The Bull Creek Dam, a component of the failed Tumalo Irrigation Project, was constructed in 1914 to form a water storage reservoir to increase the amount of irrigated acreage at Tumalo. Today, it is the oldest bridge in Deschutes County.

Bull Flat, to the left on the ride out, is home to a small, rare plant called Peck’s milkvetch. This is a nitrogen-fixing plant that grows on and nourishes pumic-rich soils. It exists in only 3 places in the world, here and in Crook and Klamath Counties. It is listed as a threatened species.

In the early 20th century, Portland business man William Laidlaw promised hundreds of settlers in Deschutes County that he could irrigate the land around Bend using funds from the Federal Carey Act. Laidlaw failed to uphold his promise and left the area with today’s equivalent of a few million dollars. The state then stepped in and tried to build a reservoir to help irrigate the land in what is now known as Tumalo. The state was never able to successfully irrigate the land promised by Laidlaw, leaving hundreds of settlers without farmable land. [CSPAN]

The forerunner of Sisters was Camp Polk, a short-lived military camp (from September 1865-May 1866) along the Whychus Creek about three miles northeast of present-day Sisters. The camp was to protect miners and settlers in the region but never engaged in battle. Following the abandonment of the camp, the site was homesteaded in 1870 with a store and post office. In 1888 the post office was relocated to present day Sisters. At the intersection of the McKenzie and Santiam roads, Sisters soon grew to become a bustling little town and supply station for sheepmen who grazed their sheep in the Cascades. [Sisters Country]

Along this section of road, there are several old-growth junipers. “They can be identified by their rounded, twisting trunks and asymmetrical shape. Some of the very characteristics that make juniper hardy survivors – living for thousands of years in some places – are the same factors that make them an invasive species in others. Not only do juniper trees outcompete native grasses and shrubs of the sagebrush steppe by intercepting sunlight and rain before it reaches smaller plants, but they actually excrete chemicals that act as a natural herbicide, killing or stunting the growth of other plants around them. And while juniper trees are naturally drought resistant, they possess both shallow lateral roots and deep taproots to suck up an enormous amount of water when it is available.”

Learn how to identify ancient Juniper trees and how young, invasive Junipers are impacting wildlife.