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Fire lookout · Shoshone County, Idaho

Striped Peak Lookout Site

Shoshone County, ID D-6 cupola lookout built 1919/20 or 1924 (sources differ); burned in a 1936 wildfire and not rebuilt; foundations and remnants remain on the peak.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed by a 1936 wildfire and not rebuilt; a foundation and remnants remain on the site

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?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site hike-in; a 2021 climbing guide describes a hike from Elsie Lake on trail FST-106, or a route from a road out of Osborn

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab12x12 D-6 cupola structureThe design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1919
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,300 ft (1,920 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Panhandle National Forests
Land
Federal land
Location
Shoshone County, Idaho
Coordinates
47.43951, −115.99588
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-striped-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 3.5 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. 1919 BuiltRegister gives construction as 1919/20 and the built field as circa 1919Source: firetower.org
  2. 1919 EventWallace Miner (May 29, 1919) reports a station will soon be established on Striped Peak, announced by the local Forest Service representative E. C. PulaskiSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1920 StaffedEverett H. Bryan named for 1920, citing a North Idaho Press item dated 07/02/1968; the citation date is later than the year, so the service date is unverifiedSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1924 EventFirelookout.com says built in 1924; the register photo is captioned circa 1924. Conflicts with the 1919/20 dateSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  5. 1928 StaffedG. Richardson named for 1928, citing a Wallace Press-Times item dated 09/13/1928 (not read directly)Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 1929 StaffedSpokesman-Review (July 11, 1929), quoted on Forest Lookouts: the Striped Peak lookout reported a fire near Marble Creek had virtually burned outSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1936 BurnedDestroyed in a wildfire in 1936 and not rebuilt; Firelookout.com calls it accidental burningSources: firetower.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  8. 1936 Last staffedRegister: the lookout served until 1936Source: firetower.org
  9. No record between 1936 and 2021
  10. 2021 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 28, 2021 as US 2069, ID 27; nominated by Brad EellsSource: firetower.org
  11. 2025 Condition assessmentIdaho Fire Lookouts post dated June 25, 2025 reports the D-6 foundation, a pit of remnants, a stacked rock foundation that may be a second building, and an unidentified memorialSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  12. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Striped Peak lies in Shoshone County, Idaho, about four miles southwest of Wallace.1 It lies along the crest of Saint Joe Mountain, straight south of Osborn.2

The lookout was in the works by 1919.3 The Wallace Miner reported that E. C. Pulaski, the local Forest Service representative, said a station would soon be established on the peak.3 The register names the Forest Service's Ed Pulaski as the man behind the announcement.4 The register dates the structure to 1919 or 1920, and describes it as a 12-by-12 D-6 cupola.4 Firelookout.com instead says it was built in 1924, and the register shows a photo captioned circa 1924.4,1 The sources do not agree on when it went up.

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists two people who staffed it. Everett H. Bryan is given for 1920, citing a North Idaho Press item dated 1968, and G. Richardson for 1928, citing a Wallace Press-Times item from that year.5 The 1968 date on that first citation is nearly fifty years after 1920, so the 1920 date is unverified. In July 1929 the Spokesman-Review reported that a forest fire along Marble Creek had nearly burned out, as the Striped Peak lookout had reported to the ranger station.3

The lookout was destroyed by a wildfire in 1936 and never rebuilt.4,3,5,2 Firelookout.com says it was accidentally burned that year.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts reports that a book, Up the Swiftwater, places a lightning strike and burning in the 1960s.5 Four other sources give 1936, so we follow them and treat the book's account as unconfirmed.

The register says some remains are still on the site.4 Idaho Fire Lookouts, in a post dated June 25, 2025, says the D-6 foundation is fairly easy to see and that many remnants are in a pit where the building burned. It also found a stacked rock foundation that may have been a second building, and a memorial whose honoree it has not identified.5 A climbing guide published in March 2021 describes hiking routes to the summit, from Elsie Lake or from a road out of Osborn, and says the summit view makes the climb worthwhile.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site hike-in.5 We found no closure notice, but the sources do not describe current conditions, so check with the Forest Service before you go.

  1. Striped Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/stripedpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Striped Peak, IDAHO: A Climbing Guide, https://www.idahoaclimbingguide.com/bookupdates/striped-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Striped Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (idaholookouts.weebly.com), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/striped-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Striped Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/striped-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Striped Peak, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/striped-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Striped Peak Lookout - Circa 1924
Striped Peak Lookout - Circa 1924 (1924)Photo: US Forest Service, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Using the alidade
Using the alidadePhoto: US Forest Service, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Striped Peak
Striped PeakPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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: county, 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: 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: 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, 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.