Rocks & Hard Places: Historic Resources Study

Beckham, Stephen; Lentz, Florence

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument was created in 1974 by an Act of Congress. According to an early planning document approved in 1979, the purpose of the Monument is: To identify, interpret, and protect the geologic, paleontological, natural, and cultural resources along the central and upper John Day River and to provide facilities that will promote and assist visitor recreational enjoyment and understanding of the same. A more recent National Park Service strategic plan has since officially acknowledged the global significance of the Monument's fossil resources and given priority to its paleontological values. Nonetheless, the protection and interpretation of cultural resources remains an important component of the Monument's educational mission. This commitment to cultural values is best demonstrated in the preservation and adaptive use of the historic Cant Ranch as the Monument's headquarters. John Day Fossil Beds National Monument comprises 14,400 acres in three widely-separated noncontiguous units: Sheep Rock, Painted Hills, and Clarno. All are in the watershed of the upper John Day River in north-central Oregon. While each unit has a distinctive geological history and landscape, all are united in sharing a common cultural history. The goal of this study is to relate the human history of lands in the vicinity of the John Day Fossil Beds, to identify historic resources within the bounds of the Monument, and to set them in a local and regional context. To that end, this study describes the important themes of regional and national history relevant to central Oregon. At another level, it explores those themes specific to the development of Grant and Wheeler counties, within which the Monument lies. Indigenous habitation, conquest and settlement, transportation, livestock ranching, mining, lumbering, recreation and tourism were all a part of the human experience in the place known as "the John Day country." The study consultants made use of a variety of primary and secondary sources in this effort. These include published and unpublished manuscripts, cultural resource reports, census documents, diaries and journals, historic maps, patent files, General Land Office publications and archival records, oral histories, local histories, historic photographs, and newspaper articles, among others. These documents are annotated in the Bibliography presented at the end of this report. An overview of extant historic resources across the two-county area was assembled from current Oregon State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) records for sites historic listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and/or in the Oregon Inventory of Historic Places. Analysis of pre-historic archaeological site data was not within the scope of this study, and no discussion of such sites is included in this report. SHPO records for historic properties were supplemented with limited field survey in the communities of Fossil, Service Creek, Richmond, Spray, Kimberly, Mitchell, Dayville, Mt. Vernon, John Day, and Canyon City, and along the connecting highways linking these communities. Tourism literature dating from the 1970s to the present was also inspected in order to determine those resources of lasting significance to present-day residents.

Rocks & Hard Places: Historic Resources Study

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