Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho
Sheep Mountain Lookout
Clearwater NF lookout: camp in 1914, cabin in 1917, L-6 tower in 1930; in ruins by 1950 and still described as drive-up ruins.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. In ruins by 1950; no source describes a standing structure today
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?
- Yes, you can drive up
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerL-6 tower with log cabin living quarters (1930), replacing a 1917 cabin with an elevated platformThe design: L-6
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1917
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- Unknown
- Agency
- Clearwater National Forest
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Clearwater County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 46.78364, −115.58964
- Registers
- Not on a lookout register
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-sheep-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.
Downloads about 4.1 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
- 1914 EventCamp developed at the siteSource: firelookout.com
- 1917 BuiltCabin with elevated platformSources: firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov
- 1930 Replaced by a new structureL-6 tower with log cabin living quarters replaced the cabinSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov
- No record between 1930 and 1950
- 1950 EventSite in ruins by 1950Sources: firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Sheep Mountain sits in the Clearwater National Forest, about 35 miles northeast of Orofino in Clearwater County, Idaho.1,2 Its elevation is 5,708 feet.1,2 The site began with a camp in 1914, and a cabin with an elevated platform followed in 1917.2,3
In 1930 an L-6 tower with a log cabin for living quarters replaced that cabin.1,2,3 Idaho Fire Lookouts credits Everete Van Arsdale with 22 years on the lookout, though it gives no exact dates for that service.1 The page cites the book Fire Lookouts of the Northwest for that figure.1
By 1950 the place had fallen into ruin, a date the Forest Service list also gives.2,3
Today Idaho Fire Lookouts describes the place as drive-up ruins.1 None of the sources we read describes what, if anything, still stands on the summit, or whether the site is open to visitors.
- Sheep Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/sheep-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Sheep Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/sheepmtn272.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Clearwater National Forest Lookouts, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259185 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
Photos
Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.
Sources
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) (opens another site) 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
- 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
- Clearwater National Forest Lookouts (list compiled June 2016) (USDA Forest Service, Clearwater National Forest) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Sheep Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Sheep Mountain Lookout on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.