During the time that the main fur trade route through the Rockies followed the Athabasca Valley and traversed Athabasca Pass, a hunting lodge named "Old Fort" was maintained by the North West Company at a prominent point just across the river from the present site of the Town of Jasper. At various times signal fires were built on the ridge behind the lodge and for this reason the low peak behind it became known as Signal Mountain. In 1941 the mountain became the site of the mountain parks' first fire lookout and for the next four decades a park's employee kept watch over the forests of the Athabasca Valley and sent a "signal" to fire-fighting crews if smoke was spotted.