Crooked River Country: Wranglers, Rogues and Barons
by David Braly, Washington State University Press, Pullman, 2007, $24.95.
Central Oregon is often overlooked in considerations of the thrilling days of yesteryear. But that region saw more than its share of wild and woolly goings-on involving fur traders, Paiutes, prospectors, herders and vigilante stockmen, not to mention range wars against sheepherders and political shenanigans involving timber rights. Braly introduces us to the region, primarily Crook and three other counties, in the second chapter. Crook itself covers 2,982 miles yet has just one major waterway (Crooked River) and only one incorporated town (Prineville).
Early whites in the region got along with some Indians, though rarely with the Paiutes. Although overshadowed by the war leaders of the Great Plains, Paiute Chief Paulina was one fierce fellow, making war on whites and other Indians, including the Modocs and Klamaths, from 1859 until the mid- 1860s. “He stopped white settlement in Central Oregon for almost a decade,” writes Braly. If Paulina killed uncounted numbers of people, so did later regional leaders, who in 1882–83 carried out a reign of terror against anyone suspected of rustling or speaking out against them. Finally, a group known as the Moonshiners (for their nighttime rendezvous), which included future Sheriff James Blakely, rose up in opposition and broke the hold of the vigilantes.
Violence broke out again in 1898 as grazing animals crowded into Crook County and cattlemen established “deadline” boundaries across which sheep would not be permitted. These vigilantes, who called themselves the Crook County Sheep Shooters Association, hid behind masks and displayed a willingness to kill sheepherders as well as sheep. While the Crook County War saw its last big sheep slaughter in April 1906, anti-sheep vigilantes continued to kill woollies on occasion, and the conflict lingered until cattlemen and sheepherders reached accord 10 years later. For many years after that, county residents were reluctant to discuss the conflict. Braly relates Central Oregon’s fascinating regional story up to 1953, when Blakely, who had led the Moonshiners so long ago, died at age 100.
Originally published in the August 2009 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
