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CapitalPress.com
Friday, March 4, 2022
Blackman family: Farming for more than a century
By LEE JUILLERAT
For the Capital Press
KLAMATH
FALLS,
Ore. — For more than a cen-
tury, members of the Black-
man family have been farm-
ing and ranching in the
Henley area of Klamath
Falls.
It’s always been challeng-
ing, but 2021 was excep-
tionally daunting. Because
of the ongoing drought,
the Bureau of Reclamation
decided not release to water
for irrigating. That left water
users like the Blackmans
improvising.
“It was a pretty rough
year,” says Rodney “Rod”
Blackman of Blackman
Ranch Inc., of finding ways
to irrigate their several hun-
dred acres primarily used
for potatoes and grain. “It’s
ironic because when my
grandfather began here, he
was promised he’d get all
the water he ever needed.”
Instead, in 2021 the
Blackmans left 300 acres
unirrigated. A neighbor pro-
vided water for another field
from his wells and the fam-
ily leased other land ser-
viced by other wells.
The Blackman Ranch
was founded in Decem-
ber 1919 by Thomas Wal-
ter “TW” Blackman, Rod’s
great-grandfather. He and
Lee Juillerat/For the Capital Press
The Blackmans’ license
plate tells their story.
Blackman Family
Rod Blackman’s grandparents, Will and Ina, in 1956.
Lee Juillerat/For the Capital Press
Rod Blackman
his son, Will, moved to the
Klamath Basin from Wele-
etka, Okla., where they had
co-owned a dairy. In 1920,
when Will took ownership,
he wondered if he’d made
the right decision.
Rod, Will’s grandson, is
glad Will decided to stay.
“It’s a point of pride,” he
says of the family’s lon-
gevity and history. “You
don’t think about it until it
happens.”
W ATER M ASTER S ERIES
Rod and his wife, Vir-
ginia “Ginny,” thought
about the family’s 100-plus
years during ceremonies
last August at the Oregon
State Fair, where the Black-
man Ranch was honored as
a Century Farm through the
Oregon Century Farm &
Ranch Program. The recog-
nition was actually approved
in 2020 but was delayed by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although
still
for-
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Blackman Family
Virginia “Ginny” Blackman helped with trucking in her
younger years.
mally known as the Black-
man Ranch Inc., the fam-
ily phased out cattle in the
late 1970s and since then
has grown crops, mainly
potatoes, wheat and alfalfa,
along with sugar beets and
have rotated fields with
onions, barley and garlic.
According to “Recollec-
tions of Grandma Ina Black-
man,” recorded by then
85-year-old Janis Black-
man Kafton in 1975, TW
and Will had visited Klam-
ath Falls at the urging of
Will’s sister, Cleola, and her
husband Bert Blake, who
“rather liked the looks of
the country and especially
the prospect of getting good
land with irrigation.” After-
wards, WT and Will decided
to move to Klamath Falls.
After buying the prop-
erty, Will returned to Okla-
homa to retrieve Ina and
their children, Phillip and
Janis. The train trip west
proved challenging. Most of
the family became ill with
influenza and deboarded
in Sacramento, where they
were confined in strict isola-
tion for a week. They finally
arrived in Klamath Falls in
February 1920.
According to “Recollec-
tions,” the family bought a
Model T Ford, “just enough
furniture to get by,” some
basic farm equipment,
including a walking plow,
cultivator, two horses, a
cow, some pigs and a few
chickens. Helpful neighbors
made life easier, with one
providing land to pasture
Will’s cattle while another
loaned the family a cow.
Ina wrote how some
women gathered to “work
on quilts for a bit of social
life and visiting” while oth-
ers helped at harvest time.
“Recollections” include
tales of bad roads and chal-
lenges at harvest times.
There was water for the ani-
mals, but “there was no run-
ning water in the house.
They had to carry water in
from an outside well.”
After Will died in 1962,
ownership transferred to
Ina. Following her death
in 1984, ownership trans-
ferred to Duane and Dar-
lene Blackman, Rod’s par-
ents. Rod and Ginny took
ownership in 2009 follow-
ing Duane’s death.
“She helped with every-
thing and now does the
bookkeeping in the office,”
Rod says of his wife’s role
in managing the farm.
Rod served as presi-
dent of the Klamath County
Potato Growers Association
and was a member of the
Oregon Potato Commission,
which represents the potato
industry in trade develop-
ment, research and legisla-
tive affairs. “I did my tour of
duty,” he says.
He remains active in
farm operations, “I try
to be involved,” such as
driving the harvester and
hauling potatoes, but the
day-to-day duties are han-
dled by his stepson, Tad
Kloepper.
“It’s been a lot of hard
work,” Rod says, especially
in an era of droughts and
water issues. “It isn’t always
easy, but we’re proud to be a
part of history.”