LEARNING
tion and Power Co. offi cials,
the family pitched their tent
Redmond, looking north
on Sixth Street, circa 191
1.
next to the right of way for the
Deschutes County Historic
al Society
company’s under-construction
irrigation canal and near a
projected rail line, on land just
northeast of today’s down-
town.
A couple of years later,
water began fl owing through
the canal, a town site
was platted and Col. W.A.
Belcher began selling real
estate from what is now the
heart of downtown — SW
Sixth Street and Evergreen
Avenue.
By July 6, 1910, the little
community boasted 216 residents and be-
came an incorporated city. The much-antic-
ipated railroad came through town in 1911,
assuring the town’s commercial viability.
Equipped with the basics for develop-
ment — irrigation water, the railroad and
the dirt roads that later would become U.S.
Highways 97 and 126 — the High Desert
community grew in fi ts and starts over the
decades.
In its history, Redmond has been a potato
production and shipping center, a hub for
turkey raising and home to several wood
Children ride their bicycles on the U.S. Highway 97
product mills. Today, resorts in the area draw tourists and
Bypass, under construction in 2008. Spokesman file
an abundance of industrial land has lured a variety of busi-
changed to Terrebonne, French for “good earth.”
nesses, big and small. Foresight by early residents made
For about 15 years, Terrebonne had a thriving commer-
Redmond home to Central Oregon’s regional airport and
cial district (including fi ve saloons in 1914) but in the mid-
the Deschutes County Fair, as well as a modern fair and
1920s, as improved roads and better vehicles made travel
exposition center.
easier, business migrated to Redmond. However, in recent
years, Terrebonne has seen a resurgence and is home to
Fanning out
restaurants, banks, a supermarket and hardware store.
East of Redmond, Powell Butte — an unincorporated
To the west of Terrebonne, a community grew on what
community halfway between Redmond and Prineville — was
was once a cattle ranch. Seattle developer Bill McPherson
becoming a thriving agricultural center in the early 1900s.
purchased the former working cattle ranch in 1971 to
In 1907 Powell Butte’s handful of residents built a school
develop a recreational home community. Since then,
for the area’s seven schoolchildren. Early residents raised
Crooked River Ranch has evolved into a permanent
sheep for wool. When water reached the area in 1908, ag-
community of about 5,000 residents. In addition to the
riculture boomed. While the potato no longer is king, Powell
nearly 10,000 one- to 5-acre lots, the ranch has a golf
Butte continues to lure residents who enjoy rural life.
course and small commercial district. The original ranch
Five miles to the north of Redmond, Terrebonne began
site was purchased by a Texas oilman in 1910, and his
its existence as Hillman — a combination of the names of
former main ranch house now hosts the Crooked River
James Hill and E.H. Harriman, two railroad magnates who
Ranch Senior Center.
raced to lay track into Central Oregon. The name was later
41