Notch Butte - near Shoshone, Idaho USA
Posted by: 
jwanlesss
N 42° 53.095 W 114° 25.086
11T E 710844 N 4751268
A distinct shield volcano in the lava flow desert south of Shoshone, Idaho
Waymark Code: WM140P4
Location: Idaho, United States
Date Posted: 03/24/2021
Views: 11
Idaho's Snake River Plain is a volcanic desert with lava flows emanating from surface fissures and shield volcanos. In Lincoln County, Pleistocene shield volcanos are called "buttes" because their prominence on the flat desert plain made them useful as orientation landmarks for early Idaho settlers and for modern hikers who dare to explore the uninhabited desert and its lava tube caves.
This shield volcano has a memorable notched shape which serves as a visual landmark in south Lincoln County, Idaho's lava field desert. The building on Notch Butte's summit was once a fire lookout starting in 1944. Now the butte hosts multiple radio communications towers.
Geologic Map of the Shoshone Quadrangle, Lincoln County, Idaho
(
visit link)
"There is an ‘unverified’ story that a cave just east of Notch Butte was used as a hiding place for some gold bars stolen from an Oregon Short Line train between Shoshone and Minidoka." (Shoshone Chamber of Commerce. 1983. "Shoshone and Her People" page 19.)