Sumpter, OR - Sept 11, 2023


Visiting Aaron's kids in Eastern Oregon is a yearly ritual and super interesting for me, the city girl.

The ranch boasts adorably affectionate cowdogs, chickens, pigs, and even 80+ head of cattle owned by 19-year old grandson, Clay.  Aaron bequeathed to Clay the proprietary brand he'd used on his cattle back in the day when he ranched.  We're super proud of this industrious and hard-working young man.







Today we made the trip into the Elkhorn Mountains to the quaint old western town of Sumpter, OR.  From 1912 to 1954, three massive dredges chewed up the pristine low country of the Powder River Valley in search of gold leaving behind vast mountains of tailings.  When the dredge operation finally shut down in 1954, they had mined less gold than the entire operation over 40 years cost to run, leaving debt and over 1100 acres of deeply scarred land in its wake.  Oregon State Parks maintains one of the three dredges as a testimonial to the stupidity of man in search of gold.  











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