KLAMATH COUNTY
DEVIL'S PEAK
Crater National Forest > Rogue River National Forest; 34S-5E-3
July 16, 1915: "Ernest W. Smith came home Saturday evening and went back to Lodgepole Sunday night. He and Assistant Ranger W.L. Jones made a trip to Devils Peak Monday and Messrs. Jones and Smith will be assisted in the work by Messrs. Frank Carson, Stanley Spencer and William Hughes." (Medford Sun)
1915: The lookout at this time consists of an 'Iron Mine' telephone and a crude temporary alidade whittled from shakes, with E.W. Smith as lookout man.
September 12, 1915: "Ray Parker, lookout-man on Rustler Peak, discontinued his work there yesterday afternoon and went over to Devils Peak to visit his cousin, Assistant Ranger Smith, who is lookout-man there." (Medford Sun)
September 29, 1915: "E.W. Smith was moved from Devil Peak to Lodgepole. His wife left Saturday noon for Lodgepole to be with him for some time." (Mail Tribune)
August 11, 1916: "Merle Brainard takes the lookout station on Devils Peak, occupied last year by Ernest Smith who is now stationed on Elk Creek, above the hatchery." (Medford Sun)
August 14, 1916: "Mr. and Mrs. Murel Brainard came down from the Parker ranch Wednesday for supplies. Mr. Brainard went to Devil's Peak Thursday where he is stationed as lookout." (Mail Tribune)
September 5, 1916: "Muriel Brainard came down from Devil's Peak Friday." (Mail Tribune)
1923: "Bert Gray was the first man to succeed in taking a pack horse up to the top of the mountain, at that time a very hazardous undertaking. The climb up the steep mountain side being one to tax the nerve of a veteran." (The Klamath News - July 8, 1936)
July 22, 1930: "A new ready-made lookout station building for the Crater National Forest which is being built by the forest service at Portland will arrive here July 24. This building is for the lookout point on Devils Peak on the south fork of the Rogue River, and will be placed on a concrete foundation and installed this summer. This point has never had a lookout building, the lookout has been stationed in a tent." (Mail Tribune)
July 23, 1930: "New forest lookout stations are being erected on four peaks in the Crater national forest this month, forest officials announce. The buildings which arrive here ready made from service headquarters in Portland." One of these structures will be placed on Devils Peak. (Morning Oregonian)
August 11, 1930: "Adrian Broill of Ashland, a packer in the Crater National Forest service while packing some material into the forest lookout on Devil's Peak on the cascade divide this morning, was bitten by a scorpion on the hand. The bite of a scorpion is very poisonous, much like that of a rattlesnake, and no time was lost in combating the wound.
First aid was given by the forest guard attached to the Seven Mile ranger station, who administered treatment like that used for rattlesnake bite, and a short time later Broill was hurried to the government physician at the Klamath Indian Agency who administered further treatment.
At noon today the Crater national forest headquarters here received a report from the Indian agency that Broill was in good condition and would be able to resume regular duty in the forest sometime today." (Mail Tribune)
August 12, 1930: "Adrain Broile of Ashland, government packer, in the Crater national forest, was stung by a scorpion yesterday while journeying with supplies to the lookout station on Devil's Peak on the Cascade divide. He was rushed to the Klamath Agency hospital. The scorpion is believed to have been carried into the park in supplies." (Roseburg News-Review)
September 3, 1930: "The forest service is building two new lookout stations, one at Devil's Peak and the other on Mt. Scott." (The Evening Herald)
June 10, 1933: "Virgil Clark, who will serve as fire lookout on Devil's peak this summer, is spending a few weeks at the home of Mr. and Mrs. H.E. Hansberry before taking up his duties with the government July 1." (The Klamath News)
July 10, 1933: "On Monday, Ranger Elgan will establish the lookout at Devil's Peak, the last station to be manned before the real summer fire menace begins. He declares that the season looks very good, and that a minimum number of fires are expected since snow and water are still plentiful in the mountains." (The Evening Herald)
July 13, 1935: "Carl Cobleigh, Butte Falls, a veteran of 15 years in forestry work, will spend the summer on Devils Peak." (Mail Tribune)
August 16, 1938: "H.B. Ellis spent five days last week visiting with his son Ralph, who is the lookout at Devil's Peak." (Medford Mail Tribune)
June 16, 1939: "Ralph Ellis returned home from O.S.C. June 3. He spent a few days visiting his parents and then went to Lake of the Woods for forestry work until the first of July when he will be stationed again this year at Devils' peak lookout station." (Medford Mail Tribune)
August 26, 1941: "Norman Hayes Jr., Rogue River National Forest lookout at Devil's Peak, sat down and figured today that he walked 79 miles and rode horseback 16 miles looking for his wrist watch, a graduation gift, which he lost in the forest last June 2.
Hayes found the watch yesterday, the rain giving him a chance to leave his station to take another look around in the area where he thought he had dropped it. He previously had hiked and ridden time and again without finding the watch." (Medford Mail Tribune)
September 8, 1941: "All lookouts and fire guards for the entire forest, excepting the lookout at Devil's Peak, were back at their posts today after having a few days off during favorable weather. It was not considered necessary to man the Devil's Peak station again this season as it is in high and safe territory." (Medford Mail Tribune)
October 23, 1941: "Norman H. Hayes, Jr., of Irwin, Pa., left here yesterday for Portland to take his final examination for enlistment in the U.S. naval reserve. He was employed during the fire season as a lookout at the Devil's Peak station in the Butte Falls district of the Rogue River national forest." (Medford Mail Tribune)
June 27, 1944: "Ellsworth Robison, who is with the Forest Service, is being sent to the Devil's Peak lookout near Klamath Falls, where he will stay alone until the middle of September. His supplies will be taken in every fifteen days by pack mule. Ellsworth took his dog, Mush, with him for company." (Medford Mail Tribune)
September 7, 1950: "Three men are on the fire. Devil's peak and Pelican butte lookouts reported the blaze, and the Devil's lookout was the first to reach the fire." (Herald and News)
July 22, 1951: "Richard Barber is stationed on Devil's peak lookout for the Butte Falls ranger station." (Medford Mail Tribune)
August 16, 1951: "Over the weekend of August 4 Mr. and Mrs. Harold Barber went to Devils Peak on horse back to visit their son Richard who is stationed there." (Medford Mail Tribune)
June 26, 1961: "We are definitely into the summer fire season,' Doug Finch, Rogue River National Forest staff officer, said this morning. He added, 'everything is hot and dry.'
Finch reported all Rogue forest lookouts manned with the exception of Devil's peak." (Medford Mail Tribune)
June 23, 1963: "The Rogue River National forest will have 13 lookouts in operation, one more that last year. Devil's Peak is still snowbound but will probably be manned this week. It is normally opened the last week in June or the first week in July, according to Carroll E. Brown, forest supervisor." (Medford Mail Tribune)
1969: The method used in disposing of the structure: burning by a forestry crew.
DESIGNATION - DEVILS PEAK LOOKOUT HOUSE
PID - NZ1046
STATE/COUNTY- OR/KLAMATH
COUNTRY - US
USGS QUAD - DEVILS PEAK (1985)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1933
IN CASCADE RANGE, ABOUT 12 MILES AIRLINE SOUTHWEST OF FORT
KLAMATH, APPROXIMATE ELEVATION 7600 FEET, NEAR HEADWATERS OF
SEVENMILE CREEK. FROM FORT KLAMATH, DRIVE WEST ABOUT 4 MILES
TO SEVENMILE GUARD STATION, THEN TAKE FOREST ROADS AND TRAIL TO
LOOKOUT, DISTANCE ABOUT 12 MILES. STATION IS CENTER OF DEVILS
PEAK LOOKOUT HOUSE.
STATION RECOVERY (1933)
RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1933 (FGJ)
THIS INTERSECTED POSITION IS CENTER OF LOOKOUT HOUSE ON DEVILS
PEAK, ONE OF GROUP OF ROCKY PEAKS ON MAIN DIVIDE OF CASCADE
RANGE, JUST S OF SEVEN LAKES, AT HEAD OF SEVENMILE CREEK. TRAIL
EXTENDS FROM SEVENMILE GUARD STATION TO LOOKOUT.