BlockFrom the record
One of 92 National Register listings published here for Ravalli County · listed in 2018 · category: Building.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Medicine Point Lookout
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Address. Medicine Pt., Sula Ranger Dist., Bitterroot NF, Darby, 59829
- When was it listed? April 2018
- Category. building
- Also known as. L-4 Fire Lookouts in the USFS Northern Region (Region 1), 1932-1967 MPS
- Census division. Sula
- National Register reference number. 100002298 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Fires near this property
74 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 74 fires within 5 miles of Medicine Point Lookout between 1992 and 2020, burning about 52,050 acres in total. 70 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 70 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | WARM SPRINGS |
| 17 September 2000 | Natural | 2.5 acres | Bitterroot National Forest | PIQUETT SPOT |
| 16 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | MEDICINE BEAR |
| 14 September 2013 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | CRAZY |
| 14 September 1996 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | SHOOK MOUNTAIN |
| 14 September 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | not named |
| 12 September 1996 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | FAT MAN RIDGE |
| 12 September 1996 | Natural | 1.5 acres | Bitterroot National Forest | MEDICINE PT. |
Storms near this property
14 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Darby, the town this property stands in, in 14 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 9 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2014 | Lightning | Darby | $100,000 | A single lightning bolt struck small crab-apple trees at a ranch located on Tin Cup Road, killing all 45 cattle crowded together. The Black Angus cattle consisted of cows, calves and a prize bull that died. A conservative damage estimate calculated by the NWS Missoula office is around $100,000. |
| July 2023 | Lightning | Darby | $70,000 | A lightning caused fire consumed hay stored for winter cattle feeding at the Double K Ranch. More than 400 bales each weighting 1000 pounds were lost, which is a year's worth of feed for this ranch. Fencing was also lost in the fire. |
| July 2022 | Hail | Darby | - | Although the largest public report of hail was 3/4 on Deer Mountain east of Darby, MT, radar did estimate 1.25 hail with a reflectivity core of 70 dbz at 33,000 feet. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Darby | - | Hail stones from penny to nickle size still on the ground a day after the thunderstorm passed through. Minor damage to tree leaves and plants also noted. |
| July 2014 | Hail | Darby | - | A person from the public reported dime to nickel size hail along with heavy rain. Pea-size hail was reported in Philipsburg. |
| August 2010 | Hail | Darby | - | A spotter at the Deer Mountain lookout reported dime to quarter size hail and heavy rain. |
| August 2010 | Hail | Darby | - | Broadcast media forwarded on a picture they received from a viewer of hail measuring 1.25 inches in diameter. |
| June 2006 | Hail | Darby | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Hail | Darby | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Darby | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Darby | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Flash Flood | Darby | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Darby | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Hail | Darby | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
1 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | West Fork Ranger Station | 7.1 miles | 2023 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 100002298 in Record Group 79. |
| Ravalli County | All 92 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.