PORPHYRY PEAK
Meagher County - Lewis and Clark National Forest - 13N-8E-33
October 13, 1933: "A lookout tower, 40 feet high, is being built on Porphyry peak, southwest of King's hill which overlooks the Sheep creek drainage and west." (Independent - Helena)
December 15, 1933: "A 40-foot tower, capable of holding a 12 by 14 lookout house, has been built at Porphyry peak near the King's hill cabin." (The Independent Record)
July 24, 1935: "The forest fire reported in the Moose creek territory was in a 'blind area,' as far as the Helena lookouts are concerned and was first noticed by the lookout on Porphyry mountain, near King's hill. He notified the Great Falls office of the Lewis and Clark national forest which in turn relayed the word to the Helena office." (The Independent-Record)
October 14, 1937: "Not satisfied with the height of mountain peaks on which lookout cabins are customarily placed, the forest service is now taking steps to place such stations in the Lewis and Clark national forest on 50-foot towers, it was revealed a few days ago.
Raising the lookout cabins 50 feet, it was found, will in practically all cases enable the lookout to see fires near them as well as those some distance away.
Main supports for the towers are four 50-foot logs, from 18 to 20 inches in diameter at the base and not less than 10 inches in diameter at the top. Inside the bracing which joins the log upright, winding stairways lead to the top, where the 14-foot square lookout cabin is mounted. Extending entirely around the outside of the cabin are 2-foot catwalks.
Four towers have been completed or are nearing completion in the Lewis and Clark forest, all are in the little Belt mountains. One of these stations is located on Porphyry peak." (Big Timber Pioneer)
August 10, 1946: "Lookouts at Williams mountain in the Tenderfoot district and at Porphyry peak on King's hill reported a fire this side of Ringling near Black Butte, and the county crew, supervised by Sheriff Mike Bergan, was taken out to fight it." (The Independent Record)
September 23, 1952: "Two Montana honeymooners are up in the clouds--8,295 feet up to be exact.
Don Peterson, 23, and his 19-year-old bride, Adair, are honeymooning in a one-room glass house on top of 8,295-foot Porphyry Peak. The house is perched atop a 40-foot tower.
Don and Adair are fire lookouts for the U.S. Forest Service.
'Living in a 14-foot square room isn't bad when you get used to it,' Don says. 'During winds, the house sways and jerks but you get so you like it.' And though the house is glass all the way around, 'not many people are tall enough to see through the windows.'
The Petersons are Washington State College students. They were married in Seattle last June.
Adair is learning to cook with the help of a book designed for lookouts who bake biscuits in the clouds. The altitude makes her rely on sourdough.
'She does pretty good with it, too,' Don says between biscuits. Adair thinks she's lucky because Don 'will eat almost anything. But it's hard to fill him up in this altitude.'
So far the Petersons haven't spotted any fires. Lightning storms keep them jumping, though. They recently checked 90 lightning strikes in three days.
'We don't stay up late because Don gets up about 5:30,' Adair says. He claims he gets her out of bed between 5:45 and 6:30, despite the cold mountain air.
The couple use a lantern to read by and a wood stove for heat. They drive two miles down a bumpy road to get water. A wash tub serves for Saturday night baths.
But roughing it is a small penalty to pay for all the time they have for each other.
'You can't go wrong with this,' they advise honeymooners. 'It's an ideal setup--enjoyable and healthy.'" (Greeley Tribune - Colorado)
1960: A Region 6 flat roof lookout house was completed on a 40-foot timber tower.
August 1, 1968: "And there was an oddity in Forest Service lookout reports. The word from the Porphyry Peak station eight miles south of Neihart was 1 1/2 inches of snow fell overnight in the Little Belt Mountains. The Lewis and Clark National Forest lookout station is above 8,000 feet' (Billings Gazette)
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National Geodetic Survey |
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DESIGNATION - PORPHYRY
PID - RW0518
STATE/COUNTY- MT/MEAGHER
COUNTRY - US
USGS QUAD - KINGS HILL (1995)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 1959
LOCATED IN THE SW. QUARTER OF SEC. 33, T 13 N, R 8 E, AND ON THE
DIVIDE THAT FORMS THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN CASCADE AND MEAGHER COUNTIES,
MONTANA.
TO REACH FROM POST OFFICE AT NEIHART, MONTANA, GO S. ON U.S. HIGHWAY
89 FOR 8.8 MI. TO SUMMIT OF KINGS HILL PASS, TURN RIGHT (W.) ON RD.
TO PORPHYRY LOOKOUT AND GO 1.5 MI. TO LOOKOUT AND STATION.
STATION MARK--STATION IS THE CENTER OF THE PORPHYRY FIRE LOOKOUT
TOWER CONSTRUCTED IN 1959-1960.
