The Sod House Ranch is a historic ranch in Harney County in southeastern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The remaining ranch structures are located south of

Malheur Lake Malheur Lake ( ) is one of the lakes in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, Harney County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located about southeast of Burns, Oregon, Burns, the lake is marsh fed by the Donner und Blitzen ...

in the

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located roughly south of the city of Burns, Oregon, Burns in Oregon's Harney Basin. Administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the refuge area is roughly T-shap ...

. The ranch was built by

Peter French Peter French (April 30, 1849 – December 26, 1897) was an American rancher. The community of Frenchglen, Oregon, was partially named for him. Early life Peter French was born John William French in Missouri on April 30, 1849. In 1850, his fath ...

, a well known 19th-century cattle baron. The Sod House Ranch became the headquarters for the northern operating division of the ''French-Glenn Livestock Company'', which eventually covered over . After French was murdered in 1897, the French-Glenn Livestock Company slowly sold off its ranch property. In 1935, the

United States Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

purchased the Sod House Ranch property to add to an adjacent wildlife refuge. The eight remaining Sod House Ranch buildings are now listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Early history

The Sod House Ranch is located in the

Harney Basin The Harney Basin is an endorheic basin in southeastern Oregon in the United States at the northwestern corner of the Great Basin. One of the least populated areas of the contiguous United States, it is located largely in northern Harney County ...

of southeastern Oregon. Around 9,800 years ago, the Harney Basin was covered by a great lake covering . The birds, animals, and plants found in the wetland around the lake provided abundant food for early inhabitants. About 3,500 years ago, small villages began to develop around the lakes and along the banks of the river. Beginning about 1,400 years ago, extended droughts began to shrink the lake and surrounding wetlands."The Prehistory of the Malheur Marshes"
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Dept. of Interior, Princeton, Oregon, November 10, 2008. While there are no records of the earliest people to inhabit the Harney Basin, Native Americans used the wetland areas around Malheur Lake,

Harney Lake Harney Lake is a shallow alkali lake basin located in southeast Oregon, United States, approximately south of the city of Burns, Oregon, Burns. The lake lies within the boundary of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and is the lowest point i ...

, and

Donner und Blitzen River The Donner und Blitzen River is a river on the eastern Oregon high desert that drains a relatively arid basin, the southern portion of Harney Basin, from roughly 20 to 80 miles (30 to 130 km) south-southeast of Burns including Malheur Nationa ...

for thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers. By the time Europeans began to explore the area in the early nineteenth century, the

Northern Paiute Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

people were well established in the Harney Basin.

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

fur trappers were the first Europeans to visit the Harney Basin.

Peter Skene Ogden Peter Skene Ogden (alternately Skeene, Skein, or Skeen; baptised 12 February 1790 – 27 September 1854) was a British-Canadian fur trader and an early explorer of what is now British Columbia and the Western United States. During his many exped ...

passed along the north shore of

in 1826. Other fur trapping expeditions followed in the 1830s. Several military expeditions passed through the area in the late 1850s. Major Enoch Steen was the first non-native to explore the Donner und Blitzen River area in 1860.

Steens Mountain Steens Mountain is a large fault-block mountain in the northwest United States, located in Harney County, Oregon. Stretching some north to south, on its east side it rises from the Alvord Desert at an elevation of about to at the summit. Ste ...

, which dominates southern Harney County, was named in his honor. In the 1860s, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

established a number of military outposts in the Harney Basin."A Little Bit of Malheur History"
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Dept. of Interior, Princeton, Oregon, November 10, 2008.

Peter French

Peter French was born in

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

in 1849. His family immigrated to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 1850. As a young man, French worked for Doctor

Hugh J. Glenn Hugh James Glenn (September 18, 1824 – February 17, 1883) was a prominent 19th-century physician, livestock, stockman, wheat farmer and politician in California. In 1879, he ran in the California gubernatorial election as the candidat ...

, who owned large tracts of land in the

Sacramento Valley The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California ...

. In 1872, Glenn decided to expand his operation into Oregon. Glenn picked 23-year-old Peter French to lead the venture. French was sent north with six

vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in what what is today Mexico (then New Spain) and Spanish Florida from a method brought to the Americ ...

s and 1,200 head of cattle.Pinyard, David and Donald Peting
"Preservation of the Pete French Round Barn"
, ''CRM Cultural Resources Management'' (Vol. 18, No. 5), National Park Service, US Dept. of Interior, Washington, D.C., 1995, pp. 30-32."Peter French"
''The Oregon History Project'', Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, 2002.McArthur, Lewis A. and Lewis L. McArthur, "Frenchglen", ''Oregon Geographic Names'' (Seventh Edition), Oregon Historical Society Press, 2003, pp. 384-385. Petefrench

In the Blitzen Valley, French met a

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...

named Porter, who had not found much gold and was eager to move on. French bought Porter's small herd of cattle along with his "P" cattle brand and rights to the west slope of

where Porter had prospected. French settled along the Donner und Blitzen River, over the next several years draining and fencing thousands of acres of wetlands along the river. That land became the

P Ranch The P Ranch is a historic ranch in Harney County, Oregon, Harney County in southeastern Oregon, United States. The remaining ranch structures are located on the west bank of the Donner und Blitzen River in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. ...

, named for Porter's "P" brand. French acquired the Sod House Ranch from A. H. Robie in 1877 along with Robie's property in the Diamond and Blitzen valleys. By the 1880s, the ranch was earning a good income for Glenn. Cattle were raised in the lush valley pastures. In the fall, French drove his cattle to the railhead at

Winnemucca, Nevada Winnemucca () is the only incorporated city in Humboldt County, Nevada, United States, of which it is also the county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 8,431, up 14.0 percent from the 2010 ...

."Sod House Ranch Historic District", ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form'', Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Dept. of Interior, Burns, Oregon, January 29, 1979. In 1883, French married Glenn's daughter Ella. Glenn was murdered three weeks later by a former employee. French continued to manage the Oregon operation for the Glenn family, selling more cattle to help pay the family's debts. In 1894, Glenn's heirs decided to incorporate the French-Glenn partnership into the French-Glenn Livestock Company, making French the company president. Over the years, French expanded the company's holdings until the ranch extended from the foothills of Steens Mountain along both sides of the Donner und Blitzen River to Malheur Lake, including the Sod House Ranch property running along the south shore of the lake. It also covered all of neighboring Happy and Diamond valleys plus a large part of the Catlow Valley to the south. Eventually, the French-Glenn Livestock Company owned over of the Harney Basin."Guide to the French-Glenn Live Stock Company Records 1884-1907"
''Northwest Digital Archives'', Oregon Historical Society Research Library, 2006. Some records indicate the ranch may have covered as much as ."P Ranch Historic District", ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form'', Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Dept. of Interior, Burns, Oregon, January 29, 1979. The company built of

barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the ...

fence to protect 30,000 to 45,000 head of cattle plus 3,000 horses and mules. In addition to the main P Ranch headquarters, the operation had four other divisions; the Happy Valley Division, the Diamond Division, the Catlow Valley Division, and Sod House Division. The Sod House Ranch served as French's sub-headquarters at the northern end the property near the mouth of the Donner und Blitzen River and along the south shore of Malheur Lake. French was not popular with new homesteaders in the area because he owned or controlled most of the water in the southern Harney Basin. His fences also made it difficult for some homesteaders to access their property. On December 26, 1897, French was shot dead near the Sod House Ranch by a settler who had been unsuccessful in getting a road easement across French's property. F. C. Lusk, secretary of the French-Glenn Livestock Company prior to French's death, became executor of French's estate and took over as ranch manager. Lusk gradually sold off ranch assets to pay off company debts. In 1906, much of the French-Glenn property including the Sod House Ranch was sold to

Henry L. Corbett Henry Ladd Corbett (July 29, 1881April 22, 1957) was an American businessman, civic leader, and politician in the state of Oregon. He was born into one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Oregon. Corbett attended Harvard Univers ...

and his partner C.E.S. Wood. In 1916, the property was acquired by the Eastern Oregon Live Stock Company. In the 1920s, the part of the property known as the Barton Lake Ranch was bought by John Jenkins. This property includes the well-known

Pete French Round Barn The Pete French Round Barn, located near Burns, Oregon, United States, is a round barn listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The late 19th century barn was owned and constructed by cattle rancher Peter French; French trained horses ...

. In 1935, the United States Government bought the remaining property to expand the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

The ''Malheur Migratory Bird Refuge'' was created in 1908. Over the years, the refuge grew to encompass around Malheur Lake. In 1935, the United States Government purchased from the Eastern Oregon Live Stock Company for $675,000, adding the land to the refuge. The refuge was later renamed the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. During the 1930s, the refuge hosted three

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

camps, located at the Sod-House Ranch south of Malheur Lake, at Buena Vista Station, and at north of Frenchglen in the P Ranch area. CCC crews built a number of stone buildings to house the refuge headquarters near the Sod House site, and several refuge buildings at Buena Vista, four lookout towers, the main refuge patrol road, four concrete dams, numerous canals and bridges, and hundreds of miles of fence. The camps were closed in 1942. Because it played an important role in the development of the cattle industry in the western United States, the Sod House Ranch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district on January 29, 1979. The district covers . Today, eight of the ten original ranch buildings plus three other historic structures remain at the site. Most of the historic buildings are in good condition.

Structures

Originally the Sod House Ranch complex included ten buildings. The ranch buildings were constructed between the early 1880s and 1900. Today, eight of those building and several other historic structures remain at the ranch site. They are the main house, a

buckaroo A buckaroo is a cowboy of the Great Basin and California region of the United States, from an Anglicization of the Spanish word ''vaquero''. Buckaroo or Buckaroos may also refer to: Music * The Buckaroos, the backing band for country singer Buck ...

bunkhouse A bunkhouse is a barracks-like building that historically was used to house working cowboys on ranches, or loggers in a logging camp in North America. As most cowboys were young single men, the standard bunkhouse was a large open room with narr ...

, a large

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G ...

, a

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

, a carriage shed, adjoining

chicken coop Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises poultry, domesticated birds such as chickens, Domestic duck, ducks, turkey (domesticated), turkeys and domesticated goose, geese to produce chicken meat, meat or Egg as food, eggs for ...

and grain storage shed, a stone cellar, a small cabin, a beef wheel, and several original stockade fences. The ranch site is surrounded by a number of large cottonwood trees planted in 1892 by Emanuel Clark, French's Sod House Ranch foreman."Historic Sod House Ranch"
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Dept. of Interior, Princeton, Oregon, July 27, 2010."Blitzen Valley Auto Tour Route"
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Dept. of Interior, Princeton, Oregon, July 27, 2010. The Sod House Ranch buildings were constructed using native materials including

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

and

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

lumber,

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

posts, and locally quarried stone. Most of the buildings have been repaired, reroofed, or restored in some way, but all of the structures still retained their original character. Sod House Ranch barn

The barn was probably the first building constructed, probably in the early 1880s. It is long and wide. It is a post and beam structure with heavy juniper posts supporting the roof, which is high at its peak. The exterior of the barn is finished with pine and juniper boards. The roof is covered with pine

shingles Shingles, also known as herpes zoster or zona, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. T ...

. The original roof was replaced in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps using pine shingles. The interior of the barn is a single large room with a wide center aisle to accommodate a winter hay supply. Feed racks run the length of the barn on both sides. In 1999, the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

undertook a project to stabilize and restore the barn. House jacks were used to lift the barn clear of the ground while failing interior support posts were removed and replaced by new juniper posts. Concrete piers were placed beneath the interior posts. The project also lifted parts of the structure 23 inches (58 cm) into vertical alignment. At the same time, a number of partners joined the US Fish and Wildlife Service to restore other ranch buildings. This conservation work took five years. The Sod House Ranch was reopened to the public on October 18, 2003. Among the partners that helped to restore the ranch were the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

Architectural Field School, the

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), officially known (in state law) as the State Parks and Recreation Department, is the government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon which operates its system of state parks. In addition, it has pr ...

, the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office,

AmeriCorps AmeriCorps ( ; officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in ...

, the

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is an American foundation that was chartered by the United States Congress in 1984 to increase the resources available for the conservation of the nation's fish, wildlife, plants, and habitats. A ...

, the Harney County Historical Society, Malheur Wildlife Associates, the

High Desert Museum The High Desert Museum is located near Bend, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1982, it brings regional wildlife, culture, art and natural resources together to promote an understanding of natural and cultural heritage of North America's high ...

, and numerous local volunteer groups.''The Secretary of the Interior’s Report to Congress on Federal Archeological Activities''
US Dept. of Interior, Washington, D.C., 2003. Today, the Sod House Ranch is open to the public from August 15 through October 15. It is closed the rest of the year because the area provides important nesting habitat for colonies of

great blue heron The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as far northwestern South America, the Caribbea ...

double-crested cormorant The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes and in coastal areas and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska ...

s, and

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North ...

. File:Sod House Ranch feed stalls.jpg, * Barn feed racks File:Sod House Ranch cabin.jpg, * Ranch cabin File:Sod House Ranch stone cellar.jpg, * Stone cellar File:Sod House Ranch carriage shed.jpg, * Carriage shed

Location

The Sod House Ranch Historic District is located within the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon. The historic district covers . The site is approximately south of Malheur Lake and west of the Donner und Blitzen River. The elevation of the ranch is above sea level.Oregon topographic map
US Geological Survey, US Dept. of Interior, Reston, Virginia; displayed via ACME mapper, ''www.acme.com'', August 29, 2010. The Sod House Ranch is southeast of

Burns, Oregon Burns is a city in and the county seat of Harney County, Oregon, Harney County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,730. Burns and the nearby city of Hines, Oregon, Hines are ...

in direct line. From Burns, travel east on

Oregon Route 78 Oregon Route 78 is an Oregon state highway running from Burns, Oregon, Burns in Harney County, Oregon, Harney County to Burns Junction, Oregon, Burns Junction in Malheur County, Oregon, Malheur County. OR 78 is known as the Steens Highway No. 4 ...

for ; then turn south on Oregon Route 205. Follow Route 205 for before turning east on the Narrows-Princeton Road. Approximately from that junction, turn south on the Sod House Ranch access road. Follow the access road for to reach the historic ranch site.

References

External links

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
{{Use mdy dates, date=December 2018 Ranches on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Buildings and structures in Harney County, Oregon Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Harney County, Oregon Malheur National Wildlife Refuge