FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Missoula/ Sanders County, Montana

Edith Peak

Pole L-4 lookout near Edith Peak, Lolo NF; built 1935 per firelookout.com (earlier 1928 and 1934 newspaper mentions); planned use 1967; destroyed 1972.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1972, per firelookout.com.

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?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerPole tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1935
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Lolo National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Missoula/ Sanders County, Montana
Coordinates
47.10590, −114.25034
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-edith-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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 4.0 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. 1928 EventDaily Missoulian list of new Lolo structures names Edith Peak; the item does not say what was built.Source: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 EventMaterials ordered for ten new towers; Edith Peak named as a Frenchtown-district location.Source: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1935 Builtfirelookout.com gives 1935 (one mile south of the summit). A September 1935 item mentions work at the Edith Peak lookout.Sources: firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1935 and 1953
  5. 1953 FireForest Service photo dated 1953-08, catalogued as the Edith Peak fire near Ninemile.Source: mtmemory.org
  6. 1967 StaffedListed among the locations the Lolo planned to use in 1967 (planned use, not confirmed staffing).Source: mhs.mt.gov
  7. 1972 Destroyedfirelookout.com: destroyed in 1972.Source: firelookout.com
  8. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Edith Peak sits in the Lolo National Forest about 20 miles north-northwest of Missoula, and firelookout.com lists its county as Sanders/Missoula.1 Its lookout was a 20-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, set about a mile south of the summit.1

The build date is disputed.1,2 Firelookout.com says 1935.1 A Daily Missoulian list of new Lolo structures from September 1928 includes Edith Peak.2 In April 1934 the Missoulian reported that materials for ten new towers had been ordered, with Edith Peak named as a Frenchtown-district site.2 A September 1935 item describes a man hurt by a splinter while cutting wood at the Edith Peak lookout, which suggests the lookout was in place by then.2

A Forest Service photograph dated August 1953 shows flames from a fire near Ninemile and is catalogued as the Edith Peak fire.3 A National Register study places Edith Peak on the Lolo's summer 1967 list, a plan covering 26 lookouts.4

Firelookout.com says the tower was destroyed in 1972.1 Neither source describes what remains at Edith Peak today, and neither says whether the site is open to visitors.1,2

  1. Edith Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/edithpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Edith Peak - Forest Lookouts, montanalookouts.weebly.com, https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/edith-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Flames of the Edith Peak fire [umt017647], Montana History Portal, https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/20245 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, fire lookouts, Montana State Historic Preservation Office, https://mhs.mt.gov/Shpo/docs/MPDs/MT_ID_FireLookoutsMPD.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Flames of the Edith Peak fire near Ninemile, Lolo National Forest, August 1953
Flames of the Edith Peak fire near Ninemile, Lolo National Forest, August 1953 (1953)Photo: W.E. Steuerwald, United States Forest Service; University of Montana Mansfield Library · Public domain per the item's rights statement · 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. 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: 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, photos, 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.