The Whitehorse Ranch is a historic cattle ranch in Harney and the Malheur district in the southeast corner of Oregon, USA. This farm was started in 1869 by John S. Devine, a famous 19th-century cattle baron. Initially the headquarters for Todhunter and Devine Cattle Company . The ranch has been in the livestock business continuously since it was founded. Currently, Whitehorse Ranch covers 63,222 acres (255.85 km 2 ) of delegated properties and grazing rights on an additional 287,205 acres (1,162.28 km 2 ) of land managed by the public. by the Bureau of Land Management.
Video Whitehorse Ranch
Histori
Native Americans used the area around Whitehorse Creek for thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers. The birds, animals and plants found in the wetlands around the high desert lake provide abundant food for the early inhabitants. Although there are no records from the earliest people to inhabit the area, as Europeans began to explore the area in the early 19th century, the people of North Paiute used the area that is now Whitehorse Ranch.
Hudson's Bay Company fleece tracker was the first European to visit southeastern Oregon. Peter Skene Ogden passed the north coast of Malheur Lakes in 1826. Another feather trap expedition occurred in the 1830s. Several military expeditions passed through the area in the late 1850s and 1860s. Major Enoch Steen was the first non-native to explore the land that is now South Harney County. Steens Mountain is named in his honor. In the 1860s, the United States Army established several military outposts east of Steens Mountain including Campi Alvord and Camp C.F. Smith .
John S. Devine was born in Virginia in 1849. He then immigrated to California. In 1868, Devine decided to establish a cattle farm in southeastern Oregon. To manage his business, he joined W. B. Todhunter to establish Todhunter and Devine Cattle Company. The following summer, Devine and a dozen California vaqueros along with a chuck cart and a Chinese chef trailed a herd of 2,500 cows from California to southeastern Oregon while Todhunter remained to take care of the company in San Joaquin Valley. Devine chose a site on Whitehorse Creek in southeast Steens Mountain for his farm headquarters. Its location is near Camp C. F. Smith, founded by the United States Army in 1866 (the camp was abandoned in 1869). According to Oregon Geographic Names, the post office was established at this location in 1867 with W. A. ​​â € <â €
When Devine lived on a farm, he became the first permanent settler in the area now called Harney County, Oregon. Devine became a powerful livestock baron, known for his aristocratic ways. He often wore a flamboyant Spanish grandee style including silver studded leather equipment. He usually rode a white horse as a symbol of Whitehorse Ranch. Devine enjoys horse races and greyhounds, breeding some of his race horses on the farm. He also provides horses to the Chico-Silver City stage line. Devine built a large stone and wooden barn for his horses. The granary was closed by a cupola with a white horse weather propeller.
Todhunter and Devine cattle grazed vastly in the Alvord Basin and into the upper Owyhee state until the harsh winter of 1887 killed most of the animals. In 1889, Whitehorse Ranch was sold to Henry Miller and Charles Lux. At that time, Miller and Lux ​​were the largest livestock operations in the United States.
Whitehorse farm was purchased by Paul Stewart in 1945. He drilled a new well on the property to complete irrigation of unreliable surfaces. He also expanded the wild straw fields and planted alfalfa and corn on the farm. Los Angeles coin dealer Roy E. "Ted" Naftzger acquired the farm in 1961. Naftzger bought additional land and built a private Whitehorse Ranch Airport on the farm.
In 1988, Whitehorse Ranch joined the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Services of the United States, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department, Oregon Environmental Council, Oregon Oregon Breeders Association, Oregon Trout, >, and the Walton Izaak League to establish the Trout Creek Mountain Working Group. The group's aim is to review, discuss and resolve land use conflicts in the Trout Creek Mountains area of ​​southeastern Oregon. In 1989, Whitehorse Farms voluntarily removed its livestock from 50,000 hectares (200 km 2 ) from the Whitehorse Butte grazing ranks and two other mountain meadows for a period of three years to prevent grazing and allow watersheds and riparian areas to recover from past shepherding. The Trout Creek Mountain Working Group finally approved a long-term environmental preservation plan in 1992. As part of the agreement, Whitehorse Farms agreed to reduce the number of herds grazing on public lands from 3,500 to 800.
In 2006, Naftzger sold the farm to David Herman, a dealer of Portland farm equipment and a lawyer. During the period he owns the farm, Herman welcomes paying guests who live in the ranch bunkhouse and guest cottage. In 2012, Herman sold the farm to the Nevada BTAZ cattle company for $ 10.8 million. Shortly after the Nevada BTAZ purchased the farm, 556,330-acre (2,251.4 km 2 ) Long Draw Fire burned some pasture farms in the Trout Creek Mountains.
Maps Whitehorse Ranch
Farm operations
Whitehorse farms have been continuously operated as farms since 1869. Today, including 63,222 acres (255.85 km 2 ) of delegated properties. The farm also has a Bureau of Seed Management that allows its cattle to graze on 287,205 hectares (1,162.28 km 2 ) from public land. When planted property and grazing rations are combined, the farm extends 35 miles (56 km) from north to south and 27 miles (43 km) from east to west.
The farm has 135 miles (217 km) of gravel and dirt roads, 135 miles (217 km) of fences, and 12 wells. There are seven irrigation wells with 250 miles (400 km) of irrigation channels and trenches to drain water into the fields. In addition, farms have primary and secondary water rights in some watersheds. The farm also has one domestic well that provides drinking water for ranch houses and other facilities. The ranch has a private airfield with two runways. The main runway is 3,247 feet (990 m) long and 94 feet wide (29 m).
Prior to the Trout Creek Mountain Working Group agreement in 1992, Whitehorse Ranch nurtured about 3,500 head of cattle in its home range. Currently, the number of livestock has been reduced to 800. Livestock also stores about 50 horses for use on farms. The ranch has a small permanent crew; however, additional people are often employed to help lead, brand and harvest hay. The farm is so large that moving cattle from one meadow to another often takes a few days. During this movement, the hand ranch herded cattle from dawn to sunset through the bare Oregon High Desert.
The remote location of this ranch creates some unique challenges. For example, farms use about 10,000 US gallons (38,000 l) of fuel per year. Since there is no local fuel station, the farm buys fuel from a wholesale distributor in Eugene and sends it to the farm once a year. To save fuel, a hand ranch uses a small vehicle to inspect fences and irrigation canals. The remoteness of the farm also requires a farm hand to do most of the equipment repairs on site.
The Whitehorse Ranch is the official weather station. It reports weather data to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center every day.
Farm environment
The original vegetation in Whitehorse Farms is dominated by large bushes and desert grasses. Other common shrubs include bitterbrush, snowberry, and ceanothus. Mahogany mountain patches are also found in the area. Common grass species include Idaho fescue, wheatgrass bluebunch, cheatgrass, western needlegrass, bluegrass sandberg, Thurber needlegrass, and bottlebrush squirreltail plus basin wildrye in some well-drained areas.
This farm supports a wide variety of wildlife including cougar, bule deer, pronghorn antelope, coyote, and jackababits. Bird species derived from this area include sage grouse, cade mountain, gray-headed junco, black gray fighters, Virginia fighters, MacGillivray warbler, pine siskin, red cross, bushtit, hermit ascetic, and northern goshawks, crows, and Eagle. The creeks at Whitehorse Ranch are home to the fish of Lahontan. To preserve riparian ecosystems, livestock rearing rivers away from tributaries during these critical times of the year.
Location
Whitehorse farms are in a very remote area in southeastern Oregon. It is southeast of Mount Steens and the Alvord Desert and north of the Trout Creek Mountains. The farm headquarters is along Whitehorse Creek in the southeast corner of Harney County. However, the ranch also includes property in Malheur County. The base height of the farm is 4,380 feet (1,340 m) above sea level. The altitude on the farm's aerial field is 4,447 feet (1,355 m).
The nearest neighbor is a 12 mile (19 km) ranch east and west of the Whitehorse Ranch property. The nearest town is a small community unrelated to Fields, Oregon, 23 miles (37 km) west of the farm headquarters. The small community of Denio, Nevada, is 42 miles (68 km) southwest of the farm. Burns, Oregon, the county of Harney County, is 130 miles (210 km) to the north and west of the farm. Caldwell, Idaho is 165 miles (266 km).
The ranch is located on Whitehorse Ranch Road, a gravel road that spans 50 miles (80 km) from Oregon Route 205 8 miles (13 km) south of Fields to US Route 95 between Jordan Valley, Oregon and McDermitt, Nevada.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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