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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Montana

Ziegler Mountain Lookout

A 1959 R-6 flat-top lookout on a 20-acre Kootenai National Forest summit near Libby, Montana; the association is assessing it for restaffing.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flat-top cab with catwalk on a treated-timber tower; 14 x 14 ft cab per the registerThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1928
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
5,296 ft (1,614 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lincoln County, Montana
Coordinates
48.57635, −115.26295
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-ziegler-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 4.4 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. 1915 EventLog cabin and three-legged platform tower established on the summitSources: firelookout.com, nwmt-ffla.org
  2. 1919 EventNewspaper item (Sept. 4, 1919) describes a tower on the summit that is reached by telephoneSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1928 BuiltSecond platform tower, about a quarter mile from the 1915 siteSources: firelookout.com, nwmt-ffla.org
  4. 1928 Replaced by a new structureA second platform tower.Source: nwmt-ffla.org
  5. 1933 Replaced by a new structure30-ft pole L-4 tower per the association and firelookout.com; the register dates it to 1928Sources: firelookout.com, nwmt-ffla.org, nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1933 and 1956
  7. 1956 StaffedMarried couple on the lookout in July, per a newspaper itemSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1957 StaffedMarried couple on the lookout in July, before their duties began, per a newspaper itemSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1959 Replaced by a new structurePresent 32-ft treated-timber R-6 flat-top tower with catwalk built beside the older lookout; firelookout.com gives 30 ftSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, nwmt-ffla.org
  10. No record between 1959 and 2000
  11. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered May 12, 2000Source: nhlr.org
  12. No record between 2000 and 2020
  13. 2020 Condition assessmentOne of four Libby District assessments that set the 2021 priorities.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.org
  14. 2026 Condition assessmentCondition assessment for restaffing; tower, catwalk and cab exterior in good condition; interior has basic restaffing equipment. The entry prints no date of its own.Source: nwmt-ffla.org
  15. 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.

Ziegler Mountain is a flat-topped summit of about 20 acres in the Kootenai National Forest, roughly 18 miles northeast of Libby in Lincoln County, Montana.1,2,3,4 Some pages spell the name "Zeigler."3 The first structures, a log cabin and a three-legged platform tower, went up in 1915.2,3 A 1919 newspaper item described a tower on the summit that was reached by telephone.4

A second platform tower followed in 1928, about a quarter mile from the first.2,3 The sources disagree about the 30-foot pole L-4 tower that came next. The register dates it to 1928,1 while the association and firelookout.com put it in 1933.2,3 A catalogue record for a May 1959 photograph says the older lookout had been used since 1931.5 In 1959 a new tower went up beside it, a treated-timber R-6 flat-top with a catwalk.1,3,5 The register gives its cab as 14 by 14 feet.1 The height is also disputed: the association says 32 feet and firelookout.com says 30.2,3

Two July newspaper items, from 1956 and 1957, name married couples on the lookout. The 1957 item says the couple wanted to get used to life there before their duties began.4

The register says the lookout remains active,1 and firelookout.com says it is staffed during the summer.2 The association's 2026 projects page describes a condition assessment for the Libby Ranger District, carried out to see whether the lookout could be restaffed for fire detection.3 The assessors rated the tower, catwalk and cab exterior as sound. To photograph the interior, it removed two window shutters, and the photos showed the basic equipment needed for restaffing.3

None of these sources says whether the cab is open to visitors. The U.S. Forest Service administers the site,1 so check with the Kootenai National Forest before planning a visit.

  1. Ziegler Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/ziegler-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Ziegler Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/zieglermtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. 2026 Projects, Northwest Montana Lookout Association, https://nwmt-ffla.org/2026/03/07/2026-projects/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Ziegler Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Montana), https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/ziegler-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. A new lookout being built, New Ziegler Mountain, Montana History Portal, https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/135507 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Ziegler Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Ziegler Mtn. in 1959
Ziegler Mtn. in 1959 (1959)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, via firelookout.com · source
Ziegler Mtn. in 1985
Ziegler Mtn. in 1985 (1985)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.

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. Northwest Montana Lookout Association Gave us: staffing, 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
  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, 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.