ROCKY PEAK
Curry County - Coos County Fire Patrol Association - 34S-14W-3
July 1919: "Deputy State Fire Warden E.L. White and myself have established a co-operative lookout on Rocky Peak which promises to be worthy of further improvement. 3 miles of emergency wire connects with the Middle Elk line at Bakers Ranch which gives direct communication with McGribble Ranger Station and Port Orford. The line was broken the first night after completion, probably by a big buck getting tangled up in it but it has given no further trouble and certainly 'talks' fine." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
July 30, 1919: "Deputy State Fire Warden E. L. White has established a summer lookout station on Rocky Peak, and has connected it to town by telephone. J. E. Atkinson has been stationed there as lookout. Rocky Peak has an elevation of 3023 feet, and the station there will add materially to the efficiency of fire protection in this section, as the smoke of a fire for many miles in any direction can be discovered from that point." (The Port Orford Tribune)
October 29, 1919: "E. L. White took up the telephone wire between the Rocky Peak lookout station and the Baker home. This was a temporary wire put in for the fire season, the wire being furnished by the government and installed at State expense." (The Port Orford Tribune)
August 4, 1920: "Deputy state fire warden, E. L. White, completed last week the installation of a summer telephone system to the lookout on Rocky Peak. This line was put in by Mr. White while attending to other duties without extra expense to the state.
E. J. Baker went on duty at the Rocky Peak station Monday. This station, because of its commanding view, having an elevation of 3023 feet is known as the Primary Lookout, and has an airplane signal on it." (The Port Orford Tribune)
June 10, 1925: "Forest fire lookouts have been ordered to be on the job June 15. John Weld of Port Orford goes to Rock Peak station." (The Port Orford Tribune)
July 22, 1925: "John Weld, lookout on Rocky Peak, reports that during three clear days last week he counted 75 vessels passing, 45 of them north bound and 30 south bound, and those just during the daytime." (The Port Orford Tribune)
June 17, 1929: "E.L. White, district state fire warden, is stationing men on the different lookout stations this week. His son Carlos will be stationed at Rocky Peak." (The Coos Bay Times)
June 26, 1930: "The range finder on Rocky Peak is being repaired and will be installed on Brushy Bald where a lookout camp is being constructed. A new range finder is being installed at Rocky Peak. Trails are being built and five miles of telephone wire is being installed at Rocky Peak." (Curry County Reporter)
June 2, 1931: "Jesse Sutton and Roy Farris have just returned from the Elk river mountains where they have been assisting Shumaker and Roberts in building a forest telephone line to connect Rocky Peak lookout station with McGribble station. Mr. Sutton stated that during the ten days they were employed on the line they never saw a deer, though they saw panther tracks and believe that the cats may have chased the deer out of that section." (The Coos Bay Times)
July 15, 1931: "The forestry department is having lumber sledded into the mountains to build a lookout station on top of Rocky Peak. Sam Hull is transporting the lumber from the Baker ranch, over the trail three miles with a sled with two horses working tandem." (The Coos Bay Times)
September 9, 1931: "Carlos White, lookout from Rocky Peak station, came in Sunday and stated that the rain extended back into the mountains and eliminated all fire hazard." (The Coos Bay Times)
July 1, 1932: "Carlos White is stationed at the Rocky Peak lookout station." (The Coos Bay Times)
June 20, 1934: "Frank Paris began his work as lookout on Rocky Peak Monday." (The Coos Bay Times)
October 11, 1934: "Mr. Ostrander and I went up to Rocky Peak Lookout and looked over the trail which he purposes to build. I instructed him as soon as weather conditions would permit to start on the trail and build it through to the end of the road in the south end. This will be rather hard country to construct a telephone line through as about two-thirds of the way would have to be a pole line and I think most of them would have to be tripods as the country is so rocky it would be impossible to set a pole." (P.S. King Field Report)
October 11, 1934: "Mr. Ostrander and I went up to Rocky Peak Lookout and looked over the trail which he purposes to build. I instructed him as soon as weather conditions would permit to start on the trail and build it through to the end of the road in the south end. This will be rather hard country to construct a telephone line through as about two-thirds of the way would have to be a pole line and I think most of them would have to be tripods as the country is so rocky it would be impossible to set a pole." (P.S. King Field Report)
June 12, 1935: "George Schmidt, principal of the local high school last year, arrived in town this morning from his home in Hillsboro. He will take up his duties as fire lookout this summer at Rocky Peak, a few miles back from Humbug mountain." (The Coos Bay Times)
August 30, 1935: "George Steiner replaces George Schmidt as lookout at Rocky Peak while Schmidt reports to CCC headquarters at Medford. Schmidt was the principal of the local high school last year. The appointment was believed to be temporary." (The Coos Bay Times)
1936: This lookout reported to the Grizzly Mountain lookout by radio.
1937: The Forest Service constructed a new lookout house in the later part of the year.
July 1938: "The adequacy of our present lightning protection system for lookout houses was brought to light this spring when we made our first trip to the Rocky Peak LO.
Late last fall we built a new lookout house on the mountain and equipped it with standard lightning protection. The old lookout house has been inherited from the State protective organization and did not have lightning protection. It was not torn down due to the late season.
This spring we found it had been struck by lightning and all of the windows were blown out and the sides shattered. The new lookout house standing along side of it was untouched. E.H. Marshall" (Six Twenty-Six)
1958: "The Rocky Peak lookout cabin was completely renovated at a cost of $221.90 and re-activated."
"Approximately 3 miles of new jeep road to Rocky Peak lookout was constructed this spring at a cost of $576 per mile." (Coos District Annual Report)
Removed