DOUGLAS COUNTY
ABBOTT BUTTE
Umpqua National Forest
30S-2E-23
30S-2E-23
1914: A telephone line installed from Union Creek Ranger Station.
November 5, 1914: “S.C. Bartrum, supervisor of the Umpqua National Forest, is installing a system of fire detection and location, which is something entirely new in the service, and which he has been endeavoring to get the department to adopt for several years, Three principal lookout stations located on the highest points of the mountain ranges are being equipped with plate glass observation towers in which are to be kept instruments with powerful telescopes and with the capacity for fine adjustments equal to the finest surveying instruments. In the present case these stations are located at points of a triangle, which gives a practical outlook over a very great portion of the forest.
The three observation points to be used at principal stations in the Umpqua Forest are to be Devil's Knob, Abbott's Butte and Black Rock." (Roseburg Review)
November 5, 1914: “S.C. Bartrum, supervisor of the Umpqua National Forest, is installing a system of fire detection and location, which is something entirely new in the service, and which he has been endeavoring to get the department to adopt for several years, Three principal lookout stations located on the highest points of the mountain ranges are being equipped with plate glass observation towers in which are to be kept instruments with powerful telescopes and with the capacity for fine adjustments equal to the finest surveying instruments. In the present case these stations are located at points of a triangle, which gives a practical outlook over a very great portion of the forest.
The three observation points to be used at principal stations in the Umpqua Forest are to be Devil's Knob, Abbott's Butte and Black Rock." (Roseburg Review)
April 23, 1923: "There has been allotted to the Crater National forest for road and trail work during the coming season, $14,450 and for telephone lines and other improvements $5,914. The following telephone lines will be completed before July 1: Line between Hershberger and Abbott's Butte along the Umpqua-Rogue River divide." (The Evening Herald)
August 1, 1927: "According to Frank Ritter, district ranger of the South Umpqua district, Packer Andy Harvey recently made what is considered a very fine record of difficult packing when he, with the assistance of George Barrows, lookout on Abbott Butte and Delbert Poole, fireman at Summit ranger station, packed the materials for the Abbott Butte lookout house from Woodruff Meadows in four days.
The distance is twelve miles of ascending trail and in some places the trail was covered with from four to five feet of snow.
Harvey used a train of nine pack-mules, with Barrows as helper on the trail while Poole prepared the packs and did the cooking.
To appreciate this performance one should know that the materials, lumber and hardware, for a standard lookout house approximate 8000 pounds in weight, the lumber being cut into sections of very uneven lengths and weight. A great deal of the lumber is planed on all sides and expert knowledge of packing is required to adjust and tie on such loads so there will be no shifting when the mules start climbing.
An easy gait of not more than two miles per hour was maintained during the climb, the time being made up on the return trip. All material was delivered at the peak in good shape and the pack train showed no ill effects." (Roseburg News-Review)
1928: A D-6 cupola style lookout house erected.
1931: At a cost of $16.85, a three wire drift fence constructed. (Umpqua National Forest files)
1935: An additional $18.96 was expended on pasture fencing. (Umpqua National Forest files)
July 24, 1936: "Abbott Butte, at the extreme eastern end of the forest road, is topped by a lookout which stands at an elevation of 6140 feet. From its platform a large portion of southern Oregon may be seen and identified. The walls of Crater lake appear to be within rifle shot of the place.
The destinies of this fine lookout station, to whose very door an automobile may be driven, are presided over by Case Hopkins, a grandson of Frank Hopkins of Canyonville. This is Case's third at the station, and he has fixed it up in mighty fine shape--the best appearing lookout I have so far seen. He has built rock walls and walks in all directions, and hollowed out one of the finest springs in the mountains. Think of that! A lush spring within a few hundred feet of the summit of a mountain nearly a mile and a quarter above sea level." (Roseburg News-Review)
September 1, 1938: "Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Ferguson returned to the Abbott Butte lookout Thursday after having spent a few days vacation, including a trip to Diamond and Crater Lakes and the Oregon Caves." (Roseburg News-Review)
1938: A 20-foot sawn fir timber tower with ring connected joints was erected with an L-4 14x14 cab. Some of the particulars listed on an undated report. The cab has a catwalk 3-feet wide and equipped with a Kellogg Grab-a-phone and an Osborne #4 fire finder. The lightning protection used standard #2 copper wire. The outhouse is standard Forest Service design. In 1940 a 12x12 shelter was built at the lower spring, water was collected at a spring 300-feet west of the lookout. The lookout is located 32 miles by road from the Tiller Ranger Station. (Umpqua National Forest files)
August 8, 1940: "Mr. and Mrs. Ray Wright and daughters went to the huckleberry patch in the vicinity of Huckleberry lake Saturday. They also visited Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Poole, who are spending the summer at Abbott butte. Mr. Poole being the forest service lookout there." (Roseburg News-Review)
1942: $272.27 worth of material salvaged from the old lookout building. (Umpqua National Forest files)
1984: The area designated a wilderness, with all vehicle access closed.
DESIGNATION - ABBOTT BUTTE LOOKOUT TOWER
PID - NZ1154
STATE/COUNTY- OR/DOUGLAS
COUNTRY - US
USGS QUAD - ABBOTT BUTTE (1989)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1953 (HSC)
THE STATION IS THE APEX OF THE LOOKOUT TOWER LOCATED ON THE
SUMMIT OF ABBOTT BUTTE ON THE ROGUE-UMPQUA DIVIDE. IT IS A 30
FOOT WOODEN STRUCTURE WITH A 14 X 14 FOOT STANDARD OBSERVATION CAB
ON THE TOP. THE ELEVATION OF THE BUTTE IS APPROXIMATELY 6140
FEET AND CAN BE REACHED BY ROAD. INQUIRE AT THE UNION CREEK
RANGER STATION AS TO THE MOST FEASIBLE ROUTE TO THE STATION.
THE LOOKOUT TOWER IS 144 FEET SOUTHEAST OF STATION ABBOTT 1953.