Early history Humans have lived in the vicinity of Roxy Ann Peak for the past 8,000 to 10,000 years. The first inhabitants were semi-
nomadic, most likely living off edible
bulbs and large mammals such as
mastodons and
giant bison. Within the last millennium, the region became home to the
Latgawa Native American tribe, who called the peak
Al-wiya. They probably used the mountain for gathering
acorns and hunting
black-tailed deer and small birds, animals which are still abundant there. The first European Americans to visit the area were a group of
fur trappers led by
Peter Skene Ogden who traveled north through the Rogue Valley on February 14, 1827. The first non-
indigenous settlers arrived a few decades later. The sudden increase in population created conflicts with the Latgawa, which ultimately led to the
Rogue River Wars of 1855 and 1856. After the wars, the remaining Latgawa were forced hundreds of miles north to the
Siletz Reservation on the central
Oregon Coast. Early settlers named the peak Skinner Butte, after
Alonzo A. Skinner, the Rogue Valley
Indian agent between 1851 and 1853. The current name of the mountain originates from one of its first residents, Roxy Ann Bowen. Two couples—Roxy Ann and her husband John McKee and Stephen and Mary Taylor—
claimed almost the entire peak in 1853, and by the late 1850s, it came to be known as Roxy Ann Peak. In October 1883, construction of the
Oregon and California Railroad was begun through the center of the Rogue Valley, bypassing
Jacksonville, the
county seat. The railroad company also constructed a
train depot halfway between
Central Point and
Phoenix, and
platted 82
city blocks around it. The townsite was named Medford in December. In 1884, residents celebrated the town's first
Independence Day by firing 38 cannon blasts—
one for each U.S. state—from Roxy Ann Peak's summit. Medford grew quickly, and was
incorporated on February 24, 1885. Beginning in the early 1900s, the mountain's foothills were predominantly used for
pear orchards and
lignite mining. Mining ceased at the onset of World War I, and many of the orchards were abandoned during the
Great Depression, but some still remain.
Prescott Park In 1929, the
Lions Club purchased two sizable portions of land on the peak, and
deeded to Medford for recreational use the following year. In 1931, the city acquired another via the
Recreation and Public Purposes Act, and more in 1933. The park was dedicated in 1937 to George J. Prescott, a Lions Club leader and Medford police officer who was killed on duty on March 16, 1933. Starting in 1933, the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made the first improvements to Prescott Park, including constructing of trails and a access road (Roxy Ann Road), creating several picnic areas and overlooks, and digging drainage ditches. The CCC stopped work in 1942, soon after the beginning of World War II. Park maintenance ceased due to municipal budget problems, and
gasoline rationing caused the number of visitors to drop markedly. By 1956, the CCC's improvements had suffered $110,000 in damage. The trend of disrepair continued for several decades. During the late 1990s, the park experienced a surge in vandalism, littering, and wildfires caused by
off-roading, and Roxy Ann Road became nearly impassable because of lack of maintenance. Medford police officers had to devote much of their time to patrolling the mountain, made difficult by the park's remote location. To alleviate these problems, the city
regraded Roxy Ann Road in 1998, and installed two gates near the park entrance two years later. By 2006, vandalism had decreased by 70 percent. At , Prescott Park is Medford's largest park, covering much of the upper slopes and summit of Roxy Ann. It is two and a half times larger than the city's other parks combined.
21st century Prescott Park and Roxy Ann Peak's upper slopes remain relatively undeveloped, being outside of Medford's city limits and
urban growth boundary. The summit of the peak is home to a
radio tower built in 2007; the new tower replaced three of four existing towers. Roxy Ann Peak and nearby Baldy are the only two primary
transmitter station sites in the Rogue Valley. Residential development of the mountain's southern foothills has been on the rise for several years, primarily in the form of
single-family residences. Construction costs have continued to rise as well, in part because of a bill passed in 2003. Oregon House Bill 3375 required that new construction on slopes of 20 percent or greater with unstable soil undergo increased regulation and an extended approval process. The bill doubled the cost of new
foundations to around $20,000 to $30,000, and the cost of
retrofitting an existing structure approached $100,000. Roxy Ann Peak's southern foothills are also home to the RoxyAnn Winery, a
Rogue Valley AVA winery founded in 2002. On the opposite side of the mountain is the first
bioreactor landfill in
Southern Oregon, the Dry Creek Landfill, which began a program in 2006 to generate power from collected
methane. On September 21, 2009, a wildfire broke out on Roxy Ann Peak's western slopes and consumed approximately . It left 25,000 residents without electricity, forced the evacuation of over 100 homes, and cost over $1.3 million to fight, but no structures were damaged. ==Flora and fauna==