High Desert Homestead Ranch
Head outside and back in time more than 100 years to the 1904 Miller Family Ranch.
A new story is unfolding at the Museum’s re-created High Desert ranch and sawmill. The year is 1904. The Miller family – characters portrayed live along with their guests – are ranchers. Ranch hand William Thomas helps Mary Louise Miller maintain the homestead while her husband, Clay Miller, tends Hereford cattle on the open range.
The Millers recently joined other homesteaders to buy a used sawmill from the U.S. Army. Now they can mill timber for barns, sheds, worker bunkhouses and other projects instead of buying lumber from distant mills.
The area is changing dramatically. Bend’s population has surpassed 400, up from 21 people in 1900. Freighters, stockmen, buckaroos, sheep herders, timber cruisers, gamblers and transients of all kinds have descended upon the boomtown. Timber industry tycoon Alexander Drake is spearheading the area’s development, and a railroad line is expected to reach Central Oregon soon. New technology – the telephone, automobile and electricity – is arriving.
Topics on the national scene include the women’s suffrage movement, President Theodore Roosevelt, and whether plans for the Panama Canal would position America as a maritime, and potentially imperial, power.
A century ago, the residents of Central Oregon were not that different from today. They lived through a period of rapid growth and felt torn between appreciating modern conveniences and concern that their lifestyles were becoming obsolete. People tried to balance optimism for the future with nostalgia for simpler times.
So, stop by our ranch and sawmill and chat with the Millers and others from the year 1904 as you help with watering the garden, washing the laundry, cross-cut sawing and working at the mill! (Seasonal - check with Admissions for days and times.)
At the Homestead, you can scrub the porch, stack firewood, water the garden, or sweep the cabin. After you've worked hard, enjoy frontier life by playing one of several vintage games and then investigate the Barn, Willow Corral, Root Cellar and Bunk House. On the weekends during the winter months, stop by and warm up by the stove while listening to tales of homestead life from Mrs. Blair or one of her friends.
11:00 to 4:00 daily June through August
11:00 to 3:00 weekends September through May
HEIRLOOM FARM ANIMALS AT THE RANCH
While exploring the homestead outbuildings, stop by the chicken coop to see authentic Plymouth Rock and White Leghorn Chickens. Click here to see photos and learn about the history of these heirloom animals.
