P a g e 3 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r In 1967, Charlie Shaw wrote in The Flathead Story, βAt the present time, the Flathead maintains only 21 lookouts. Their primary function is to record lightning storm paths and serve as lookouts at night or at other times when patrol planes are not in the air.β Today ten lookouts still stand in the Flathead. Firefighter Lookout Firefighter Lookout turned 70 this year. Visitors continue to find the mountaintop a destination for an experience many have never had before. Near 360-degree views look into the South Fork of the Flathead, along the Hungry Horse Reservoir, and into the North Fork and Glacier National Park. A road off the South Fork Road winds its way to the top, although because of recent vandalism, people must park at a locked gate and walk a short distance to the lookout. Between November 1 and June 30, the lower gate on the lookout road is locked and a visit to the site is a four-mile slog up the road. Not far along the road past the upper gate, Firefighter Lookout suddenly appears in the distance, tall and stately and sturdy enough to look like it might still stand in another 70 years. Happy 70th birthday, Firefighter! (Special thanks to Leif Haugen and Doug Berglund for information for this newsletter article. Also, special thanks to Kjell Petersen for edits and the photograph of Firefighter Lookout in its glory.) This Article Appeared in the Fall 2023 Northwest Montana Lookout Association Newsletter-Courtesy of The Northwest Montana Lookout Association, For more info, visit their website at: https:// www.nwmt-ffla.org/ Meet Bonnie Worley I recently had the pleasure of talking with Bonnie Worley, and just had to share with you, her story, of living up at Garnet as a young girl. Bonnie lived in Garnet in 1955, she was 8 years old and soon to turn 9 while living there for about two years. Her dad, James Peter Smith, was a mining Engineer and when he was a young man he went to Sierra-Nevada and worked for Yuba and there he helped to build the dredge that was later used down in Bearmouth. Bearmouth had a dredge from 1939 to 1942 Where ever her dad worked, the whole family went along. James was from Missoula, and his dad Norman, was deputy Sheriff. The family spent the summers and fall in Garnet, and they kept horses. His dad, Norman, bought the land with Mt Jumbo so the horses had a place to graze. James rented the McDonald cabin, which was pretty small for a large family but they made do as it was a sturdy cabin. There is a living room, kitchen and one bedroom. Bonnie said that she had two older sisters, two younger sisters and two younger brothers, with all of them sleeping in bunk beds in that bedroom.
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