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Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho

Shanghai Lookout

Clearwater County, ID lookout near Pierce: 1915 cabin and tree platform, later steel and pole towers and a radio relay; gone or removed, no date; site today not described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower50-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1933)The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1915
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Clearwater Timber Protective Association
Land
Unknown
Location
Clearwater County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.55640, −115.75880
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-shanghai

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 3.6 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. 1915 BuiltLog cabin and tree platform (crow's nest)Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1927 Built40-foot steel towerSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1929 Event75-foot pole tower: Forest Lookouts lists it at Shanghai; firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts place it at a patrol point 1/4 mile southwestSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1933 Built50-foot pole tower with L-4 cabSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1933 and 1955
  6. 1955 EventVHF radio repeater being moved here from Bald Mountain LookoutSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1956 EventPower line built to Shanghai Lookout for a VHF relay installationSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1957 EventAnnual reports for 1957-58 and 1959-60 both describe a new lookout tower and detection facilities; completion date unclear. The same reports say the power line also powered the radio and supplied electricity for lights, refrigeration and cooking.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1959 Built44-foot steel tower (Forest Lookouts: Aermotor MC-40)Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1959 MovedTwo site histories say the 44-foot steel tower was moved from Scofield LookoutSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  11. 1962 EventNew receiver station installed at the lookoutSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  12. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 Shanghai lookout stood in Clearwater County, Idaho, about 5 miles north-northeast of Pierce, at an elevation of 5,166 feet.1

Its agency was the Clearwater Timber Protective Association.2 That association and the Potlatch association were formed separately in 1905 and merged in 1966.3

Records date the first structures to 1915, a log cabin and a tree platform.1,2

A 40-foot steel tower followed in 1927, and a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab in 1933.1,2

The 1929 tower is placed differently. Forest Lookouts lists a 75-foot pole tower at Shanghai that year, while firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts put a 75-foot pole tower at a patrol point a quarter mile southwest.1,4,2

The association's combined 1955-56 annual report describes moving its VHF radio repeater from Bald Mountain Lookout to Shanghai, and says a power line was built for the relay in 1956.2

The association's annual reports for 1957-58 and 1959-60 both describe a new lookout tower and detection facilities at Shanghai, so the completion date is unclear.2 The same reports say the line also powered the radio and supplied electricity for lights, refrigeration and cooking.2

The record also lists a 44-foot tower from 1959. Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts say it was moved from Scofield Lookout, while Forest Lookouts calls it an Aermotor MC-40 and does not say it was moved.1,4,2

A new receiver station was installed at the lookout in 1962.2

The Forest Lookouts page marks the lookout as removed. Firelookout.com, Idaho Fire Lookouts and the Forest Fire Lookout Association's list say it is gone.1,4,2,5

No source we read says what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether the public can visit it.1,4,2

  1. Shanghai Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra), https://www.firelookout.com/id/shanghai.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Shanghai, Forest Lookouts (Ron Kemnow), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/shanghai.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association, About Us, https://www.cptpa.com/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Shanghai Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/shanghai-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Idaho lookout list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (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: 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, 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, agency, 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.