JOSEPHINE COUNTY
KERBY PEAK
Oregon Department of Forestry
38S-6W-31
38S-6W-31
May 22, 1916: "Forest Supervisor Macduff and Chas. Hoxie, fire warden, have gone to Kerby to locate a fire lookout station on Kerby mountain. The station will be equipped with telephone and fire locating apparatus, and will be in charge of Mr. Hoxie during the summer." (Rogue River Courier)
June 1916: "During June a telephone line was built to the top of Kerby Peak. Although inside the National Forest the peak covers more outside lands than inside hence the State built the line, the Service furnishing the material. The State will furnish the lookout man." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
June 24, 1916: "One point was established in Washington county, while another in Josephine county southwest of Galesburg covers nearly the entire county. This lookout, on Kirby peak, was established in co-operation with the federal forest service." (Statesman Journal)
July 27, 1921: "A small forest fire was discovered yesterday afternoon near Love Station and before night had developed into quite a blaze. The forestry office had a number of men on the job and had the fire out by 10:30 this morning. The Kerby Peak lookout discovered and reported the fire. The breezes and the dry condition of the forests at the present time make a fire exceedingly dangerous. Every caution is urged on the part of campers and tourists to see that no fires are left behind them." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
July 8, 1922: "W. M. Barr left Friday for the forest service lookout station on Kerby Peak." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
July 15, 1922: "John Harmon assumed his duties as fire warden last Monday. Tuesday he made a trip to Kerby Peak with supplies for the lookout station there." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
August 5, 1922: "Mr. Hoxie took another plane trip over Josephine yesterday and located but one fire, a small blaze on Deer Creek, which was being put under control by one of the wardens. The flight was made with Sergeant Templeton, who did the 210 miles in an hour and three quarters.
When they flew over Kerby Peak they dropped down to about 20 feet above the lookout station and yelled their greetings to the lookout." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
September 29, 1923: "William Barr, lookout at Kerby Peak, came home Wednesday, the fire season having closed. Mr. Barr reports snow in the nearby mountains." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
May 1928: "The Kerby Peak Lookout house, which was constructed by the State, doesn't begin to compare with any of our lookout houses in appearance or efficiency." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
May 25, 1928: "Cap Hinkle, Ben Carlyle and Clarence Schearer are putting the trail and telephone line in good shape up to Kerby Peak, as the lookout man, Ben Carlyle, will be at his station by June 1." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
July 1928: "The Kerby Peak (State lookout station) is now connected with telephone direct with the Page Creek Headquarters station." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
October 23, 1929: "W.J. Carlisle has returned home from Kerby Peak where he spent several months as 'fire look out.' There were no serious fires nearby this year. The lumbermen are now burning their logged off land." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
February 1931: "Word has been received that the Kirby Peal lookout house in Josephine county was quite badly damaged by lightning during a storm that occurred about three weeks ago. The roof is in such bad shape as to allow rain and snow to enter the building and damage the equipment stored there during the winter months. Two men were sent out from Grants Pass on the 28th of the month to make such repairs as were necessary to prevent moisture from reaching the contents of the building." (The Forest Log)
1936: "Construction of a telephone line from Selma to Kerby Peak Lookout." (Southwest Oregon District Annual Report)
May 1938: "The Grants Pass-Deer Creek telephone line which connects Grants Pass with the Kirby Peak lookout was completed on April 30. This line is seventeen and one-half miles long and of pole, metallic construction. The first six miles is equipped with cross arms capable of carrying six lines. Additional lines will be for the benefit of farmers." (The Forest Log)
July 15, 1938: "First casualty of the second series of fires was William Moore of Rogue River, a state fire warden who fell 14 feet from a cliff as he was supervising a fire-fighting crew yesterday in the Kerby region.
Moore was taken to the Kerby Peak Lookout station, where a first aid crew arrived with him at 10 last night. Faced with a pouring rain and a six mile hike over tortuous trails, his companions made him as comfortable as possible for the night at the lookout station. Early this morning a patrol of 12 men reached the station to take Mr. Moore out of the forest on a stretcher. He was brought to Sacred Heart hospital here." (Medford Mail Tribune)
1955: Maintenance costs totaled $4.35 for the season. (Southwest Oregon District Annual Report)
June 26, 1957: "Manning the Kerby Peak lookout station is Ben Bleecha, the second man to take summer services on State Fire Patrol lookouts here." (Medford Mail Tribune)
February 1958: "Ben Blecha, lookout on Kerby peak in the Southwest Oregon State district for the past two seasons, passed away recently in a Portland hospital where he had been undergoing treatment for tuberculosis. He had made Grants Pass his residence since the end of the 1957 season." (The Forest Log)
May 8, 1958: "The old Kerby peak lookout will be rebuilt, or possibly re-located on Roundtop, according to an item in the Illinois Valley News, and Waldo and Tennessee Lookouts will be manned this summer." (Medford Mail Tribune)
1959: The lookout burned because of the fear that the building was infected with tuberculosis.