4
CROOK COUNTY JOURNAL'S ANNUAL NUMI5LK.
1)1
vegetables, the yield being enormous. To
the north of Upper Trout amid rough hills
and buttes high and sharp, a few very
small, but very rich valleys are located
and cultivated. Eastward three-quarters
of a mile from Trout Creek, and two miles
been taken, and it is believed that larger
quantities will in the future be secured
from the rock that underlie the hills.
The north fork of Crooked river has its
source near Summit Prairie. First it flows
eastward, thence bearing southward it do-
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ALFALFA FARM OF . I- KETCHUM 1 MILE WEST OF PRINEVILLE-
from where it enters the canyon, the King
mine is located, that bids fair to lie one
of the mines of the world. A mile further
upward is the town of Ashwood. a new, but
thriving village.
To the southwest of Upper Trout for
eight miles the hill rises in a series of
benches. Upon many of these claims are
taken and immense crops of grain and veg
etables are raised without irrigation, being
a clay sub-soil, and springs abounding every
where. Northeasterly from Trout Creek, and
nearly parallel to it, from four to six miles
distant, is the "divide" between the waters
of the Deschutes and John Day rivers. A
high, rough and rocky ridge, with a few
claims taken on the benches and in the
small valleys. Currant and Muddy creeks
drain a large portion of this slope and
Cherry Creek the remainder. These creeks,
with immense grade, fall rapidly toward
the John Day river. Their narrow, rich
bottoms produce wonderful crops of alfalfa,
corn, melons, peaches and grapes, this be
ing far the warmest portion of the county.
Throughout the whole region, from Grizzly
butte to the John Day river, the soil is
first-class, where it is clear of stone and
level enough to be plowed. There are
many small benches and little bottoms yet
unoccupied. Good springs abound through
the whole region.
Following the "divide" between the Des
chutes and John Day rivers southeasterly,
we enter pine timber in the northeastern
part of township It south, range 17 east
Willamette meridian. This is an extensive
timber belt, composed chiefly of yellow
pine, but fir, black pine and larch, com
monly called tamarac, are plentiful. This
timber belt extends southeasterly to eastern
boundary of the county and beyond.
Forty miles east of Prineville is Summit
Prairie, of twenty-five or thirty square miles
area, about four thousand feet above sea
level. It produces a vast quantity of wild
grass, hay and summer pasture. It is all
owned and fenced by prosperous stockmen.
This prairie is surrounded by timber.
Thirty miles a little east of north from
Prineville are the Ochoco mines, from
which large quantities of placer gold have
scribes a semi-circle and forms a junction
with the south fork nearly due south from
its source. The Beaver Creek country is
situated in the most easterly portion of
the county. Beaver Creek has two branches.
The north fork has its source in Grant
County and the south fork in Harney
County. They come rapidly down to a
point about four miles west of the eastern
boundary of Crook., There the bottoms
widen out to about a mile in width, nearly
twenty miles long, the creek falling but
two feet to the mile. Here there are the
largest natural meadows in the county,
hills are not so high above the surround
ing country as they are in the northern
men and women. Then Grindstone Creek,
with three large meadow ranches. This,
the Beaver Creek country, is among the
very best of grass countries. The rolling
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Beaver Creek and the north fork of Crooked
river. These valleys are as beautiful as
they are isolated, rich in the abundance
of hay they produce.
Passing south from Beaver Creek near
the county line we come to Little Camp
Creek. With a rich, narrow valley, here,
near the lower end of this valley, is the
Red Rock soda spring, destined, sometime,
to be famous. This spring comes sparkling
out of a rock, red with oxide of iron, cov
ered with a low bank of alluvial earth, one
dwarfed, mangled, cattle twisted willow
constituting all semblance of timber near it.
Then Little Trout Creek, noted for large
herds of sheep, grass and large, healthy
part of the county, and they are devoid of
nearly everything except bunch grass and
stones. On southward a half day's journey,
over a not very rough country, we arrive
at Old Hardin, which at one time was a
postoflice, on Twelve .Mile Creek, a tribu
tary of the south fork of Crooked river.
Here a few juniper trees and sage brush
are in evidence. Twelve .Mile and its tribu
taries are principally devoted to the sheep
industry.
Thence southeasterly another half day's
journey, for be it known this is a country
of "magnificent distances." we come to
Buck Creek. Here is plenty of limestone,
down Buck Creek valley, which is narrow,
but rich, some five miles, the creek disap
pearssinks, they call it it merges into
an extended, very level sage plain of some
two hundred square miles in area, hounded
on the north by a range of low bills, on
the east by Buck mountain, which is tim
bered, and a low gap passing southeast
ward to the rest of the world, to the
south by Glass butte, a mountain, sharp
topped, of vitreous rock, on the west by
Hamilton butte, and near the center of this
alkali impregnated sage brush plain, the
south fork of Crooked river rises bodily
but quietly out of the earth and creeps off
northward, with no tree, nor bush to betray
its presence for several miles.
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SCENE ON DESCHUTES AT "THE TULLES ''
lo the north of Beaver Creek, Wolf
Creek, a tributary, is rich in meadow land,
and alfalfa is grown to some extent.
Elevated and surrounded by low hills,
Paulina and Rabbit valleys lie between
There are level bottom lands for ten or
twelve miles in its northwesterly course,
then it enters a rock-bound canyon in
which is the White Sulphur springs, the
stinking springs of the early emigrants. Ten