| Drive-Up | Destroyed / Repurposed |
| Elevation: 6424′ | Coeur d’Alene National Forest |
HISTORY
1916 – A log cabin was built
1928 – A cupola was added atop the existing cabin
1950 – An L-4 cab was moved from Maple Peak Lookout to this location
1957 – A concrete 2 story R-6 flat cab was built
1975 – Destroyed/Repurposed
Known Staff
-
1911
Mr. James Daniels (Spokesman Review)
-
1915
Charles Grodeski (Wallace Press Times - 09/01/1915) — Set a record for locating Cedar Creek fire and calling it into Ranger E.C. Pulaski in less then one minuet
-
1919
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1934–1935
Robert Rogers (Wallace Press-Times - 06/07/1934 & 06/25/1935)
- 1937
-
1939
Glen Bush (Lookout Diary)
- 1941
- 1942
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1945
- 1946
-
1948
Mr. & Mrs. George McLaughlin (Kellogg Evening News)
-
1951
Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Hedstrom (Shoshone News Press - 06/25/1951)
-
1952
Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Brown (Kellogg Evening News- 06/12/1952)
- 1953
-
1954
Mr. & Mrs. Emery Peterson (Kellogg Evening News)
- 1955
- 1956–1957
- 1959
- 1960
-
1961–1962
Mr. Doug Kramer (North Idaho Press - 08/02/1962; Kellogg Evening News - 07/17/1961)
- 1963
- 1964
- 1965
-
1966–1968
Chuck Keater (Kellogg Evening News- 06/29/1966)
-
1969
Ruth Brood (Kellogg Evening News - 06/17/1969)
-
1971
Bill Streeter (Kellogg Evening News- 06/10/1971)
- Early 1980s
Know more about who staffed this tower, or when? Let us know.
OUR NOTES
The road up to Sunset Peak is very well maintained as it is an electronics site now. They’ve used the concrete bottom floor of the lookout to now house electronic equipment. The cement pad where the cabin was located is still easily found along with 2 benchmarks.
Probably the most interesting thing about this location is the rock carved graffiti. Some of it dating back to 1919. At this point in time we havnt been able to link any of the names to any of the men/women that staffed the lookout. However, from reading an old newspaper article it appears that hiking up to Sunset Peak was a popular pasttime, especially with boy scouts.
There are several carvings that are dated 1919 and 1921, some say “U of W” while others say a town name – like Mullan and Burke. I was able to track down one of the names carved – Frank Norman from Mullan, Idaho. Frank (Orlew Franklin Norman) was a millman at the Morning mine and also a Boy Scoutmaster.
The Norman family still has many ties in the local Idaho and Montana area – we hope they have a chance to visit Sunset Peak and see where their patriarch left his mark.
You can see the names Pat Baudino, OM Porter, Pella and a few others that are too faint to read. Under Pat Baudino it says U of W ’22 and next to Pella it says ’19. I was able to track both of these names (and a few others also carved here) to some student directories from 1919-1922 at University of Washington.
How was the drive, I have heard it is pretty narrow?
Its not too bad til the very last switchback – with room to park there if you prefer.