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Fire lookout · Mineral County, Montana

Gold Peak

Lolo NF lookout on Gold Peak, built 1914 and rebuilt in 1920 and 1928; the D-6 cupola cabin was destroyed in 1955 and the site is listed as gone.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cabin destroyed in 1955; no source describes what remains on the peak

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
Ground-level cabPole tower with cab; D-6 cupola cabin from 1928 per firelookout.comThe design: D-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1914
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Lolo National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Mineral County, Montana
Coordinates
47.29555, −115.37927
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-gold-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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1914 Built38-foot pole tower, per firelookout.comSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1920 Replaced by a new structure30-foot pole with 8x8 cab and log cabin, per firelookout.comSource: firelookout.com
  3. 1922 StaffedCharley Hageland, second season; lookouts on station July 1 to September 15; Missoulian gives a 60-foot towerSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1924 Replaced by a new structureMissoulian: glass-ribbed observatories to replace older lookouts; firelookout.com dates the D-6 cabin to 1928Source: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1928 BuiltD-6 cupola cabin, per firelookout.comSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1928 Altered400-gallon water tank installed at the top of the peakSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1933 EventBear broke into the cabin and smashed its contents, per Independent (Helena) itemSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1934 EventRobert Root struck by a falling lodge pole near the station; taken to Missoula for several stitchesSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1934 RebuiltMissoulian: reconstruction of an obsolete lookout on Gold PeakSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1934 and 1955
  11. 1955 DestroyedD-6 cupola cabin destroyed 1955Source: firelookout.com
  12. 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.

Gold Peak is in Mineral County, Montana, on the Lolo National Forest, 13 miles west of St. Regis.1,2

The firelookout.com record says the site was developed in 1914 with a 38-foot pole tower.1 In 1920 a 30-foot pole with an 8-by-8-foot cab and a log cabin replaced it.1 A 1921 photograph in the Montana History Portal shows upright members of the tower being hoisted, with the old tower serving as a "Jim pole."3 In August 1922 the Missoulian described a 60-foot tower with the cabin combined.2 That height does not match the 30-foot pole in the firelookout.com account, and the sources do not explain the gap.1,2

The lookouts were to go to the station on July 1 and remain until September 15.2 In 1922 Charley Hageland was stationed there for his second season. The paper noted that he was practically alone, and that a pack train brought his supplies every 10 days.2

In 1924 the Missoulian reported that work was under way on two glass-ribbed observatories, one of them on Gold Peak, meant to replace older lookouts.2 The firelookout.com record instead dates a D-6 cupola cabin on the peak to 1928, so the two accounts disagree about when the cabin changed.1,2 In October 1928 a 400-gallon water tank was installed at the top of the peak.2

In July 1933 a bear broke down the cabin door and smashed the stove, table and bunk, according to an Independent (Helena) item quoted by the Forest Lookouts site.2 In October 1934 the Missoulian reported that an obsolete lookout on Gold Peak had been reconstructed.2 In August 1934, Robert Root, stationed at the lookout, was struck by a falling lodgepole pine near the station and taken to Missoula, where he received several stitches.2

The firelookout.com record says the cabin was destroyed in 1955.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the site as a ground lookout, with the status Gone.4 No source we read describes what, if anything, remains on the peak, or whether it can be visited.

  1. Gold Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/goldpeak380.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Gold Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (Montana), https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/gold-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Gold Peak fire lookout, Montana History Portal, https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/20370 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Hoisting up several upright members of the Gold Peak lookout tower using the old tower as a Jim pole
Hoisting up several upright members of the Gold Peak lookout tower using the old tower as a Jim pole (1921)Photo: Joseph B. Halm (1884-1965), U.S. Forest Service Region One photographs, University of Montana Mansfield Library (Photo FS99.01099) · No copyright - United States, per Montana History Portal rights statement · source

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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: height, 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

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