreana Lookout

A 1934 L-4 cab on a log crib on Oreana Ridge; used for summer fire watch and fire support into the 1950s, survived the 2011 Saddle Complex fire, and open to public use.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Open to public use per firelookout.com; Idaho Fire Lookouts lists it as Drive-Up FCFS; reached by a gravel 4x4 track

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Gravel 4x4 track FR-067 from Spring Creek Road, about 2.8 miles; high clearance and 4WD advised (third-party guide)
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingL-4 cab with catwalk on a log crib base, two stories overallThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,075 ft (2,461 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Salmon-Challis National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lemhi County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.47909, −114.47196
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-oreana

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 3.6 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. 1934 BuiltL-4 cab on log crib base with log garageSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1939 StaffedRecorder Herald item (Sept 20, 1939): a couple spent the summer on a forest lookout near Horse Creek; the item does not name OreanaSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1951 StaffedHerb Miller of Salmon took over the Oreana lookout for the summerSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1955 FireMen and supplies moved by helicopter from Oreana Lookout during a Salmon National Forest fire (Post-Register)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1956 FireRoan Ridge fire in the Horse Creek area; helicopters ferried crews from the Oreana lookout station (Oregonian, August 16, 1956)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1956 StaffedAl and Wilma Clary listed as known staff (Spokesman Review, per Idaho Fire Lookouts)Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  7. 1960 EventLast used for emergency services; year given only as the 1960sSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. 1969 EventRecorder-Herald reported the forest expected to abandon Oreana that year (little use, daily air patrols); later records show it still standingSources: idaholookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  9. No record between 1969 and 2011
  10. 2011 FireSurvived the Saddle Complex wildfire through the actions of a fire crewSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  11. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to The National Historic Lookout Register; NHLR page gives September 24, 2011Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  12. 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.

Oreana Lookout stands on Oreana Ridge in Lemhi County, Idaho, at about 8,075 feet, in the Salmon-Challis National Forest.1,2,3 The lookout was built in 1934 as an L-4 cab set on a log crib base, with a log garage.1,4

Sources disagree on the base. The National Historic Lookout Register describes the crib as one story, while firelookout.com calls the whole structure two stories, and another local history describes the cab sitting on a log first floor.1,2,5 Taken together, the lookout is two stories tall, with the cab on a one-story crib.1,2

In its early years the lookout was a summer post.5 A 1939 newspaper item says a ranching couple spent a summer on a forest lookout near Horse Creek, though it does not name Oreana.5 In 1951 Herb Miller of Salmon took over the post for the summer, and Idaho lookout records list Al and Wilma Clary as staff in 1956.5,4

The lookout also appeared in fire reports. During a 1955 fire on the Salmon National Forest, a helicopter shuttled men and supplies from the lookout.5 In August 1956 a fire on Roan Ridge in the Horse Creek area drew the same kind of help, with helicopters working out of the lookout station, roughly five or six miles from the blaze.5

In 1969 a local paper reported that the forest expected to abandon the lookout that year, citing little use and daily air patrols that made it less valuable.5 Idaho lookout records say it was last used for emergency services in the 1960s.4 It was still standing in 2011, when it survived the Saddle Complex wildfire, and a fire crew's work is credited with saving it.1,4 It was added to the National Historic Lookout Register that same year.1,4

Today firelookout.com says the lookout is open to public use, and Idaho lookout records tag it as drive-up.2,4 The approach is a gravel and dirt 4x4 track, Forest Road 067, which branches off Spring Creek Road and runs about 2.8 miles to the summit, according to a third-party driving guide. That guide advises high clearance and four-wheel drive, and warns that rain makes the surface very slippery.3

  1. Oreana Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/oreana-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Oreana Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/oreana.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Oreana Ridge: Driving the 4x4 track to the 1934 fire lookout in Idaho, Dangerous Roads, https://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/6663-oreana-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Oreana Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/oreana-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Oreana, Forest Lookouts Idaho, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/oreana.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Oreana Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Oreana Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout interior
Lookout interiorPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Oreana in 1963
Oreana in 1963 (1963)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Oreana in 1992
Oreana in 1992 (1992)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Oreana L.O.
Oreana L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Oreana L.O.
Oreana L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, Gary Weber, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Oreana Lookout
Oreana 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.

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, 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) Gave us: 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
  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

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