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Fire lookout · Idaho

Ruby Mountain Lookout

Kaniksu NF, Boundary County: 30 ft pole tower built 1935; staffed 1933-34 and 1946; abandoned in the 1950s; tower gone, frame cabin reported still there.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as gone; firelookout.com says the frame cabin is still there, undated

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?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike-in site, per Idaho Fire Lookouts

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Type unknown30-foot pole tower with L-6 cab, with a frame cabinThe design: L-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Kaniksu National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Idaho
Coordinates
48.46722, −116.17750
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-ruby-mountain-2

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 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. 1933 StaffedHollice Aldridge, listed for 1933-34, citing a Bonners Ferry Herald article of June 26, 1934; both years predate the 1935 towerSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1935 Built30-foot pole tower with L-6 cab; firelookout.com also mentions a frame cabinSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  3. 1946 StaffedLloyd Hughest, citing Fire Lookouts of the NorthwestSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1950 AbandonedSource: Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com)
  5. Date unknown AbandonedBoth sources say abandoned in the 1950s; decade only, so no single year is recorded (the record's 1950 is not in the sources)Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  6. 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.

Ruby Mountain Lookout stood on Ruby Mountain in the Kaniksu National Forest, about six miles southeast of Eastport in Boundary County, Idaho.1,2 The tower was a 30-foot pole tower with an L-6 cab, built in 1935.1,2 Firelookout.com also describes a frame cabin at the site.2

Two staff names are recorded, but the dates sit awkwardly. Hollice Aldridge is listed for 1933 and 1934, citing a Bonners Ferry Herald article from June 26, 1934.1,2 Both years come before the 1935 tower, and neither source explains why.1,2 Lloyd Hughest is listed as staffing the lookout in 1946, citing Fire Lookouts of the Northwest.1

Both sources say the lookout was abandoned in the 1950s.1,2

Today, the Forest Fire Lookout Association's Idaho list records the tower as gone.3 The firelookout.com page says the frame cabin is still there, though it gives no date for that statement.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as a hike-in.1 We found no source that describes its condition or access in more detail, so anyone planning a visit should check with the Kaniksu National Forest first.

  1. Ruby Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/ruby-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Ruby Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://firelookout.com/id/rubymtn.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Idaho Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

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

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Sources

  1. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: name, location, status, dates, 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
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, staffing, 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.