The site first became a lookout location in 1911 when a wooden platform was placed at the site. This structure served until 1927 when a new steel tower was erected. Oscar Shoemaker served as the lookout at the site in 1932.

A March 2, 1930, article in the Casper Star-Tribune stated, "In order to provide lookout facilities in case of hazardous weather, a steel tower was placed at Jay's Roost west of Keystone. Other towers placed in the area were: Barrett Ridge, Long Lake and Bridger Peak in the event of extreme weather. Such conditions happened last season when smoke from the northwest obscured the vision of primary lookouts on Somber Hill and Medicine Bow Peak, which are manned continually between June and October."