Bear Mountain Fire Lookout

Standing tall on a 7,200 ft. mountain peak, the third highest point in the Black Hills, the Bear Mountain fire lookout tower provides strategic views of the southern Black Hills to the Wyoming border. Located northwest of Custer, SD, the tower has undergone 3 iterations. It was first constructed in 1910, with an enclosed cab being installed in 1914.

As the importance of this fire lookout to the growing local community grew, the 1914 structure was modified in 1924 to install an even larger fire lookout cab. In 1939, the old wooden frame of the tower was dismantled, and, in its place, a new 30 ft. steel frame was assembled, along with an interior steel staircase, and much larger cab that the fire lookout would work and sleep in. A garage was also built at this time to store equipment specific to the work a fire lookout performs. The cab was replaced in 1967 to help modernize the job of the fire lookout as the technology they used advanced.

The 1939 tower was constructed by the Custer Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), along with a garage. The garage structure has been modified throughout the years. Originally built to garage a motor vehicle for the lookout tower operator, it was modified to act as a warming station in the winter months for winter recreationalists by installing a wood burning stove. In the near future, the current Garage structure is set to be dismantled for the installation of a new fire lookout toilet facility that will also be open to the public. In the place of the garage, two interpretive panels illuminating the Bear Mountain Fire Lookout’s history and the CCC contributions to the Southern Black Hills will be erected.

Additional projects on the Tower and garage include radio and telephone communication installations, a concrete parking pad, concrete footing for a picnic area and creation of a parking area below the tower. In 2010, a prefabricated building replaced a structure that housed radio equipment.

The Tower is still active and staffed by a fire lookout late spring to early fall. The Bear Mountain Fire Lookout Tower was listed in 2017 to the National Historic Lookout Register, an unofficial first step toward a listing in the National Register of Historic Places, maintained by the National Park Service. The National Historic Lookout Register is a program administered by the United States Forest Service, the Forest Fire Lookout Association, the National Forestry Association, the National Woodland Owners Association, state forestry departments and Department of Interior agencies to recognize historic fire lookout towers in the United States.