Fire lookout · Boundary County, Idaho
Squawman Lookout
Also known as Squawman Peak
Boundary County, ID L-4 cab built 1934 and destroyed 1972; visitor reports describe cement footings still at the lookout site on the summit ridge, so ruins is proposed.
- Ruins
- Access unknown
- Verified
Ruins: Only footings or remains are left. Destroyed in 1972; visitor reports describe cement footings still at the lookout site on the summit ridge. The FFLA list still says gone
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
- Hike-in: 1.5 miles each way with the gate open; 1.2 miles more each way if the gate is closed. A gate about a mile before the trailhead was found closed on one visit, with no sign explaining why
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Ground-level cabL-4 cabThe design: L-4
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1934
- Height
- 20 ft (6.1 m)
- Elevation
- Unknown
- Agency
- Priest Lake Timber Protective Association
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Boundary County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 48.71768, −116.71151
- Registers
- Not on a lookout register
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-squawman
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 4.4 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
- 1934 BuiltL-4 cabSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
- No record between 1934 and 1972
- 1972 DestroyedCab destroyed; Forest Lookouts lists the site as removedSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
- TodayRuinsOnly footings or remains are 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Squawman Lookout stood on Squawman Peak, at 7,033 feet in the Selkirk Mountains of Boundary County, Idaho.1,2 The Priest Lake Timber Protective Association is the agency listed for it.1,3,2
The lookout was an L-4 cab, built in 1934.1,3,2,4 Some sources call the summit The Wigwams.3 The USGS quadrangle map for the area is labeled The Wigwams (1996), and at least one visitor report uses that name for the site.2,4
The cab was destroyed in 1972.1,3,2,4 Forest Lookouts lists the site as removed, and the Forest Fire Lookout Association's Idaho list marks it gone.2,5
Visitors describe footings still at the lookout site on the summit ridge.3,4 Idaho Fire Lookouts reports one footing dated 1934, with other lettering in the cement that can no longer be read.3 A 1964 Coast and Geodetic Survey description calls the structure a 20-foot-high observation house.2
Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as a hike-in.3 One trip report describes a hike of 1.5 miles each way with the gate open, and says a higher-clearance vehicle is best on the road.4 The same visitor found a gate about a mile short of the trailhead shut, with nothing posted to say why.4 With the gate closed, the walk is 1.2 miles longer each way.4 Check whether the gate is open before you set out. The sources do not say whether the road is open to the public.
- Squawman Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/squawman.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Squawman Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/squawman-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Squawman Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/squawman-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- The Wigwams Squawman Peak Lookout, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/idaho_lookouts/wigwams/squawman_peak_lookout_036.htm (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Idaho fire lookout list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (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: dates, 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) Gave us: what it is built of, 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
- 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
- The Wigwams Squawman Peak Lookout (WillhiteWeb.com) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Squawman on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Squawman Lookout on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
- Squawman Peak on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.