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Fire lookout · Mineral County, Montana

Williams Peak Lookout

R-6 cab tower moved from Little Joe in 1977 now stands closed and unstaffed in Fish Creek State Park; the record's 9.1 m height matches the 1934 tower.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Tower is closed to the public and fenced off; hikers can still reach the summit of Williams Peak.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 3.4 miles round trip with over 1,200 feet of climbing; one writer rated it an easy hike.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2026-09-05)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flat cab on a 53-foot timber towerThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
53 ft (16.2 m)
Elevation
5,445 ft (1,660 m)
Agency
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Land
Federal land
Location
Mineral County, Montana
Coordinates
46.95694, −114.69939
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-williams-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 3.8 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 BuiltSite developed with a 30-foot pole tower and L-4 cab.Source: firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1953
  3. 1953 First staffedEarliest year in the known-personnel list on firelookout.com.Source: firelookout.com
  4. 1959 Last staffedLatest year in the known-personnel list; the page does not date the end of staffing.Source: firelookout.com
  5. 1967 EventCab exhibited at the World Scout Jamboree at Farragut State Park, Idaho.Source: nhlr.org
  6. 1969 BuiltTower erected at Little Joe, near St. Regis.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  7. 1977 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  8. 1977 MovedMoved to Williams Peak, replacing the 1934 tower.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1977 and 2016
  10. 2016 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register.Source: nhlr.org
  11. 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.

The peak was developed in 1934 with a 30-foot pole tower and an L-4 cab.1 The lookout that stands there now is a 53-foot timber tower with an R-6 flat cab.1,2 The cab was first an exhibit at the 1967 World Scout Jamboree in Idaho.3 It was erected at Little Joe near St. Regis in 1969, then moved to Williams Peak in 1977, where it replaced the 1934 tower.3

The sources do not agree on the build year.3,1 The register's detail page lists 1977 as the year built, even though its own description puts the erection at Little Joe in 1969.3 Firelookout.com says the tower was built at Little Joe in 1969 and moved to this site in 1977.1 A travel blog says the tower was hauled in from Idaho in 1977, without mentioning Little Joe.2

Firelookout.com lists known lookout staff from 1953 through 1959, and says the tower has been unstaffed for years.1 The page does not say exactly when staffing ended.1

The register recorded the lookout in March 2016.3 The land was once industrial timber land, and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks later acquired it.3 The tower still sits on state property.1

Today the tower is closed to the public and fenced off.4,2 It stands in Fish Creek State Park, which is open year round with hiking among its activities.3,4 Hikers can still reach the summit of Williams Peak.2 One writer described a 3.4-mile round trip with over 1,200 feet of climbing, and rated it an easy hike.2 The writer found the views expansive, with logging roads visible all around.2 Please stay outside the fence and enjoy the view from the trail.

  1. Williams Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/williamspk.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mount Williams Lookout in Fish Creek State Park, Out There with Tom (blog), https://outtherewithtom.blogspot.com/2026/09/mount-williams-lookout-in-fish-creek.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Williams Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/williams-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Fish Creek State Park, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, https://fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/fish-creek (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

2009
2009 (2009)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Williams Peak in 1935
Williams Peak in 1935 (1935)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Williams Peak in 1969
Williams Peak in 1969 (1969)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Williams Peak L.O.
Williams Peak L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Williams Peak in 2023
Williams Peak in 2023 (2023)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, 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.

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 the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1977
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1934

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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: what it is built of, design, height, ownership, 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, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.