LAKE COUNTY
WOODWARD POINT
Flathead National Forest
23N-18W-3
23N-18W-3
August 9, 1959: “At the time lightning was crackling all over western Montana and forest fires were being reported regularly, a lookout called in five new blazes. But they couldn't find them.
The next day the same lookout, Nonan Noste of Missoula, reported the same fires in the same area as before.
Chief Fire Warden Maurice Cusick, worrying about the reports, joined the Swan river forest Woodward peak lookout.
Sure enough, at about the same hour of day, the fires seemed to appear in the same areas.
Playing a hunch, the fire dispatcher held a blanket in front of the lookout window, and the 'flames' disappeared. The warden came up with this answer:
Lights from the town of Swan Lake, shimmering onto the lake surface, bounced to the lookout tower 13 miles away. They hit the window with reflections that were realistic as flickering flames.” (Independent Record)
Removed