FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Granite County, Montana

Blackpine Mountain

Granite County lookout tower built about 1938-39 (one source says 1933); its cab moved to Missoula in 1978 and no source describes the original site today.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at the Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. The cab was moved to the Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center; no source describes what became of the tower below it

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Moved
Type
Cab on a tower50-foot cable-braced round timber tower (plan L-11) with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Deerlodge National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Granite County, Montana
Coordinates
46.42132, −113.44812
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-blackpine-mountain

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 4.1 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. 1933 BuiltFirelookout.com gives 1933; disputed by the 1938-39 datesSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1938 BuiltPlan L-11 tower with L-4 cab completed by end of 1938 or early 1939, per Forest LookoutsSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1938 EventCCC workers build the road from Philipsburg to the lookout station; nearly finished by November 1938Source: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1939 BuiltOctober 1939 newspaper item: 50-foot tower erected, topped by a 14-foot-square houseSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1939 and 1977
  6. 1977 RemovedOctober 1977 report: lookout being disassembled to move to Missoula for displaySource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1978 MovedCab moved to the Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center as a displaySource: firelookout.com
  8. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to the Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center.Source: FFLA
  9. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Blackpine Mountain lookout stood about nine miles northwest of Philipsburg, in Granite County, Montana, on the Deerlodge National Forest.1,2 CCC workers were building the road from Philipsburg to the lookout station in 1938, and by November it was nearly finished.2 Forest Lookouts names the design as plan L-11: a 50-foot tower braced with cables, built of round timber, with an L-4 cab on top.2

Dates disagree. Firelookout.com says the tower was built in 1933.1 Forest Lookouts places completion at the end of 1938 or early 1939, and quotes an October 1939 newspaper item reporting that a 50-foot tower had been erected, with a 14-foot-square house on top for the lookout man to live in.2 That item adds that the lookout man had to stay on watch every summer.2

A 1977 Missoulian item, quoted on the same page, says the lookout served for more than 30 years as a fire-spotting post.2

In October 1977 Richard Venable, the Philipsburg district ranger, said the lookout was being taken apart and would move to Missoula for display.2 Firelookout.com dates the move to 1978: the cab was dismantled and carried to the Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center to serve as a display.1 The 1977 report said the top cabin would be exhibited at the Forest Service visitor center west of Missoula.2

No source checked describes what remains of the lookout on the mountain today, or whether the public can reach the site.

The Forest Service says the Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center is shut for renovation at present.3 It says people can ask about pre-scheduled tours by email or phone, and no source checked confirms that the cab is on display there today.3

  1. Blackpine Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/mt/blackpinemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Black Pine Mountain, Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow), https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/black-pine-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/fire/smokejumpers/missoula-smokejumper-visitor-center (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: 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
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: design, height, agency, ownership, links 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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.