FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Montana

Warland Peak Lookout

1934 Kootenai NF lookout: main tower still listed as standing; its L-4 living-quarters cab collapsed in winter 2012-13. Current access unconfirmed.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Not staffed (as of late 1960s)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot steel tower with 7x7 foot cab, plus a 10-foot pole tower with L-4 living-quarters cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
5,952 ft (1,814 m)
Agency
US Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lincoln County, Montana
Coordinates
48.48415, −115.10675
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-warland-peak

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 BuiltDeveloped with a 100-foot steel tower and 7x7 foot cab, plus a 10-foot pole tower with L-4 living-quarters cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1939 StaffedMemoir author at Warland Ranger Station from spring 1939; names Rex Fleming as the lookout man. Year inferred from the memoir timeline.Source: npshistory.com
  3. No record between 1939 and 2013
  4. 2013 DestroyedThe small L-4 was found collapsed, presumably during the previous winter.Source: firelookout.org
  5. 2013 EventPartial collapse: only the small L-4 living-quarters cab on the pole tower collapsed, over winter 2012-2013; no source reports the steel tower downSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org
  6. 2021 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 9, 2021 as US 1506, MT 84; nominated by Kyle StetlerSource: nhlr.org
  7. 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.

Warland Peak sits about 20 miles east-northeast of Libby, in Lincoln County, Montana, inside the Kootenai National Forest.1,2 The US Forest Service administers the lookout, which was developed in 1934 with a 100-foot steel tower and a 7-by-7-foot cab.2 A shorter 10-foot pole tower carried an L-4 cab for living quarters.2 A memoir from the early days of Forest Service work describes those quarters as built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews on 12-foot tower legs, so the two accounts differ on the pole's height.3

The same memoir places its author at the Warland Ranger Station from spring 1939 and names Rex Fleming as the lookout at that time.3 When a fire broke out at the head of Cripple Horse Creek, the lookout was away from the tower for two days.3 The National Historic Lookout Register says the tower has not been used since the late 1960s.2

The small L-4 cab collapsed over the winter of 2012 to 2013.2 A Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter report from 2013 says it was found collapsed and presumably came down the winter before.4 The Association's Montana list still shows the Warland Peak tower as standing.5

The site was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on January 9, 2021, as US 1506, MT 84.2 We did not find a current access or rental notice from the Forest Service, so we cannot say whether the tower is open to visitors. Check with the Kootenai National Forest before you go, and do not climb the tower unless it is clearly open to the public.

  1. Warland Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/warlandpk.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Warland Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/warland-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Early Days in the Forest Service (Volume 4), npshistory.com, https://npshistory.com/publications/usfs/region/1/early-days/4/sec13.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. 2013 Northern Idaho/Montana Chapter Annual Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nidmt-2013.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Warland Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Warland Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Warland Peak L.O.
Warland Peak L.OPhoto: the Montana Memory Project, Gary Weber, garyonly@bresnan.net, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Warland Peak L.O.
Warland Peak L.OPhoto: the Montana Memory Project, Gary Weber, garyonly@bresnan.net, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Warland Peak L.O.
Warland Peak L.OPhoto: the Montana Memory Project, Gary Weber, garyonly@bresnan.net, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Warland Peak L.O.
Warland Peak L.OPhoto: the Montana Memory Project, Gary Weber, garyonly@bresnan.net, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Warland Peak in 2013
Warland Peak in 2013 (2013)Photo: the Montana Memory Project, Gary Weber, garyonly@bresnan.net, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Warland Peak in 2016
Warland Peak in 2016 (2016)Photo: the Montana Memory Project, Gary Weber, garyonly@bresnan.net, and Luke Channer, 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. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, 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.