FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Valley County, Idaho

Silver Creek Lookout

Also known as Silver Creek Point

A 1936 L-4 cab on a 24-foot concrete base in the Boise National Forest; staffed in summer and on the National Historic Lookout Register since 2017.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2017)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingL-4 cab atop a 24x24-foot concrete baseThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
24 ft (7.3 m)
Elevation
6,778 ft (2,066 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Valley County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.38506, −115.78923
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-silver-creek

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 3.9 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. 1936 BuiltStandard L-4 cab on a 24x24-foot concrete baseSources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1936 and 1957
  3. 1957 FireLookout reported seeing a fire nearby one Friday night and searchers were sent out (1957 Idaho State Journal item, quoted by Forest Lookouts)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1965 StaffedEarliest staff record on the Idaho Fire Lookouts listSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  5. No record between 1965 and 2017
  6. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 19, 2017 as US 1207, ID 110Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. 2019 StaffedApproximate year on the Idaho Fire Lookouts staff listSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Silver Creek Lookout went up in 1936 as a standard L-4 cabin, sitting on a concrete base that measures 24 feet on each side.1,2,3 It is in the Boise National Forest in Valley County, Idaho, about 15 miles southeast of Cascade, at an elevation of 6,778 feet.1,3

The National Historic Lookout Register says the cab is manned each summer and lists the Emmett Ranger District as a cooperator.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts names a staff record from 1965 and another from about 2019, though it marks the later year as approximate.4

The lookout also shows up in a 1957 newspaper item quoted by Forest Lookouts. It reports that the lookout had seen a fire nearby one Friday night and that searchers were sent out right away. The same item covers a summer forest worker who had gone missing and was later found.2

The cab is still in place. The register added it on June 19, 2017, as US 1207, ID 110.1,4

Idaho Fire Lookouts describes it as a drive-up, staffed lookout.4 None of the pages I could read say whether visitors may climb to the cab, so treat it as a working lookout and ask the Forest Service before planning a visit.

  1. Silver Creek Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/silver-creek-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Silver Creek Point, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/silver-creek-point.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Silver Creek Point Fire Lookout Cabin, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/id/silvercreek.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Silver Creek Point Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/silver-creek-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Silver Creek Lookout in 2012
Silver Creek Lookout in 2012 (2012)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Silver Creek Lookout
Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Maintenance shed and privy in 2013
Maintenance shed and privy in 2013 (2013)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout interior in 2013
Lookout interior in 2013 (2013)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Fire finder in 2013
Fire finder in 2013 (2013)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout interior in 2013
Lookout interior in 2013 (2013)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout interior in 2013
Lookout interior in 2013 (2013)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout interior in 2013
Lookout interior in 2013 (2013)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout interior in 2013
Lookout interior in 2013 (2013)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout in 2013
Lookout in 2013 (2013)Photo: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Silver Creek Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Silver Creek Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Silver Creek Point in 1938
Silver Creek Point in 1938 (1938)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Mike Garske, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Silver Creek Point L.O.
Silver Creek Point L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service, Mike Garske, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Silver Creek Point in 2019
Silver Creek Point in 2019 (2019)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Mike Garske, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Silver Creek Point in 2019
Silver Creek Point in 2019 (2019)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Mike Garske, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Silver Creek Point Lookout
Silver Creek Point LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, photos, 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
  4. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: staffing, 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
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) 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
  6. 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.