Fire lookout · Sanders County, Montana
Bloom Peak Lookout Site
Bloom Peak L-4 lookout site, Sanders County MT / Shoshone County ID (sources differ): built 1932, abandoned 1943; a little concrete and gravel or a rock foundation remains.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned in 1943 and removed; the register notes a little concrete and gravel remain
Visit & stay
Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.
Access
Access unknown
We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.
- Road to the top?
- Yes, you can drive up
- Trail
- No lookout structure remains to climb. The Idaho Fire Lookouts site lists the site as drive-up.
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Ground-level cabL-4 cab (register says it 'may have been'; firelookout.com says L-4 cab); the Idaho Fire Lookouts site describes a 30-foot L-4 towerThe design: L-4
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1932
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 5,863 ft (1,787 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Sanders County, Montana
- Coordinates
- 47.75495, −115.83038
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-mt-bloom-peak
View from the cab
What the lookout saw from its 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.
This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.
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
- 1932 BuiltBuilt as an L-4 structure; the register says it may have been a cab, and the Idaho site says a 30-foot towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- 1943 AbandonedAbandoned in 1943Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- 1943 RemovedRegister says removed after 1943Source: firetower.org
- No record between 1943 and 2021
- 2021 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered January 8, 2021; nominated by Michael WhartonSource: firetower.org
- TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.
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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register places Bloom Peak in the Kootenai National Forest, in Sanders County, Montana, at 5,863 feet (1,787 meters).1 Firelookout.com puts the site nine miles north of Murray, in Shoshone County, Idaho, and Sanders County, Montana, on the Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai forests, at the same elevation.2 The Idaho Fire Lookouts site gives 4,932 feet and the Coeur d'Alene National Forest.3 The sources do not agree on the state, the forest, or the elevation, and we could not settle them.
The lookout went up in 1932.1,2,3 The register says the structure "may have been an L-4 cab."1 Firelookout.com calls it an L-4 cab.2 The Idaho site describes a 30-foot L-4 tower.3
We found no documented staffing history. The Idaho site says, "We don't yet have a documented staffing history for this lookout."3
The lookout was abandoned in 1943.1,2,3 The register says the structure was removed after 1943.1
The register says "A flat gravel spot and a bit of concrete remain at the site."1 The Idaho site, which reports a visit in 2022, describes "Rock foundation where the tower once stood."3 The register entry was made on January 8, 2021, and was nominated by Michael Wharton.1
The Idaho Fire Lookouts site lists the site as drive-up.3 We found no current Forest Service statement about access, so check with the national forest before going. There is no lookout structure to climb.1,3
- Bloom Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/mt/bloom-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Bloom Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/bloompeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Bloom Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/cda-region/bloom-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Sources
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) (opens another site) Gave us: dates, photos, links idahofirelookouts.com · No licence stated; facts only (coordinates, status/built/destroyed year parsed from each entry's short excerpt). Thumbnail photos mirrored with credit per the project's photo policy. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, visiting details, 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
- FFLOS register entry US 2058 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Montana lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Bloom Peak on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Bloom Peak Lookout on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.