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Fire lookout · Mineral County, Montana

Stark Mountain Lookout

First lookout 1934 (L-4 pole); present R-6 cab on a 20-ft timber tower from 1964, staffed in summer on the Lolo National Forest.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Reached from the Stark Mountain Trailhead by Trail #58; the lookout is staffed in summer

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 4 miles on Stark Mountain Trail #58 from the trailhead
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flat cab on a 20-ft treated timber towerThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
7,113 ft (2,168 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Mineral County, Montana
Coordinates
47.08830, −114.57050
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-stark-mountain

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 3.9 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. 1934 BuiltFirst lookout: an L-4 cab on a 30-ft pole towerSources: firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1964
  3. 1964 BuiltSource: firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page
  4. 1964 Replaced by a new structurePresent R-6 flat cab on a 20-ft treated timber tower replaced the pole towerSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, montanalookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1964 and 2000
  6. 2000 Fire32 fires ignited on the Ninemile Ranger District on August 4, 2000Source: nhlr.org
  7. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered July 14, 2000 as US 367, MT 34Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2000 StaffedVirginia Vincent had staffed the lookout for 30 years as of the register entrySource: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

Stark Mountain sits on the Ninemile Divide in the Lolo National Forest.1,2 The first lookout on the summit went into use in 1934, an L-4 cab on a 30-foot pole.3,4 In 1964 the present cab, an R-6 flat-roofed design on a 20-foot treated timber tower, went up to replace it.1,3,4 By the time the lookout was entered on the National Historic Lookout Register on July 14, 2000, Virginia Vincent had staffed it for 30 years.1

That register entry also recalls a busy night. On August 4, 2000, Vincent, a Forest Fire Lookout Association member, photographed the fires, many of which she saw flare up in the middle of the night.1 The entry counts 32 fires ignited on the Ninemile Ranger District that day.1

Today the Forest Service reports summer staffing at Stark, and visitors reach it on a four-mile hike along Trail #58 from the trailhead.2 Firelookout.com also notes the summer staffing.3

  1. Stark Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/stark-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Stark Mountain Trailhead, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/lolo/recreation/stark-mountain-trailhead (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Stark Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/starkmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Stark Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Montana), montanalookouts.weebly.com, https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/stark-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Stark Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2011
2011 (2011)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Interior, 2011
Interior, 2011 (2011)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
View of Missoula Valley from lookout
View of Missoula Valley from lookoutPhoto: Angela Wells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Stark Mountain Lookout
Photo: Angela Wells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Stark Mtn. in 1935
Stark Mtn. in 1935 (1935)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Stark Mtn. in 1960
Stark Mtn. in 1960 (1960)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Stark Mtn. in 1960
Stark Mtn. in 1960 (1960)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Stark Mtn. in 1994
Stark Mtn. in 1994 (1994)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum 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, 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
  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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 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, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.