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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Sable Hill Lookout

Gone: an L-4 cab on a 50-foot tower from 1933, destroyed in 1958; no source describes what remains today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1958; no source describes what remains

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
Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site hike-in; no source describes access today

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on a 50-foot towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Nez Perce National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.85811, −115.19195
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-sable-hill

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 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. 1933 BuiltL-4 cab set on a 50-foot towerSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, fs.usda.gov
  2. 1944 StaffedKnown staffer: Spence A. Dewey, citing a former forest fire lookout registrySource: idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1958 DestroyedDestroyedSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, fs.usda.gov
  4. 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.

The Sable Hill lookout site sits at 6,084 feet in the Nez Perce National Forest, about 12 miles east of Elk City in Idaho County.1,2

In 1933 an L-4 cab was set on a 50-foot tower there.1,2,3 The L-4 was a 14-by-14-foot frame cab, and the National Historic Lookout Register says cabs of that size could go on top of tall fire towers.4

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists one known staffer, Spence A. Dewey, for 1944, citing a former forest fire lookout registry.2

The tower was destroyed in 1958, a date all three sources we read give.1,2,3

Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site hike-in but gives no trail details.2 No source we read describes what remains on the hill today or whether the land is open to visitors, so check with the Nez Perce National Forest before you go.

  1. Sable Hill Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/sablehill.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Sable Hill Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/sable-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Nez Perce National Forest Lookouts, compiled by Cindy L. Schacher, USDA Forest Service, April 2010, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259204 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Definitions, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/definitions/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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.