Sunday, September 27

Sod House Ranch

While I was at the Malheur Nat'l Wildlife Refuge in E Oregon, south of Burns, I visited the historic Sod House Ranch. Established in 1872 by Dr. Hugh Glenn, under the management of Peter French. The French-Glenn Livestock Co. reached 140,000 acres over 25 yrs., and at the time was one of the largest cattle ranches in the US...

This is the original homestead, the first bldg. constructed in 1886. The foreman and his wife lived here until the ranch house was completed. It no longer exists.

The two-story bunkhouse, with the long barn in the background. The bunkhouse slept 10-12 buckaroos upstairs in beds that were casket-like boxes filled with straw and their bedrolls. Those cottonwood trees were planted in 1894.

An old wagon near the bunkhouse...

Original corral fencing still stands...the original homestead and carriage house are in the background.

7 comments:

  1. Enjoyed the pics of the sod house, buldings and fences!! Welcome back to SD!!!!

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  2. Hi,
    Wow 140,000 acres..that's one big "ponderosa" to watch over! No free time for those folks!
    I love your new headliner picture!! Thanks for the history lesson!!

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  3. Looks like the kind of place I would love to visit. Nice to get a little history with the pics.

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  4. I really wish I had that old wagon...those were simpler times...but certainly not easier.

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  5. Great post of a time when work was hard and rewards for that hard work was somewhat rewarded.
    Thanks.

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  6. Looking at those buildings all I can think about is how cold they must have been. Can you imagine getting out of bed on a January morning before dawn and cooking for all those cowboys? Our ancestors lived a hard life.
    Marnie

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  7. Jann, been offline for a few days because of the fooding that we have had...I see I have missed so many of your wonderful pictures with great stories behind them....Lot's of catching up to do.

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