Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Montana
Calx Mountain Lookout
Standing Kootenai National Forest lookout in Lincoln County, Montana; 1921 tree platform, 1934 L-4 pole tower, steel tower moved here in 1984; NHLR-registered 2021.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
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
- Staffed during fire season (as of recent years (no year given))
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerPresent steel tower (type not stated); 1934 predecessor was a 40 ft pole L-4 towerThe design: L-4
- Built of
- Wood
- Built
- 1921
- Height
- 40 ft (12.2 m)
- Elevation
- 6,489 ft (1,978 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service; Kootenai National Forest and Montana DNRC also credited
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Lincoln County, Montana
- Coordinates
- 48.20903, −115.13432
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-mt-calx-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.
Downloads about 4.3 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
- 1921 BuiltFirst lookout structure: a crow's nest tree platform, still standing about 1/8 mile south of the present lookout; platform has fallen downSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
- 1934 Built40 ft pole L-4 tower built on the middle of three summitsSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1934 and 1974
- 1974 Destroyed1934 pole tower apparently destroyedSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
- 1984 MovedPresent steel tower moved here from Johnson Peak near WhitefishSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
- No record between 1984 and 2021
- 2021 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 9, 2021 as US 1507, MT 85; nominated by Kyle StetlerSource: nhlr.org
- TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.
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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Calx Mountain Lookout stands about 24 miles southeast of Libby in Lincoln County, Montana.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing.2
The first lookout here was a platform built in 1921, a crow's nest set up in a tree. It is still there about an eighth of a mile south of the present lookout, though it has fallen down.3,1 In 1934 a 40-foot pole tower of the L-4 type went up on the middle of three summits.3 The sources say the 1934 tower was apparently destroyed in 1974.3,1
The steel tower used today came from somewhere else. The Register says it was moved here in 1984 from Johnson Peak, near Whitefish.3,1 Neither source says why it was moved.
The sources say the lookout has been staffed in recent years, but neither gives a year. I found no record of particular fires it watched.3,1
The Register lists the lookout as registered on January 9, 2021, as US 1507, MT 85, on a nomination by Kyle Stetler. It gives the elevation as 6,489 feet (1,978 meters). The other page gives 6,480 feet, so the two differ slightly.3,1 The Register names the US Forest Service as administrator, and the other page credits the Kootenai National Forest and the Montana DNRC.3,1 Neither page says whether visitors may climb the tower or stay in it. Ask the Forest Service before any visit, and do not climb the tower if it is closed.
- Calx Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/calxmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Calx Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/calx-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) Gave us: design, height, dates, photos, 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, staffing, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1507 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Montana lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Calx Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.