FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Ravalli County, Montana

Deer Mountain Lookout

Bitterroot NF lookout east of Darby, MT: first cabin about 1926, 1934 pole tower, present R-6 cab dated 1960 or 1961; NHLR-registered 2011; staffed summers per firelookout.com.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6 flat cab, 15 by 15 feet, with catwalk on a 10-foot concrete baseThe designs: R-6, Cupola house, L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1926
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
7,284 ft (2,220 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Bitterroot National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Ravalli County, Montana
Coordinates
46.02607, −114.05509
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-deer-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 3.9 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. 1924 First staffedE.O. Hageman stationed at the lookout station for three months, per a September 1924 newspaper itemSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1926 Builtfirst cabin, a log cupola building; firelookout.com says started about 1926Sources: firelookout.com, nhlr.org
  3. 1934 Rebuilt10-foot pole tower with L-4 cab; reported completed and in use by early July 1934Sources: firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1960
  5. 1960 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  6. 1961 Replaced by a new structurepresent R-6 cab on 10-foot concrete base; NHLR dates it 1960, a July 1961 newspaper report describes it as just completedSources: firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  7. 1961 StaffedTom G. Lowman of Darby stationed there that summerSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1971 Staffedlast staff name on the firelookout.com listSource: firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1971 and 2011
  10. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout Registerregistered September 25, 2011 as US 931, MT 57Source: nhlr.org
  11. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Deer Mountain Lookout sits about six miles east of Darby, in the Bitterroot National Forest.1 In February 1923 the forest planned a telephone line to the summit, along with a lookout cabin to be built there.2 The first building was a log cupola cabin, which the National Historic Lookout Register dates to 1926.3 Yet a September 1924 newspaper item already describes E.O. Hageman, who had been stationed at the lookout station for three months, so the station may be older than that date.2

The next lookout was a ten-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, dated to 1934.1 A Missoulian item from early July 1934 reported the new lookout completed and in use by Forest Service men.2

The present building is an R-6 flat cab, about 15 by 15 feet with a catwalk, on a ten-foot concrete base.3 The Register dates it to 1960.3 A Ravalli Republic report from July 1961 says the district had just finished erecting a prefabricated, flat-roofed cab on a block tower, and that the job was done by June 30 on schedule.2 The old building stayed up until the new one was complete, because the forest needed a lookout early in fire season, and was then torn down after its glass and window sashes were salvaged.2

Known staff names run from 1946 to 1971.1 In summer 1961 Tom G. Lowman, a Darby high school valedictorian, was stationed there.2 The lookout served as a radio and telephone hub for fire control and project crews, and it reported weather to the Forest Service and the U.S. Weather Bureau.2

The Register registered the lookout on September 25, 2011, as US 931, MT 57.3 Firelookout.com says the present tower is staffed every summer, though that page carries no date.1

I found no current staffing notice, rental listing or visiting rule for Deer Mountain, so the sources do not say whether the public can go up into the cab. Check with the Bitterroot National Forest before planning a visit.

  1. Deer Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/deermt.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Deer Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts Montana (montanalookouts.weebly.com), https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/deer-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Deer Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/deer-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Deer Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout Interior
Lookout InteriorPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Deer Mtn. in 1928
Deer Mtn. in 1928 (1928)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Deer Mtn. L.O.
Deer Mtn. L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Deer Mtn. L.O.
Deer Mtn. L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Deer Mtn. in 2014
Deer Mtn. in 2014 (2014)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists 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
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, staffing, 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
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.