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Fire lookout · Powder River County, Montana

Yager Butte Lookout

Yager Butte, Powder River County, MT: 1958 53-ft R-6 tower; FFA list marks the site tower gone; sources disagree on where it now stands (Diamond Butte or a site named Tarter).

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Gone from Yager Butte per the FFA list; a Flickr caption says it moved to Diamond Butte in 1958, while the FFA list names a relocated Yager Butte tower at a private site named Tarter as standing

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
Unknown

Facts

Status
Moved sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower53-foot treated timber R-6 tower with flat cabThe design: R-6
Built of
Wood
Height
53 ft (16.2 m)
Elevation
4,024 ft (1,227 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Powder River County, Montana
Coordinates
45.45887, −106.02469
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-yager-butte

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.4 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. 1956 BuiltA cabin built in 1956 (firelookout.com)Source: firelookout.com
  2. 1958 Built53-foot R-6 tower built (NHLR and firelookout.com)Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1958 MovedFlickr caption says the lookout was moved to Diamond Butte in 1958; the FFA list places a relocated Yager Butte tower at Tarter insteadSources: firelookout.org, flickr.com
  4. No record between 1958 and 2016
  5. 2016 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 27, 2016 as US 1157, MT 66Source: nhlr.org
  6. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. When it came down is not recorded.

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 Yager Butte lookout stood on Yager Butte in Powder River County, Montana, about 29 miles west of Broadus, inside the Custer National Forest.1 A cabin went up there in 1956, and the 53-foot treated timber tower followed in 1958.1,2

The National Historic Lookout Register describes a treated timber flat-cab tower, 53 feet tall, dated to 1958, and lists it as US 1157, MT 66, registered November 27, 2016.2

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Montana list marks the tower on Yager Butte as gone.3 The same list gives a relocated Yager Butte tower, at a private site named Tarter, as standing.3

The sources name different places for where the tower went.3,4 A Flickr caption says it was moved to Diamond Butte in 1958, and puts Yager Butte about 20 miles north of Diamond Butte.4 Diamond Butte holds a Forest Service lookout, and the caption says it is staffed in the summer and open to overnight visitors the rest of the year.4 The sources we read do not show whether that tower and the one at Tarter are the same structure.3,4

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains at the original Yager Butte site.3

  1. Yager Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/yagerbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Yager Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/yager-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Diamond Butte Lookout, Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/outlawpete/52242950766 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Yager Butte Lookout
Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cabin Interior
Cabin InteriorPhoto: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Yager Butte in 2000
Yager Butte in 2000 (2000)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, 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 whether it still stands.

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

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1958
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1956

    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, 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: what it is built of, design, 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 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.