CLEARWATER COUNTY
ELK BUTTE
Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association
40N-3E-5
40N-3E-5
1914: "Our principal lookout has always been on Elk Butte, situated in Sec. 5, Twp. 40 N., R. 3 E. This lookout covers nearly all the country in the Potlatch District south of the Boise Meridian, except the Dick Creek drainage." (Annual Report of the Potlatch TPA)
August 14, 1914: "From the lookout station on the top of Elk Butte eleven different fires were counted at the same time last Sunday. Most of these were far away and some seemed to be in the prairie wheat fields of the Palouse country." (Elk River Sentinel)
August 4, 1916: "Wm. Mackay, who is lookout on Elk Butte, was in town Monday and says the woods are beginning to get dry enough to burn." (Elk River Sentinel)
February 1921: "Two lookout cabins were constructed, one at Elk Butte, the other at Jericho Lookout." (The Timberman Volume 22)
1949: A Steel tower purchased from War Assets in 1946 was erected. (Potlatch Timber Protective Association Annual Report)
1953: "The operation of our VHF radio equipment was vastly improved with the completion of a power line from Elk River to Elk Butte Lookout, at which point our repeater equipment is located." (Potlatch TPA combined Annual Report 1953 & 1954)
1958: {Caption under photo of tower} "This converted 80 foot steel tower was designed for the U.S. Air Forces. It has an eight enclosed house on top with an observatory platform above that. Midway up the tower a 14 x 14 cabin was built into the structure. The lookout observer lives here night and day with all the comforts of home. A power line serves the tower to operate radio and provide electricity for refrigeration and cooking. The photo at right shows in upper portion an expanded steel like cage developed to protect the man from falling when going up and down the steel ladder. This expanded steel is attached to three wooden poles set in concrete and it gives the observer good protection and safety." (Report of the Fire Warden, Potlatch TPA)