Fourteen miles northwest of St. Regis, the 50-foot-tall Camel’s Hump Lookout tower looms over the Lolo National Forest. The original structure was built during the 1930s, replaced during the 1960s, and continues to be staffed each summer. More than 40,000 acres of the Lolo National Forest are visible from its cabin.

For much of the twentieth century, Camel’s Hump and other fire lookout towers provided the U.S. Forest Service with its first line of defense against wildfire. The lookouts sat atop strategic points and each individual lookout served as part of a larger patrol network, which enabled Forest Service personnel to observe as much of the forest’s 2 million acres as possible.

Forest fires that blackened much of the region in the early twentieth century hastened the development of the fire lookout system. Although many lookouts are unique, over time the Forest Service adopted standardized designs. Among the early lookouts, some were simply wood towers with open platforms; others had enclosed cabins on stilts. On high ridges and hills, cabins perched precariously on uneven ground. The lookouts relayed messages to ranger stations, or isolated logging or engineering camps, first via telephone and later via radio. Pack trains brought in the employees and supplies. “I was resupplied every two weeks with bread, butter, eggs, potatoes, canned fruits and vegetables, and dried beef,” remembered Donald Megnin, who served as lookout at Camel’s Hump in the summer of 1952.

Apart from hauling water and chopping wood, work at the lookout was relatively easy. Bob Lindeman, another lookout, spent ten minutes of each hour walking around the cabin catwalk and looking for fire. The rest of the time he could spend reading.

At one time, Mineral County contained more than 18 lookouts. Improvements in fire-fighting technology, reorganizations in forest management, and the expense of maintenance all contributed to the decline of the lookouts. Many have been destroyed by time or intentionally dismantled. Some are maintained as historic sites or cabin rentals. Camel’s Hump still stands sentinel over the landscape, its lookout diligently watching for the telltale curl of smoke above the trees.

Credits and Sources:

McLeod, Milo. Lookouts of the Lolo National Forest.Lolo, MT: Lolo – Bitterroot National Forest, ca. 1982.

Megnin, Donald F. A Farm Boy Sees the World.Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Coportation, 2008.

Mineral County Historical Society. Mineral County History.Superior, MT: Mineral County Historical Society, 2004.

“Welcome to Camel’s Hump Lookout.” Pamphlet. Couer d’Alene, ID: Couer d’Alene National Forest, 1961.

Historic photographs of “Roy Kurkalo and Pack Team at Camel’s Hump Lookout,” “Camel’s Hump Lookout,” and “Gold Peak Lookout, 1932” of Mineral County Historical Museum, Superior, MT.

Contemporary photographs of Camel’s Hump Lookout courtesy of Historical Research Associates, Inc.