Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Montana
Swede Mountain Lookout
Also known as Big Swede Lookout
A 1934 pole lookout replaced by today's 53-ft R-6 tower in 1964; staffed each summer, drive-to above Libby, with roof and window restoration from 2019 to 2021.
- Standing
- Open to the public
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. Drive-to lookout above Libby; accessible seasonally by vehicle.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Yes, you can drive up
- Staffing
- Staffed during fire season
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerR-6 flat-cab treated-timber tower (present); first lookout a 50 ft pole tower with L-4 cabThe designs: L-4, R-6
- Built of
- Wood
- Built
- 1934
- Height
- 53 ft (16.2 m)
- Elevation
- 4,141 ft (1,262 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service, Kootenai National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Lincoln County, Montana
- Coordinates
- 48.36791, −115.45942
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-mt-swede-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 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
- 1934 BuiltFirst lookout: 50 ft pole tower with L-4 cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
- No record between 1934 and 1964
- 1964 Replaced by a new structurePresent 53 ft treated-timber tower with R-6 flat cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
- No record between 1964 and 2019
- 2019 RestoredNew roof; the Forest Service covered the roof repair cost; association volunteers helped; completed early OctoberSources: thewesternnews.com, firelookout.org
- 2020 Condition assessmentOne of four Libby District assessments that set the 2021 priorities.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.org
- 2020 RestoredAdditional stabilizing of the roofSource: firelookout.org
- 2021 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered January 9, 2021Source: nhlr.org
- 2021 Restored52 windows glazed; catwalk, railing and landing posts replaced; lookout scraped, sanded and paintedSources: firelookout.org, nwmt-ffla.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Swede Mountain Lookout sits a few miles east of Libby, in the Kootenai National Forest.1
The first lookout on the mountain was a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, built in 1934 overlooking the town of Libby.2,3 In 1964 it was replaced by the present 53-foot treated-timber tower, which has an R-6 flat cab.2,3 The Western News gives the current tower's height as 52 feet, so the sources differ by a foot.1
The register says the tower is staffed every summer.2 A 2020 Western News article named it among the Kootenai lookouts still staffed, along with Marston and Black Butte.1
A new roof went on in 2019.4 The Western News reported that a Kalispell roofing company worked with association volunteers, that the U.S. Forest Service covered the cost of the roof repairs, and that the work was completed in early October.1,4 More stabilizing of the roof followed in 2020.4
In 2021 volunteers glazed 52 windows and replaced catwalk posts, railing and landing posts.4,5 The lookout was then scraped, sanded and painted.4,5 It was registered on the National Historic Lookout Register on January 9, 2021.2
The association's 2021 newsletter calls it a drive-to lookout above Libby.5 The 2020 article says it can be reached by vehicle in season, and that visitors can see the Libby Valley, the Kootenai River Valley and the eastern edge of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.1
- Looking out for Montana's fire lookouts, The Western News, https://thewesternnews.com/news/2020/feb/28/looking-out-for-montanas-fire-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Swede Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/swede-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Swede Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/swedemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- 2021 Year-End Report, Northwest Montana Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nwmtla-2021.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- 2021 winter newsletter, Northwest Montana Lookout Association, https://nwmt-ffla.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2021winter.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) Gave us: design, height, staffing, 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
- Northwest Montana Lookout Association (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- 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
- NHLR register entry US 1508 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Looking out for Montana's fire lookouts (The Western News) (opens another site)
- 2021 Year-End Report (Northwest Montana Lookout Association) (opens another site)
- 2021 winter newsletter (Northwest Montana Lookout Association) (opens another site)
- FFLA Montana lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Northwest Montana Lookout Association: work on Swede Mountain Lookout (opens another site)
- Swede Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Swede Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.