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Fire lookout · Adams County, Idaho

Peck Mountain Lookout

Adams County, ID: tree platform 1919, steel Aermotor tower 1935 (45 ft; register says 74), taken down in 2007 and stored. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Taken down in 2007 and put into storage at the Council Ranger Station; the sources read do not say whether it was put back up.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Forest road to the summit on Payette National Forest land; a motorcycle club page calls the last two miles off-pavement and asks riders to respect private land nearby

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Short hike from forest roads, per the motorcycle club page

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerSteel Aermotor tower, 45 feet per Idaho Fire Lookouts and firelookout.com (the register says 74), with a 7 by 7 foot steel cab; an R-4 ground cab for living quartersThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1919
Height
45 ft (13.7 m)
Elevation
5,103 ft (1,555 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Payette National Forest (Council Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Adams County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.86189, −116.61118
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-peck-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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.9 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. 1919 BuiltPlatform in a 30-foot tree with cab and frame cabin, per firelookout.com, Idaho Fire Lookouts and Kemnow; the register describes a different first lookoutSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1919 and 1934
  3. 1934 BuiltKemnow dates the Aermotor tower to 1934Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1935 BuiltAermotor steel tower; the register says the CCC built it; firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts give 1935Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1942 StaffedRoy Nelson and A. Patton listed as lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1956 Last staffedSatterfield listed; the last named staff in the sourcesSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  7. No record between 1956 and 1999
  8. 1999 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 1, 1999Source: nhlr.org
  9. 2006 EventLightning-protection parts salvaged from the ground cabin for Square Mountain Lookout, per the Northern Idaho/Montana chapter's 2006 annual reportSource: firelookout.org
  10. 2007 RemovedTower taken down and put into storage at the Council Ranger StationSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  11. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Peck Mountain, in Adams County, Idaho, held a fire lookout on Payette National Forest land.1 Firelookout.com puts it about 10 miles northwest of Council, while a 1954 U.S. Geological Survey station description, quoted on Kemnow's site, gives 12.5 miles.2,3

The first lookout went up in 1919: a platform in a 30-foot tree, with a cab and a frame cabin for living quarters.2,4,3 The register describes a different first lookout, a roofed 6-by-6-foot platform with a 6-by-8-foot ground house, built by the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association.1

According to the register, the Civilian Conservation Corps put up a 74-foot Aermotor steel tower in 1935, topped with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab and joined by a ground cabin and a garage.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts and Rex's page both give the tower a height of 45 feet instead.2,4 Kemnow's site dates the tower to 1934, a year before the others.3

Known staff lists name Roy Nelson and A. Patton for 1942, and Satterfield for 1956.2,4

The register entry is dated March 1, 1999.1 A Forest Fire Lookout Association Northern Idaho/Montana chapter annual report for 2006 says parts salvaged from the ground cabin at Peck Mountain helped finish the lightning protection at Square Mountain Lookout.5

The tower came down in 2007.2,4,3 Kemnow's site says it was taken apart that September and held at the Council Ranger Station until a new location could be found.3

The sources give little detail on the site as it stands now. A rider's check-in on a motorcycle club's challenge page says the last two miles of the climb are off-pavement, and that there is "not much left of the lookout."6 The same club page describes the summit as a brief walk from forest roads, and asks riders to respect private land nearby.6

  1. Peck Mountain Lookout (US 309), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/peck-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Peck Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/id/peckmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Peck Mountain, Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/peck-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Peck Mountain, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/peck-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Northern Idaho/Montana chapter annual report, 2006, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-id-2006.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Peck Mountain, challenge site 35, Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club, https://motoidaho.com/challengesite/2026-35-peck-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Peck Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Peck Mountain
Peck MountainPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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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 whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Gone
    • Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. firelookout.com lists it, but not on its map of standing lookouts. idahofirelookouts.com's status is read from a short summary.

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: 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. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, 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, height, status, 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.