Alumni Remember Lookout
Since a discussion of the lookout on Mount Sentinel appeared in the Spring 2000 Montanan, several UM alumni have offered recollections of the two-story structure, which was built in 1915 and burned in 1929.

Gilbert M. Baker, who came to UM in 1923, remembers that the Lookout was part of his Sigma Chi initiation.  As part of "Hell Week" he was sent to hike up to the Lookout on a moonlit night.  He was given a piece of string to measure the base of the building as proof that he had made it all the way.  After he reached the summit and made his measurements, he started back down the mountain and was captivated by the view that we still enjoy from our campus mountains.

"What a beautiful sight stretched out before me," he writes.  "It was like being up in a balloon, looking down on the lights of Missoula and of the whole valley as far as I could see.  I remember that there was a large fire over near the mouth of the Bitterroot Valley.  I had this beautiful view, under a full moon, all the way down."

His measurements reported, he was initiated into Sigma Chi the following weekend.  Now 95 years old, he says he will never forget that moonlit hike...

[5/1/01 Comments by Rich Thompson:  After I read this article, I phoned Gilbert in Seattle where he still lives in his own house at, now, age 96.  He told me his wife passed away two years ago but that he is still active and drives.  He frequently visits with brother Robert Prescott '30 who lives in West Seattle.  He vividly remembers his days at UM and Beta Delta including Prof. Scheuch who stopped by the House (then on University Av) every morning to "check on things".  Gilbert was on the Varsity Track Team and the Glee Club.]