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]

In an effort to restore the disappearing sagebrush range, private landowners have partnered with the Bureau of Land Management to remove young juniper trees from historic shrublands. Juniper tree encroachment erodes rangeland health by reducing water availability, diminishing soil health, and crowding out native perennial plants that feed wildlife and cattle. As trees become more dense, they also fuel hotter, more severe wildfires. Learn more about how Juniper tree reduction programs restore range health and animal habitat.

The Columbia River Basalt Group (map view) is the youngest, smallest, and one of the best-preserved continental flood basalt provinces on Earth, covering over 81,000 sq miles, mainly in eastern Oregon and Washington, western Idaho, and part of northern Nevada. Basalt exposed on the vertical walls of canyons, coulees, and buttes is visible as a closely-packed array of rock fence posts [or palisades]. These columns formed when the lava cooled and crystallized into basalt rock. When the lava cooled, it shrank. This created vertical polygons, usually five-sided, that separated from their neighbors by cracks. [Wikepedia, HugeFloods.com]

Across the highway, you will see a red barn and other outbuildings. They are part of the former R2 Ranch complex. The ranch is 47 miles long and, in some places, 22 miles wide. The ranch is built around more than 4,000 acres of irrigated land, 81,000 acres of rangeland with 150 improved springs and 7 year-round creeks and ponds, and a 35-acre lake. The ranch carries historical significance. The Cross Keys post office was established on July 8, 1879, at the mouth of Cow Canyon and the bank of Trout Creek (just north on Highway 97 at the beginning of the grade). The ranch was also a stage and freight station in the early days. [R2 Ranch]

Here you will find beautiful polka dot agates and canyon rim thundereggs. The polka dot agate is a semitransparent to semitranslucent agate with suspended round “dots” of contrasting colors with an orbital flat shape. A thunderegg is a nodule-like rock that is formed within volcanic ash layers. Thundereggs usually look like ordinary rocks on the outside, but slicing them in half and polishing them may reveal intricate patterns and colors.

In 1911, 23-year-old William Nartz left the coal mines of West Virginia and rode west by train to build a new life on his own land. He stepped off at the end of the line in Madras and began working on local ranches, including the prosperous Priday Ranch. In 1917, he established what became the 27 Bar Ranch, which has since been recognized as an Oregon Century Ranch—an honor awarded to farms and ranches that have been continuously owned and operated by the same family for more than 100 years. Today, the ranch encompasses roughly 19,000 acres and supports about 200 head of cattle.

The Ashwood area (originally named Ash Butte) was first used by the Native American Sahaptin and Northern Paiute people. After the Sahaptin were forced to move to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in the 1850s and the Northern Paiute were defeated in the 1870s, settlers moved into the area to raise cattle and sheep. Sheep ranching became an important local industry by 1900 because of the availability of the railroad in nearby Shaniko that facilitated the shipping of wool. Ashwood became a gold- and silver-mining boomtown in the 1910s. However, the minerals soon began to play out, and local residents turned back to ranching and agriculture as the mainstays of their economy.[Wikipedia]

Hay Creek Ranch and its headquarters will be to your left in the distance. The ranch was established in 1873 by Dr. David Baldwin as the Baldwin Sheep and Land Company. Using Merino stock he brought from Vermont, he successfully bred sheep and became one of the first Oregon ranchers to grow alfalfa for winter feed.

Between 1900 and 1920, the ranch expanded in both acreage and breeding operations. During this period, it developed a Rambouillet–Merino–Delaine cross known as the “Baldwin sheep.” The breed gained international recognition, with sales reaching Australia, Europe, Argentina, and Russia. Baldwin sheep were bred for large size, high-quality meat yield, and abundant, high-quality wool.

[Oregon Encyclopedia]