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St. Mary lookout: A Brief History

Gordon schofield - St. Mary Peak volunteer Lookout host

In response to a request from the Bitter Root Salish, Jesuit missionaries arrived in the Bitter Root Valley in 1841.  Fathers Jean Pierre DeSmet, Gregory Mengarini and Nicholas Point established a small mission near present-day Stevensville. The mission and the 9,351-ft. peak to the west were named St. Mary, in honor of the Blessed Virgin and, for a time, the Bitterroot River was known as St. Mary’s River. In mid-August each year, the congregation from St. Mary’s Church in Stevensville commemorates the efforts of the early missionaries by making a pilgrimage up the 3.8-mile trail to the summit of St. Mary Peak, where the priest conducts Mass.  

In 1934, the U.S. Forest Service established the first St. Mary Peak lookout to assist with fire detection along the Montana-Idaho divide. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the original lookout on a 50-foot tower, which served until the spring of 1951 when it was destroyed by high winds. Old concrete footings from the original lookout remain, as do wood splinters, broken glass, and old nails in the rocks around the present lookout and downhill to the east.

The current St. Mary Peak lookout, built in 1952-1953, is a classic example of the L-4 hip-roof cab, designed by Forest Service engineer, Clyde Fickes, for quick and inexpensive construction in remote locations. In use from 1933 to 1954, L-4s were prefabricated kits shipped by rail to the nearest train depot, where local rangers paid cash on delivery (C.O.D.) for the lookout. Kit crates were then trucked to trailheads where they were loaded on packstrings for transport to the lookout site. Portions of the crates became part of the lookout cab, and many L-4s still bear shipping stencils indicating their point of origin. Most Bitterroot National Forest L-4s were manufactured in Spokane, Washington.  

Crews constructed tower supports from nearby timber and stone. In engineer Fickes’s own words, he designed the L-4 so that it could be assembled by “any seasonal who could read and use a hammer.” During the summer of 1953, lookout Les James of Stevensville enclosed the tower base with native rock to create the secure storage space below the cab.  

St. Mary Peak lookout is one of the last generation of L-4 lookouts constructed by the Forest Service. It remained staffed and active from 1952 until 1972 when the Forest Service closed it because of visibility problems due to fog and low clouds, and because much of its viewshed encompasses rocky alpine terrain.

The lookout was staffed intermittently on an as-needed basis by paid staff and volunteers from 1977 until 2009, but it fell into disrepair from years of weather damage, vandalism, and neglect.

In 1998, St. Mary Peak lookout was determined eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. That year, volunteers from across the country restored the lookout’s exterior during a Passport in Time project. A new cedar shingle roof was installed in 2008. Since then, additional major work projects have been completed including installation of new windows, deck planks, structural beams, and masonry repairs. 

Since 2010, volunteers from the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation (SBFC) have staffed the lookout annually from about mid-July until mid-to-late September, depending on the fire season. During this period, the volunteer lookouts have reported numerous fires and provided cross-azimuths to help pinpoint fires reported by other lookouts. 

In addition, volunteer lookouts have welcomed an average of more than 20 visitors per day (over 1,200/season), recorded daily weather, and relayed countless radio messages from fire crews and backcountry workers. With support from Forest Service staff, volunteers have also performed many additional maintenance projects including scraping, priming and repainting the lookout interior to its original color, “government green no. 12”; priming and repainting the catwalk deck and stairs; recaulking the windows; building a visitor picnic bench-table; and installing a new hitchrail for pack and saddle stock. 

Much of the original lookout furniture (bed, desk, and cupboards) is worn out from more than 65 years of use. Volunteers have built replacement furniture off-site using the original 1950s-era plans. Current plans are to pack the new furniture to the lookout in pieces, assemble, and finish it on-site.  

In 2017, St. Mary Peak Lookout was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. May it keep watch over the Bitterroot Valley for years to come!

ABOUT GORDON S. SCHOFIELD

Gordon began his “woods career” in 1966 as a 17-year-old seasonal smokechaser and part-time fire lookout for the Klamath Forest Protective Association in southcentral Oregon. In addition to the Forest Service, he also worked seasonally for Weyerhaeuser and Boise-Cascade Corporations. In 1971, he earned a bachelor of science degree in forest management from the University of Montana, and then served a three-year tour in the U.S. Army.  In 1975, Gordon received a permanent Forest Service appointment on the Red River Ranger District, Nez Perce National Forest. In 1984, he completed graduate-level continuing education in forest ecology and silviculture at U. of M., Washington State University and the University of Idaho. 

Gordon retired from the U.S. Forest Service in April 2010. During his 38-year career, he held numerous positions on several ranger districts and national forests in Idaho and Montana, and worked in multiple resource disciplines including fire, timber, silviculture, recreation and lands. He also served two extended terms as acting district ranger.  In his last position, he served as the Group Leader for Land Uses in the Forest Service’s Northern Region headquarters in Missoula, Montana.  Gordon also served as an instructor at the USFS-BLM National Lands Training Academy held annually in Shepherdstown, WV and Phoenix, AZ.

Since 2010, Gordon has served as a volunteer lookout on St. Mary Peak on the Stevensville Ranger District, Bitterroot NF. He has been a volunteer rural firefighter, delivered Meals-on-Wheels, helped build homes for Habitat for Humanity, served on hospital and school boards, and is a member of the Smithsonian Air & Space Society. He enjoys hiking, hunting, fishing, golf and competitive target shooting. Gordon and his wife, Diane, have two sons and two adult granddaughters.