Diamond Butte Lookout — Ashland
U.S. Forest Service · Diamond Butte, Custer Gallatin National Forest, Montana, USA
Photo: Forest Service – Northern Region / Wikimedia Commons (public domain), taken 9 June 2022; also published by Street Art Utopia in You Can Sleep Here (8 Photos).
Diamond Butte Lookout is a cabin on a 30-foot masonry tower at 4,245 feet in southeastern Montana, about 40 miles from Ashland. Source Source Checked The lookout was moved here from Yeager Butte in 1958. Source Source Checked The Forest Service rents it from September to June. Source Checked
Standing — the Forest Service listed it for rent from September to June when we checked on 14 November 2026; a Forest Service photograph shows it on 9 June 2022. Source Source Checked
💡 4 things to know
- Moved from another butteThe lookout was moved from its original location on Yeager Butte in 1958. Source Checked
- Two records on fire dutyRecreation.gov and the Forest Service say it was an active fire lookout until 2001; the same Forest Service page says it is used as one from June to September. Source Source Conflicting
- A wagon in the basementThe road stops short: a steep 200-foot walk leads up, and a wagon in the basement helps haul gear. Source Checked
- Views to the BighornsThe lookout looks out to the Bighorn Mountains about 100 miles away; sagebrush and lupine grow around it, and it sleeps four. Source Source Checked
📍 Where it is
On Diamond Butte in the Ashland Ranger District, reached from Ashland by Highway 212 and Otter Creek Road. Source Checked
Opens the map at the latitude and longitude on the Forest Service page.
🗓️ Sightings
- 1958
Moved from Yeager Butte · Recreation.gov
- 2001
End of fire duty, per Recreation.gov
- 20229 Jun
Photographed by the Forest Service · Commons
- 202614 Nov
Rented September to June · USFS
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.
✅ The facts
- Fire duty
- Active until 2001, or still used each June to September Source Source Conflicting
🔗 Related
All sources & image credits
- U.S. Forest Service, Custer Gallatin National Forest — Diamond Butte Lookout
- Recreation.gov — Diamond Butte Lookout
- Visit Montana — Diamond Butte Lookout
- Wikimedia Commons — Diamondbutte lookout, Forest Service – Northern Region, 9 June 2022 (public domain)
- Hero image: the photograph credited above (Forest Service – Northern Region, 9 June 2022, public domain), as published by Street Art Utopia; the 16:9 share image is made from it.
Last checked: November 14, 2026 · How we verify art
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