At any rate, we started this morning at 6am and had a big egg, bacon, and biscuit breakfast before driving 60 minutes from La Grande to Durkee where Susan grew up and her family currently lives. They have a TON of land and a TON of cattle that we learned all about.
Susan and Jennifer started the day by showing us the approximate location of the mine of Alex’s Poppie. We didn’t go up into the mine, but they showed us the trail he most likely used to get to the mine. There were a bunch of other mines in the area as well that they pointed out to us. We also stopped by the house that Poppie lived in while he was mining. He slept on the front porch with two other guys that came out to mine. You can kind of see what was the porch, but is now part of the house. Sheryl, Susans sister, currently lives in the house despite spending most of her time at the main house working the ranch.
There were a number of different old buildings on their property, including old cabins, school houses, and original homesteads. We got to drive around in “side sides” all day exploring their property, which included portions of the Oregon Trail. Meema, who is 89 years old and still works the ranch, had a ton of stories, including that her grandmother came across the Oregon Trail with her family from Illinois when she was 2. They settled in the house seen below (hopefully I remember to add the photo) and Meema grew up there. This area was a spot where many people on the Oregon Trail stopped to rest because there was a spring nearby, and it was a flat, shaded area just after a fairly treacherous section. Sometimes the beginning of a group would wait 2-3 days for the end of the group to arrive. We were also shown the school house that Meema went to, as well as the school house Susan and her siblings went to.
The house Poppie stayed at while mining
Meemas school house
The house on the Oregon Trail that Meema grew up in
We then headed up to the lower cabin, which was built by Sheryl’s husband Chuck, and other family and friends. It has solar power, a compost toilet (google it, it’s pretty neat), running hot water, a wood fire stove, a covered porch, a balcony, etc. It is basically a tiny home, which Chuck said he got some of his ideas from. We stopped here for a beer, bonfire, and sandwiches for lunch.
The rest of the afternoon we drove around and saw their entire property. They showed us all of the incredible views, and knew all of the different mountains and how to get through all of these tiny, often tree covered roads. We also stopped by the upper cabin, which is a larger version of the lower cabin, but not quite as finished. This cabin is owned by a different family member. Its been really cool to see how close this family is, as well as their community. They all work together - whether it’s branding their livestock, or building a structure, it’s always a community event. Everyone helps out their neighbors and treats each other like family.
We ended the day at the lower cabin again for a beer, great conversation, and grilled tri tip.
Being here was such an incredible experience. It gave me a much better idea of how hard people work in these rural areas. It doesn’t matter if it’s Memorial Day, or your birthday, or if you have the flu, stuff has to get done. Animals need feeding, birthing, or healing. They take care of their animals and property not just because it brings in the money, but because they truly do care and have pride around the work they do.
I never would have picked eastern Oregon as a place to visit, but I’m so glad we did (thanks Alex)! It makes me wonder how many other amazing communities there are out there just like this one.
Big shout out to the Bunch family for being such amazing hosts on our first stop of the trip. Most of the family spent most, of not all of their day with us. It means a lot!
