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Fire lookout · Sanders County, Montana

Seven Point Lookout

Also known as Seven Point Mountain

Sanders County, MT Forest Service lookout built 1930, staffed until 1973, restored 1996 as a Passport in Time project, and burned in 2006.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned in 2006 per FireLookout.com and the Forest Lookouts site; no source describes what remains on the peak today

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 sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerGable-roofed L-4 cab on a 10-foot towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1930
Height
15 ft (4.6 m)
Elevation
6,562 ft (2,000 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Sanders County, Montana
Coordinates
47.82288, −115.38042
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-seven-point

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 4.1 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. 1930 BuiltBuilt by the Forest Service on what was then the Cabinet National Forest; one of four ready-cut lookout houses installed that yearSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1930 and 1967
  3. 1967 StaffedJay Jopling listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  4. 1973 AbandonedRegister dates the abandonment to 1973, the year much of the Trout Creek Ranger District was transferred to the Cabinet Ranger DistrictSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1973 Last staffedLast staffed seasonSources: firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1973 and 1996
  7. 1996 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 20, 1996Source: nhlr.org
  8. 1996 RestoredPassport in Time projectSources: nhlr.org, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  9. 2006 BurnedBurned down in 2006Sources: firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  10. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Forest Service built Seven Point Lookout in 1930 on Seven Point Peak in Sanders County, Montana.1,2,3 That September a local paper reported that four ready-cut lookout houses had been installed, one of them on Seven Point Peak in the Trout Creek district.3 The register calls it the last gable-roofed L-4 cab still on a tower in the Northern Rockies Region. It says the lookout has never been moved, though it has stood on three national forests.1

The records we found are thin. A 1959 item from the Sanders County Ledger says a 15-foot snowdrift on the trail meant the post could not yet be manned.3 Jay Jopling is the one named lookout we found, listed for 1967.2 In 1971 heavy snow and rain had brought the cabin's roof down.3 Workers from the Trout Creek district reopened the lookout that spring, and a chartered government helicopter ferried crews and tools each day.3

The last staffed season was 1973, after which the lookout was abandoned.2,3 The register dates the abandonment to 1973, the year much of the Trout Creek Ranger District was transferred to the Cabinet Ranger District.1 The register lists the lookout as registered on August 20, 1996, and says a Passport in Time project restored it that year.1

FireLookout.com and the Forest Lookouts page both say the tower burned in 2006.2,3 We found no source describing what remains on the peak today, or whether the site is open to visitors.

  1. Seven Point Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/seven-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Seven Point Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/sevenpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Seven Point Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Montana), https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/seven-point-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Seven Point Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · 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.

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.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. firelookout.com lists it, but not on its map of standing lookouts.

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: 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.