FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Pettibone Ridge Lookout

Also known as Indian Ridge (pettibone)

Idaho County, ID ridge; L-4 cab on 30-ft pole tower, built about 1939 (1934 in one inventory), destroyed 1950. Nez Perce NF since 1957. No current description.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1950; no source describes what remains on the ridge today

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. Hike-in site on national forest land per Idaho Fire Lookouts; no closure found in the sources read

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Hike-in site, per Idaho Fire Lookouts

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1939
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Nez Perce National Forest (site transferred from Bitterroot NF in 1957)
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.05660, −114.75760 sources disagree
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-pettibone-ridge

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 3.7 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. 1934 EventUndated Moose Creek district inventory lists a 30-foot tower with L-4 cabSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1939 Built30-foot pole tower with L-4 cab; about 1939 per Kresek and later listsSources: fs.usda.gov, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1950 DestroyedDestroyedSources: fs.usda.gov, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1957 EventSite transferred from Bitterroot National Forest to Nez Perce National ForestSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 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.

Pettibone Ridge is in Idaho County, Idaho.1,2 It sits about nine miles southeast of the Moose Creek Ranger Station, in the Nez Perce National Forest.3,2 Some sources also call it Indian Ridge (Pettibone).4

Sources disagree on the build year. A Moose Creek ranger district inventory, which is not dated, gives 1934 for a tower 30 feet tall with an L-4 cab.4 Later lists, which draw on Ray Kresek's book, date the tower to about 1939.3,2,5,4

Until 1957 the Bitterroot National Forest oversaw the site; that year it passed to the Nez Perce National Forest.4

The lookout was destroyed in 1950.3,2,5,4

Idaho Fire Lookouts describes the site as hike-in and lists the lookout as destroyed.5 We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains on the ridge today.

Because it is a hike-in site on national forest land, it appears to be open to the public. We read nothing that restricts access.5,2

  1. Fire lookouts of Idaho list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Pettibone Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/id/pettiboneridge.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Nez Perce National Forest Lookouts, US Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259204 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Indian Ridge (Pettibone), Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/indian-ridge-pettibone.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Pettibone Ridge Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/pettibone-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

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 2.8 km (1.7 mi).

    • FFLA: 46.05660, −114.75760
    • Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): 46.07873, −114.74040

    The map uses the position from FFLA.

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: dates, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: design, height, agency, ownership, 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
  5. 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.