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Museums 301: Forest Fire Lookouts (photo diary) [1]

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Date: 2025-03-02

In 1876, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States. This office was expanded in 1881 to become the Division of Forestry. In 1905 the United States Forest Service (USFS) came into existence as an agency of the Department of Agriculture. Gifford Pinchot was picked to lead the new agency.

One of the tasks of the USFS has been the detection and control of forest fires. John Grosvenor, in his book A History of the Architecture of the USDA Forest Service, writes:

“The greatest single motivator for fire protection within the Forest Service was its Chief, Gifford Pinchot. Part of Pinchot's plan was to convince the public that the Forest Service mission included fire detection and prevention. Pinchot and many of his followers believed that wildland fires should be prevented whenever possible or, if that failed, that fires be suppressed.”

In mapping the national forests during the early years of the USFS, specific mountaintops were considered for detection locations. From these mountain tops, smoke from fires could be spotted and their locations relied to fire crews. John Grosvenor writes:

“The earliest lookouts were high peaks with an unobstructed view, with tents as shelters and short mapboard stands for pinpointing the smoke on maps. After 1905. tall trees, crude observation-only towers, platforms, and small log cabins began to be used.”

The forest fires of 1910 in Montana, Idaho, and Washington changed how the Forest Service viewed forest fires. One of the innovations was the development of a series of fire lookouts, often located on mountain tops, which could spot and located fires early. Fire lookout towers have an effective range of about a 20-mile radius. Today, many of the lookouts are not needed for fire surveillance and serve as vista points for visitors.

Many different designs for fire lookouts have been used. Shown below are some of these designs from a display in the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula in Missoula, Montana.

Shown below are some museum displays of fire lookouts.

Columbia Gorge Museum, Stevenson, Washington

Shown above is a model of a fire lookout station.

Stevensville Historical Museum, Stevensville, Montana

Shown above is a model of a fire lookout.

Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Missoula, Montana

Lookouts began to be constructed in the national forests by 1905 and by 1915 the design for the lookouts had become standardized.

Shown above are the blueprints for the standardized lookout.

Shown above is a portable phone which could be attached to a telephone line. To ring the phone at the other end, the handle was cranked.

Shown above is the Special Portable Fire Radio (SPF) which was first used in the 1930s in lookouts or in fire camps.

By 1917, almost all working lookouts and ranger stations had telephones.

Smokejumper Visitor Center, Missoula, Montana

In order to fight a forest fire, it must be spotted and located. Fire lookouts are located on mountain tops throughout the region where people can scan the landscape looking for smoke and notifying the firefights. Shown below are photographs from the displays in the full-size lookout at the Smokejumpers Center.

The map shown above is an important instrument in locating the fire.

Highlander was a local Missoula, Montana beer. More than 50 years ago, the beer was evicted from its home to make way for Interstate 90. Brewing stopped in 1964. There is an attempt at the present time to revive the brand name.

Tillamook County Pioneer Museum, Tillamook, Oregon

Fort Missoula, Missoula, Montana

More museums

Museums 201: Antique farming equipment (photo diary)

Museums 301: Jails and prisons (photo diary)

Museums 301: Saddles (photo diary)

Museums 401: The Caboose (photo diary)

Museums 401: Gas stations and garages (photo diary)

Museums 401: Locomotives (photo diary)

Museums 401: The Blacksmith Shop (photo diary)

Museums 501: Schools (photo diary)

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