Fire lookout · Missoula County, Montana
Petty Ridge
Missoula County, MT lookout site: D-6 cupola cabin in the 1920s, 50-foot pole L-4 tower in 1933, destroyed 1963; a 2019 summit report describes a concrete base, ground wire, glass and rotting wood as all that is visibly left.
- Gone
- Open to the public
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. 1933 structure destroyed 1963; a 2019 summit report describes only a concrete base structure, ground wire, glass and rotting wood
Visit & stay
Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.
Access
Open to the public. Reached by Forest Service trails from Petty Creek Road; the 2019 report describes them as hiking routes and mentions no closure
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- Two trailheads on Petty Creek Road: Petty Pasture route about 10.25 miles round trip; Printer Creek route about 13 miles (2019 report)
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerD-6 cupola cabin atop a log crib (1920s); 50-foot pole L-4 tower (1933)The designs: L-4, D-6
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1933
- Height
- 50 ft (15.2 m)
- Elevation
- Unknown
- Agency
- US Forest Service, Lolo National Forest (per 2019 report map)
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Missoula County, Montana
- Coordinates
- 46.91138, −114.40611
- Registers
- Not on a lookout register
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-mt-petty-ridge
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
- 1933 Built50-foot pole L-4 tower per firelookout.com; the 2019 report calls it an improved structureSources: firelookout.com, pnwsota.org
- No record between 1933 and 1963
- 1963 DestroyedThe 1933 structure was destroyed in 1963Sources: firelookout.com, pnwsota.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Petty Ridge was a US Forest Service lookout site in Missoula County.1,2
The site was set up in the 1920s, when a D-6 cupola cabin stood on a log crib.3,1 In 1933 an improved structure went up there, a 50-foot pole L-4 tower.3,1
That 1933 structure was destroyed in 1963.3,1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as gone.2
A 2019 summit report titled Petty Mountain uses the keyword Petty Ridge Lookout, and it says the 1933 improved structure was destroyed in 1963.1 The report describes a concrete base, some ground wire, glass and rotting wood as all that is visibly left.1 It also notes a hitching rail for horses that might have belonged to the old facility.1
The report describes two routes to the summit, both starting from trailheads on Petty Creek Road.1 The Petty Pasture route is about 10.25 miles round trip, and the Printer Creek route is about 13 miles.1 Its directions use Forest Service roads and trails.1
- Montana - Petty Mountain 25September2019, PNWSOTA, https://www.pnwsota.org/activation-reports/k7vk/2025-10-01/montana-petty-mountain-25september2019 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Petty Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/pettyridge.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
Sources
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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
- Montana - Petty Mountain 25September2019 (PNWSOTA) (opens another site)
- FFLA Montana lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Petty Ridge on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.