The Homestead
Way out in the back country. Eastern Oregon if I recall correctly. I was on a less than optimal dirt road myself when I saw this place. Cattle country.
A long way from nowhere.
What toil to build such a home? What hopes and dreams? What tales? Did they raise a family? Did they have ranch hands? Did they grow crops? Hay at least seems likely. Vegetable garden?
No signs of any of that but plenty of time for such to have disappeared “back to nature”
One didn’t settle this land for the sake of just finding a place. There must have been water, grass … a place within reasonable distance for supplies. A typical homestead was 160 acres – ½ x ½ mile. Several plots could be obtained or free-range* for cattle.
The building is old; made of logs … perhaps from the hills in the background. I would suspect late 1800s to 19-teens. A well with hand-pump sits by the right front of the main building. The roof shows signs of red tarpaper covering what appear to be the original shingles. The extension at the rear looks to have had corrugated tin roofing – again, over what appears to be the original shingles. One of the windows appears to have glass remaining. It looks like a large groundhog hole – or some other critter – in a corner of what I’ll call the mudroom.
There is slight evidence of what must have been a road coming from the left to the house. there appears to be a foundation to the left of what is presumably a barn or simply a large shed . A single post of some sort – bigger than a fence post – appears to the left and some distance away from that. Barely visible some distance to the right and rear of the house is what appears to be a barbed wire gate – fenced off now with another fence running along. Far to the left is another cluster of fence posts enclosing an area perhaps 10×10 or 15×15.
There doesn’t appear to be any electrical connections; there is nothing to indicate any vehicle having visited the site for many years. No tire tracks, no bare dirt. No old tires or rusting car bodies as is not unusual for homesteads dating into the 40s. The construction appears older than that.
I find these places occasionally. A place to stop and wonder about lives and times past. What a different world these people of not really all that long ago must have lived.
*Side note: I’ve not seen them back east but out here in open country, one may see signs stating “Open Range”. The practical meaning is that if you hit livestock in open range territory (no fencing required), you are responsible for damages. I happen to live in open range territory even though I live in a “subdivision (of sorts).
I prefer solitude, but I require other things too. While I could make a life in this scene, it’s not my ideal. I likes me sum trees, and a little bit of “texture” to the land.
Plenty of inanimate objects that have a lost story.
When I was about 12 my grandfather bought a piece of land back in a WV hollow with a dilapidated cabin. Roof caved in and floor rotted out but still sturdy log walls. Uncles took it apart, put in a new floor and reassembled the log walls and added a tin roof. It is a hunting cabin currently with electricity and small shitter. Rock bottom creek out front. Used to be someone’s home.
Hunting rifles: Each has a story, most lost outside of the owners mind. I have written down each successful hunt per rifle so that it has a story. I have more than a few hunting rifles and successfully hunted in KS, CO, OK, TX, WV and South Africa.
I bought a used Winchester Model 70 in .270 at a gun show back in the 90s. A man in his ~late 30’s was walking around with it and had it for sale. I love me a Winchester and talked with him. The rifle was his dad’s who had recently passed away. Guy needed the money and didn’t hunt. His brother didn’t want it either. Probably a story in those facts also. Back to the rifle. The bluing was good with some thinning from normal wear spots on the bolt handle and near the muzzle. Wood had a few dings and scratches from normal use. There were no signature dings on the stock near the bolt which tells me this did not sit in a safe with other rifles. This was likely the deceased owners only hunting rifle. A small compass was embedded in the stock and the rifle had a nicely done hand made leather sling. What hunts and wild game had this rifle taken? I needed another hunting rifle like I needed a hole in my head. I bought it.
SN says the gun was made in 1968. This was hunters rifle and it had stories that are lost forevermore. I have given it new life having taken two deer and coyote with it. The stories are probably not that interesting and nobody would make a movie about them. I have 30+ stories from big game hunts. Somehow I need to link those writings with each rifle that my son will eventually receive. Maybe tag the trigger guard with a note associated with the print. Thinking about how to do it.
Suggestions welcome.
Put the note between the butt plate and the stock.
2 screws.
Perfect and thank you Ghost.
Leave just the tiniest of corner sticking out from 1 side. snicker
Now that I’m thinking about it, I might do this with 2 old guns I have.
1917 Winchester Model 12 12 ga that my great granpappy (that I never knew) bought brand new that year and gave to his son, my gran pappy) on his 12th birthday.
It’s in well used shape, as any working gun over a century in age would be because it put food on the table hundreds of times and I ate some of the food (PA Ringnecks) in my early yoot.
1952 Winchester Model 71 .348, 1 of 3 that my dad and his 2 brothers bought brand new that year. Every year the 3 of them would go on a 2 week trip to the Pocono’s in Dec for 10 years straight. No once did any of them bag a deer.
Both of these guns have been in my possession for more than 40 years and both have been stripped down to the core and deeply cleaned by me, and are stored in Fort Knox style lockable hard shell cases. I need to get off my ass and order a new leather sling for the 71 because the old one has long deteriorated into powder. Maybe I’ll do that today.
My maternal grandparents homestead near Colorado Springs in the 19 teens with grandma’s brother’s family. Grandpa filled a farming claim but the land wasn’t good for farming and they gave up and went back to the Ozarks. Uncle Joe proved his claim, but he eventually went back to Missouri.
I posted a ink to a ranch in our valley in the last article. I think it is important to understand that just last year this valley went down to -43F for three days in a row. Did not get back up to 0F for a couple of weeks! I hope you can find the link it tells an important story. Cattle and horses have to be fed and moved during weather like that and it is not easy on man or beast!
Watched a few vids on youtube about a family that lives in northeast Siberia as Caribou ranchers. Very primitive and it stays down around 60 below in the winter and they live in a TeePee.
Man, woman, 30’s, young son. They have several modern conveniences that seem out of place. Snowmobile, chainsaw, and the son plays games on a cellphone.
That TeePee is something else. 20′ tall, 16′ diameter, covered on the outside with thick animal furs. The top is open and a wood stove sites in the middle.
Amazing lifestyle, and they pack up and move frequently because of their herd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdVmqw5ZsoE
Young son? Looked like a little girl to me. Whatever… I detected no melt whatsoever, it must have been 30 below. Fascinating to watch. The kid is playing with a cell phone, the chainsaw and snowmobile run on gasoline, and they’re dragging plastic filled with puppies all about. Big ass power lines nearby. They’ve gotta go to the city or farm store somewhere to supply, but this family is as organic as you can be in such a terrain. They’re kicking ass like countless generations before them. That was terrific to watch. They’re drinking melted snow and mom is a mighty force of nature. Thanks for posting that.
I think they take shipments all winter from boats on the big lake, or the government flies supplies in on helicopters!
With regard to living in a home covered in furs–yeah baby! Gotta love those furs!!
Yeah I found it fascinating to watch and yet I also had questions about it. Cell phone coverage? Drone footage?
Regarding the “son” I have seen several vids on this same theme in that same area but of different families so I may have been mistaken in the ages and genders.