First Impressions: The lure of open rangeland attracted many of central Oregon’s first settlers.

Initial Settlement: Raising Stock: Stockmen first came into central Oregon from the Willamette Valley in the 1860s in search of seasonal grazing.

Large Ranches: Through the 1870s and 1880s large ranches were established on some of central Oregon’s more favorable land.

Sheep Ranching: Rail transportation enabled sheep ranchers to ship their lambs and wool outside the region.

End of the Open Range: The establishment of public lands and forests limited the practices of open-range grazing.

Dry Farming: In order to make use of central Oregon land, dry-farming techiques were developed and promoted in schools of agriculture, regional congresses, and expositions. 

Survival on the High Desert: In some areas dry farmers scraped by while in others they prospered. Still, no one was able to live up to the Jeffersonian ideal of self-sufficiency.  

Irrigation: Early advocates recognized that the settlement of the West would require large-scale irrigation projects created with the help of the federal government.

Irrigation Projects: Completed in 1946, the largest of the central Oregon irrigation projects was the North Unit project which extended from Terrebonne to Gateway.

Pre-Industrial Communities: Prineville: Prineville was the first of the central Oregon town to establish its roots in 1868.

Pre-Industrial Communities: Redmond: The history of Redmond is closely allied to the progress of irrigated farming.

Pre-Industrial Communities: Madras: The establishment of Madras as a market town for regional goods coincided with the opening of the Oregon Trunk Railway in 1910.

Pre-Industrial Arts and Culture: Most central Oregon settlers had to make their own entertainment through folk arts, music, letter-writing, and story-telling.