FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Washington County, Idaho

Sturgill Peak Lookout

An L-4 cab on a stone rubble base in the Payette National Forest, built around 1932-1933 and still staffed for fire detection as of 2025.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Drive-up access per Idaho Fire Lookouts, but it is an active, staffed fire lookout and not open for climbing or rental during fire season.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2025)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabRegion 1/L-4 cab on a short stone rubble towerThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,589 ft (2,313 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Payette National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Washington County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.61991, −116.94244
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-sturgill-peak

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. 1932 BuiltRegion 1/L-4 cab built on a stone rubble tower.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1933 BuiltAn alternate source dates a standard L-4 lookout house to 1933.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 StaffedVerdie Williams listed as lookout.Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1942 and 1984
  5. 1984 StaffedCindi Lee listed as lookout, the most recent name on the historical roster besides the 2025 entry.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  6. No record between 1984 and 2020
  7. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register on November 29, 2020.Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2025 StaffedMichael Hass listed as staffing the lookout.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  9. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Sturgill Peak Lookout is a standard Region 1/L-4 cab set on a short stone rubble base, high in the Payette National Forest. Most sources date its construction to 1932, though one Idaho lookout history site puts a standard L-4 house going up a year later, in 1933.1,2,3

The lookout has a long staffing record. Idaho Fire Lookouts and Firelookout.com both list a run of seasonal lookouts stretching from Verdie Williams in 1942 through Bob Donaly, Don Sewell, Lane Williams, Earl Glenn, Leonard Volland, Frank Odom, David Miller, Larry Daniels, Melvin Hopkins, Bruce Feldtman, Gerald Moore, Douglas Laird, and Cindi Lee in 1984.2,4 The job has continued into recent years, with Michael Hass listed as staffing the tower in 2025.2 The National Historic Lookout Register confirms that Sturgill Peak "continues to be staffed for fire detection," making it one of the relatively few lookouts in this region still doing the job it was built for.1

Because it has stayed in active fire-detection use rather than being retired or converted, Sturgill Peak hasn't gone through the kind of abandonment-and-restoration cycle common to many lookouts of its era. It was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on November 29, 2020.1

Idaho Fire Lookouts describes the site as drive-up and staffed.2 That makes it reachable by road, but since it is an active, staffed fire lookout on national forest land, visitors should expect it to be occupied in fire season and should not treat it as an open climbing structure or a vacation rental.

  1. Sturgill Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/sturgill-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Sturgill Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/sturgill-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Sturgill Peak, Idaho Lookouts (weebly), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/sturgill-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  4. Sturgill Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/sturgillpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Sturgill Peak Lookout - 2012
Sturgill Peak Lookout - 2012 (2012)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Interpretive Panel
Interpretive PanelPhoto: Tom Lopez, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sturgill Peak in 2003
Sturgill Peak in 2003 (2003)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Sturgill Peak Lookout
Sturgill Peak 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, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.