Homesteaders first settled the area in the 1880s, constructing more than 700 homes. By the 1930s, insufficient rainfall and unfavorable economic conditions led to farm failures and land abandonment. By 1935, about 35% of the homesteads were foreclosed upon by federal and private mortgage banks. The government repurchased the land from the remaining homesteaders. The Crooked River National Grassland was created by Congress in 1960 to improve range management and the forage resource. The grasslands, which cover 173,629 acres, include two National Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Deschutes and the Crooked. There are 20 national grasslands across the country, but Crooked River National Grassland is the only national grassland in the Pacific Northwest. [Ochoco National Forest]

Richardson’s Rock Ranch is well known by rock hounds all across the globe. The shop sells an impressive collection of rough and finished stones — including fossils, geodes, and polished spheres — from all over the world, including Morocco, Madagascar, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, Africa and beyond. The shop used to allow customers to dig in the Kennedy and Priday agate beds, but digging was permanently closed in 2019. The shop still digs for and sells thundereggs, the Oregon state rock. These are gorgeous nodule-like, agate-filled rocks formed within rhyolitic volcanic ash layers. [Richardson Rock Ranch]

Photo Credit: Richardson Rock Ranch

Agency Plains is a plateau just north of the city of Madras. Approximately 250 feet in elevation above the east side of the Deschutes River, the area is within the “Madras Y” (the Y formed by Highway 97 to the east and Highway 26 to the west). The area consists of arable land on which a variety of seed crops are raised, but that was not the case for early settlers who were challenged by dryland farming. Edith Smith, who maintained a family home on the Agency Plains in the early 1900s, recalls: “…there were a lot of flying ants, sage rats and sagebrush to contend with. [We] had to haul water to the homestead as there was no water source nearby.” [The Madras Pioneer]

Meek’s Wagon Train tragedy refers to an incident that occurred in 1845 during the westward migration on the Oregon Trail. Stephen Meek, a mountain man and guide, led a group of 200 emigrants on an alternate route to the established Oregon Trail. The group faced multiple obstacles, including a lack of water and difficult terrain, which resulted in the loss of many oxen and horses.

As the group became increasingly desperate, Meek convinced them to abandon their wagons and attempt to cross the Cascade Mountains on foot. The journey was treacherous, and the group suffered from starvation, hypothermia, and exposure. By the time they reached the Willamette Valley, only 48 of the original party survived. This tragedy is considered one of the deadliest incidents on the Oregon Trail and is often cited as an example of the dangers of traveling westward in the mid-19th century. [Wikipedia]

The town of Gateway earned its name because it is located in a naturally eroded valley where a depression in the terrain provides a natural gateway from the Deschutes River to the upper plateau. When railroads first entered into Oregon from the north along the Deschutes River, one of the rail lines used this pathway to emerge to the uplands. The presence of the railroad helped grow the Gateway community into one that could support a school, a church, a railroad depot, and a store. Many of the settlers’ ancestors still live in the area today, but the community is no longer the thriving metropolis it once was. [Mecca Grade]

Photo Credit: Mecca Grade

The grizzly bear sculptures in this roundabout were created out of hammered rusted steel by Chris Buffalo Folsom. The sculptures consist of four grizzly bears — a mother and three cubs. The mother bear, who stands on her hind legs, is 27-feet tall. The cubs range in height from 8 to 12 feet, depending on their pose. [The Oregonian]

Listen to the podcast in the sidebar to hear the artist talk about his sculpture.

This roundabout sculpture called, “Red Tail,” was created by Eastern Washington resident Miles Pepper, an artist who creates kinetic sculptures for public places. This hawk, which sits above a 25-foot steel sculpture shaped like an arrowhead, has a wingspan of 15 feet. The sculpture is a weather vane, as the hawk’s wings move in the wind. [The Bulletin]