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Fire lookout · Boundary County, Idaho

Smith Peak Lookout

Smith Peak in Boundary County had a 1925 survey camp and a 1928 Fickes L-2 cab, staffed in the 1930s, and was in ruins by the 1950s.

Ruins: Only footings or remains are left. In ruins by the 1950s; Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as hike-in ruins.

Visit & stay

Ruins: footings or remains only. There is no structure 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 lists the site as hike-in ruins.

Facts

Status
Ruins
Type
Ground-level cabFickes L-2 Special cab, a half-price version of the D-6 cupola (1928)The designs: L-2 house, D-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1928
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Kaniksu National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Boundary County, Idaho
Coordinates
48.83453, −116.66962
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-smith-peak

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 4.3 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. 1925 EventA camp with an alidade was developed at the site; Idaho Fire Lookouts names Clarence Kauffman as staffing it.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1928 BuiltA Clyde Fickes L-2 Special cab was built.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1933 StaffedBill Edwards is tied to a 1933 Bonners Ferry Herald item.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1934 StaffedJonas Parshall is listed for 1934; Idaho Fire Lookouts gives 1934-1935.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1936 StaffedRobert Mullen is listed for 1936.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 1950 EventIn ruins by the 1950s; the exact year is not given.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. TodayRuinsOnly footings or remains are 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.

Smith Peak stands in Boundary County, about 18 miles northwest of Bonners Ferry, within the Kaniksu National Forest.1,2 A camp with an alidade, a sighting instrument used in surveying, was developed at the site in 1925.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts credits Clarence Kauffman with staffing that camp.3

In 1928 a Clyde Fickes L-2 Special cab went up, a version of the D-6 cupola that cost half as much.1,3 Idaho Fire Lookouts spells the builder's name Flickes.3

Known staff from 1933 to 1936 include Sam Skeels, listed for 1933.1,3 Idaho Fire Lookouts ties Bill Edwards to a 1933 Bonners Ferry Herald item.3 Jonas Parshall is listed for 1934, a date Idaho Fire Lookouts extends to 1935, and Robert Mullen is recorded for 1936.1,3

By the 1950s the lookout was in ruins.1,3

Idaho Fire Lookouts, on a page dated September 16, 2025, lists the site as "Hike-In Ruins."3 The page does not say what remains, such as footings or the cab frame, or whether the site is open to visitors now.

  1. Smith Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/smithpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Smith Peak - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/smith-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Smith Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/smith-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Smith Peak Lookout
Smith Peak LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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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: 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
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: agency, ownership, 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, 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

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