Salmon Mountain Lookout

The Salmon Mountain Lookout, on Salmon Mountain in the West Fork District of Bitterroot National Forest, near Darby, Idaho, was built in 1949. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

Salmon Mountain Lookout
Nearest cityElk City, Idaho
Coordinates45°37′01″N 114°50′12″W
Built1949
Built byUSDA Forest Service
NRHP reference No.100002296
Added to NRHPApril 6, 2018

It is a 1936-pattern L-4 lookout.[1]

It is a volunteer-staffed lookout located in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, and it also overlooks the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness to the north.[2]

It is at elevation of 8,943 feet (2,726 m).[3]

Salmon Mountain is located in the Idaho portion of the West Fork in the Frank Church River Of No Return Wilderness. It has the distinction of being the oldest documented site used as a lookout on the Bitterroot Forest. An old journal from 1915 describes Salmon being used as an observation point and a phone line being run up the mountain that summer. A tent camp was placed on the upper part of the mountain and at the highest point, a square rock wall was built that surrounded a portable alidade on a stump. The first tower, a log cabin with an observation cupola, was built on Salmon Mountain in 1928. It was replaced, in 1949, with the current L-4 lookout on a 5 foot rock base that is still in use. There is a 1.2 mile trail leading to the lookout from the Magruder Corridor/ Elk City Road.

References
  1. Janene Caywood (August 7, 2017). "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation: L-4 Fire Lookouts in the USFS Northern Region (Region 1), 1932-1967" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  2. "Salmon Mountain Lookout / US 800, ID 78". National Historic Lookout Register. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  3. "Fire lookouts eyed for National Register of Historic Places". Associated Press. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
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