Brian Miller

Listen here for interview 1- June 20, 2022

listen here for interview 2- July 11, 2022

Interview 1 Summary:

Brian shares being born in Indiana but his family moved to Montana when he was four. He tells of living in Potomac, where he also went to school. He says playing outdoors led to a “wild imagination. Brian talks of growing up with his father, Gene Miller, on lookouts starting at age five, spending twelve years over his lifetime on lookouts, with most experiences being on Blue Mountain, Mormon, Sliderock, Morrell, and West Fork Butte Lookouts. Brian recalls his dad telling him that as a youth he entertained visitors with stories, landmarks, peaks, etc. He remembers wildlife sightings, flying paper airplanes, playing with Lincoln Logs, hooking rugs, picking huckleberries for Gene’s pies, and hiking to other lookouts. Brian recalls a strenuous backpack trip with his cousin because of carrying lots of canned food, learning to cook on a woodstove, vandalism on Blue Mountain Lookout, drunks at the lookout at night, and learning to read Forest Service maps and clouds. Brian describes lookout people as resilient and introverted.

Interview 2 Summary:

In Brian Miller’s second interview, he remembers being five years old with his father, Gene Miller, on Mormon Peak Lookout. He recalls his mother and sister visiting when his mother rushed Gene to the hospital for gall bladder surgery. Brian tells of being on Sliderock Lookout next, which had a microwave repeater nearby, affording the lookout with electricity. Sliderock also had a cabin at the base of the lookout, a small rundown cabin next to the lookout, and the original lookout: a tree with rungs nailed to it. Brian says there was an old ghost town on the way up the road. He recalls his uncle’s car losing the oil pan on the way down, and they had to walk for help. He discussed the 1988 fires; walking from Mexico to Canada in 1993 along the Continental Divide; and exploring and renting these lookouts, some while skiing to them with his wife: West Fork Butte, McGuire, Hornet, Mt. Wam, Webb Mountain, and Stahl Peak. Brian talks about Sliderock Lookout being moved by helicopter to Fort Missoula as a museum piece. Brian says his strongest memories of being a lookout are dramatic weather and the people he has met.