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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Montana

Lost Horse Lookout

A 1934 L-4 cab on a 10-foot pole tower in the Kootenai National Forest, unused for years, wrapped against a 1994 fire and found standing but needing repairs in 2023.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. No rental or official visitor status found. Reached by a flagged route after a 30-mile dirt-road drive; no road to the site.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Flagged route after a 30-mile drive on dirt road (2023 NMLA report). Sources do not say the cab is open to visitors.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on a 10-foot pole towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
6,523 ft (1,988 m)
Agency
US Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lincoln County, Montana
Coordinates
48.79241, −115.56691
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-lost-horse

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 4.2 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. 1921 EventFirst used as a camp lookoutSources: nhlr.org, adventuretaco.com
  2. 1934 BuiltPresent 10-foot pole tower with L-4 cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org, adventuretaco.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1994
  4. 1994 FireYaak-Red Dragon Complex Fire threatened the tower; the cab was wrapped for protectionSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1994 and 2021
  6. 2021 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 9, 2021 as US 1510, MT 88Source: nhlr.org
  7. 2023 Condition assessmentVolunteer visit: catwalk, steps, railings and shutters need repair; roof has holes; cab interior in good shapeSource: firelookout.org
  8. 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.

Lost Horse Lookout sits in the Kootenai National Forest, about seven miles southeast of Yaak in Lincoln County, Montana.1 The site was first used as a camp lookout in 1921. The present 10-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab followed in 1934.2,3 The 2023 Northwest Montana report also gives 1934 as the build year.4

The sources consulted do not say who staffed the tower or for how long. In the 1994 fire season the Yaak-Red Dragon Complex Fire came close.2,5 One account says it burned to within about 100 yards of the tower.5,3 Volunteers from the Northwest Montana Lookout Association later wrote that the cab had been wrapped in protective covering to shield it from that fire.4

The lookout was later abandoned and has stood unused since, according to the Adventure Taco post.3 The register also describes it as unused for many years.3,2 It was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on January 9, 2021, as US 1510, MT 88.2

The 2023 visit describes a remote lookout reached by a flagged route after a 30-mile drive on dirt road.4 The volunteers found a weathered wooden tower and a cab that was in good shape inside, with its windows and glazing intact.4 The catwalk, steps, railings and shutters needed repair or replacement, and light came through several small holes in the roof.4

The blog post also says there is no road to this lookout.3 None of the sources says whether the public may enter the cab or climb the tower, so the safe way to visit is to view it from the outside and leave the structure alone.

  1. Lost Horse Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/losthorse.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Lost Horse Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/lost-horse-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Libby to Canada - Land of the Lookouts (MTBDR #8), Adventure Taco, https://adventuretaco.com/libby-to-canada-land-of-the-lookouts-mtbdr-8/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. 2023 Year-End Report, Northwest Montana Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-mt-nw-2023.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Lost Horse - Forest Lookouts, Montana Lookouts, https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/lost-horse.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Lost Horse Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Lost Horse Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lost Horse in 1981
Lost Horse in 1981 (1981)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Lost Horse L.O.
Lost Horse L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service and Gary Weber, 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: 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
  4. Northwest Montana Lookout Association Gave us: dates, links Northwest Montana Lookout Association (nwmt-ffla.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, dimensions, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the NMLA page or PDF it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLA records (NMLA publishes none). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, visiting details, 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.