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Fire lookout · Klamath/Douglas County, Oregon

Devils Peak Lookout Site

Crater/Rogue River NF summit lookout on the Cascade divide: L-4 cab 1930, removed by burning 1968 or 1969. A 2017 trip report found concrete scraps and rusted straps.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed by burning in 1968 or 1969 (sources differ); 2017 trip report found concrete scraps and rusted straps

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
2017 trip report: a trail now runs from the Pacific Crest Trail over the summit

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab, ready-made building set on a concrete foundation (1930)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1917
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,582 ft (2,311 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath/Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.64308, −122.21375
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-devils-peak-2

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.4 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1915 First staffedE.W. Smith, assistant ranger, named as lookout manSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1916 StaffedMerle Brainard took the lookout stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1917 BuiltCabin, per the register and the 2017 trip report; a 1930 newspaper item says the point had never had a lookout buildingSources: firetower.org, oregonhikers.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1930 BuiltReady-made building from Portland, to be placed on a concrete foundation; register calls it an L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1933 StaffedVirgil Clark named as summer lookout; Ranger Elgan to establish the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1935 StaffedCarl Cobleigh to spend the summer on Devils PeakSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1938 StaffedRalph Ellis named as the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1941 StaffedNorman Hayes Jr., Rogue River NF lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1944 StaffedEllsworth Robison sent to stay alone until mid-September; supplies by pack mule every fifteen daysSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1950 FireDevil's Peak and Pelican Butte lookouts reported a blaze; Devil's Peak reached it firstSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1951 StaffedRichard Barber stationed on Devil's Peak lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. 1961 EventNot manned in June 1961, while all other Rogue River lookouts wereSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  13. 1963 EventSummit still snowbound; station would probably be manned that week (June 23, 1963 item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  14. 1968 DestroyedRemoved or destroyed in 1968 per the register, FireLookout.com and the 2017 trip reportSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonhikers.org
  15. 1969 RemovedOregon Lookouts history page: structure disposed of by burning by a forestry crew, 1969Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  16. No record between 1969 and 2011
  17. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered May 20, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  18. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Devils Peak is a 7,582-foot summit on the Cascade divide, about 19 miles south-southwest of Crater Lake, in Klamath and Douglas counties, Oregon.1,2,3

Newspapers from 1915 name E.W. Smith, an assistant ranger, as the lookout man on the summit.3

The sources disagree about what stood there before 1930. The register and a 2017 hiker's trip report both describe a cabin on the summit from 1917.1,4 A July 1930 newspaper item said the spot had never held a lookout building and that the lookout had worked out of a tent.3

In 1930 the Crater National Forest was getting a ready-made lookout building from Portland, to be set on a concrete foundation that summer.3 The register calls it an L-4 cab built that year.1,2

Newspapers name lookouts for the station in 1933 (Virgil Clark), 1935 (Carl Cobleigh), 1938 (Ralph Ellis) and 1941 (Norman Hayes Jr.).3 In 1944 Ellsworth Robison was sent up to stay alone until mid-September, with supplies packed in by mule every fifteen days.3 Richard Barber was stationed there in 1951.3

In September 1950 two lookouts, Devil's Peak and Pelican Butte, reported a blaze, and the Devil's Peak lookout reached it first.3

In June 1961 every Rogue River lookout except this one was manned. In 1963 the summit was still snowbound, and the station would probably be manned that week.3

The register says the L-4 cab was removed in 1968.1 FireLookout.com and the 2017 trip report also give 1968.2,4 The Oregon Lookouts history page dates the removal to 1969, when a forestry crew burned the structure.3 The sources disagree by one year.

The 2017 trip report found only broken concrete and corroded metal bands where the lookout had stood, and describes a use trail that now leads from the Pacific Crest Trail over the summit.4 It is one hiker's account, not an agency record. No source we read says whether the public may visit, so check with the Forest Service before going.

  1. Devils Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/devils-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Devils Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/devilspeak88.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Devil's Peak - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts (Weebly), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/devils-peak1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Devils Peak (Sky Lakes Wilderness) 17-Oct-2017, Oregon Hikers Forum, https://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=198180 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Devils Peak Lookout 1956
Devils Peak Lookout 1956 (1956)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Devils Peak Lookout 1915 - 1917
Devils Peak Lookout 1915 - 1917 (1915)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Devils Peak Lookout 1968
Devils Peak Lookout 1968 (1968)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, visiting details, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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