Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Montana
Elk Mountain Lookout
Also known as Elk Patrol
A 1923 frame cab and 1940 L-4 cab on a pole tower in Lincoln County, Montana; now in ruins, and a trail listing says the site is closed.
- Ruins
- Closed
- Verified
Closed
The site is closed to visitors. A travel listing for the Elk Patrol Trail says the old structure is now closed to the public; a Visit Montana listing for the Elk Mountain Trail does not mention a closure.
Ruins: Only footings or remains are left. The register says the tower now lies in ruins after vandalism and decay; the Forest Fire Lookout Association's Montana list still shows it standing.
Visit & stay
Ruins: footings or remains only. There is no structure to climb or rent.
Access
Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- sources disagree
- Type
- Ground-level cab10x10 ft frame cab with roof platform (1923); 10 ft pole tower with L-4 cab (1940); separate L-6 cab about 1 mile northeastThe designs: L-4, L-6
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1923
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 6,588 ft (2,008 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service, Kootenai National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Lincoln County, Montana
- Coordinates
- 48.45550, −114.91491 sources disagree
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-mt-elk-mountain-2
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 4.3 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
- 1923 BuiltDeveloped with a 10x10 ft frame cab and roof platformSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1923 and 1940
- 1940 Built10 ft pole tower with L-4 cab, built about 1/4 mile southwest of the summitSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
- No record between 1940 and 2021
- 2021 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered per NHLR detail page: January 9, 2021Source: NHLR register entry
- TodayRuinsOnly footings or remains are left. When it came down is not recorded.
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.
Elk Mountain Lookout sits in Lincoln County, Montana, on the Kootenai National Forest, about 28 miles east-northeast of Libby.1 The register gives its elevation as 6,588 feet, and firelookout.com gives 6,587 feet.2,1 The register lists the US Forest Service as administrator, and the Forest Fire Lookout Association's Montana list also calls the site Elk Patrol.2,3
The register says the site was developed in 1923 with a 10-by-10-foot frame cab and a roof platform.2 In 1940 a 10-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab was built about a quarter mile southwest of the summit.2,1 The register also notes an L-6 cab about a mile northeast of the lookout.2
The sources I could read do not say who staffed the lookout or record any notable fires there.
Vandalism and decay have taken a toll, and the register says the tower has fallen into ruin.2 Firelookout.com says the same.1 The association's Montana list still marks the site as standing, so the sources disagree about its condition.3
A travel listing for the Elk Patrol Trail says the old structure is now closed to the public.4 A Visit Montana listing for the Elk Mountain Trail describes a hike that leads up to Elk Mountain and the old lookout, and it does not mention a closure.5 The Visit Montana listing is silent on closure, so please treat the site as closed, and do not climb the ruins.
- Elk Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/elkmt.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Elk Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/elk-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Elk Patrol Trail in Fortine Montana, travelmt.com, http://www.travelmt.com/mt_sites_6937_Elk+Patrol+Trail.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Elk Mountain Trail, Visit Montana, https://www.visitmt.com/listing/elk-mountain-trail-5429 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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Where sources disagree
We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.
Sources disagree on whether it still stands.
- Firefinder research: Ruins
- FFLA: Standing
Research (2026-10-09) gives ruins where the source records give standing. The page shows the researched status; please tell us if it is wrong.
Sources disagree on the location by 1.6 km (1.0 mi).
- NHLR: 48.45550, −114.91491
- FFLA: 48.46258, −114.89668
They share a register number.
The map uses the position from NHLR.
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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, 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 1504 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Elk Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower (firelookout.com) (opens another site)
- Elk Patrol Trail in Fortine Montana (travelmt.com) (opens another site)
- Elk Mountain Trail (Visit Montana) (opens another site)
- FFLA Montana lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.