PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Nov/Dec 2018

20 Vol. 41, No. 6 The Oregon Surveyor | Answer The Lost Surveyor The focus of this issue’s Lost Surveyor is near one of the very few woman owned homestead claims in Oregon. At the age of 40 Alice Day Pratt (1872–1963) claimed a 160-acre homestead under the En- larged Homestead Act of 1909. One of a small minority of single women to claim a homestead, she was also one of the last settlers to claim land in eastern Or- egon as the homestead acts drew to a close. She began her claim in 1912 and abandoned it in 1930 after weathering numerous hardships. She eventually sold it in 1950, never to return to Oregon. Due to economics and drought she left Ore- gon penniless and moved to New York where she lived out her days. A teacher and author, Pratt was looking for adventure, freedom and land. After making her way west, she left a teach- ing position in Stanfield, Oregon to take up her claim near our subject location. Her claim was comprised of “The south- east one quarter and the south half of the northeast one quarter and the lot one—Section Four, Township Seven- teen, Range Nineteen East, Willamette Meridian.” Like many other homestead- ers she lived in a tent for several of the early years on her claim. Eventually im- proving her home from a tent to a single room house (12x20) and adding a small barn, constructed with the assistance of neighbors. In addition to her cats and dogs, Pratt raised chickens, rabbits and cattle as well as tending to her crops along the base of Friar Butte. Through all of this she and her small farm were ravaged by drought, coyotes, insects and many other challenges of homesteading life including some of her “Old Orego- nian” neighbors who were not always welcoming to homesteaders. Even Pratt’s well-intentioned neighbors were often some of her biggest challenges. She once wrote, “My difficulties have been far of- tener with the human element than the rigors of the climate or the hardships of labor...” Alice Day Pratt first wrote about many of her homesteading experiences and lessons in “The Homesteader’s Port- folio” which was published in 1922. As a result of her 18 years homesteading in eastern Oregon, she has been recognized as a historically significant figure of the homesteading era. She was one of the very few single women to document and write about her experiences on the west- ern frontier. After moving to New York, she continued her writing career with several other published works, and she left several unpublished manuscripts at the time of her death at age 90 in 1963. Prior to Ms. Pratt coming to our location, and likely through some of her time here, a viscous civil war erupted in this part of Oregon. This range war led to the deaths and disappearance of numerous residents and the death of tens of thousands of sheep. Crook County was created in 1882 in the name of US Army Major- General George Crook, who was a hero of the Snake Indian Wars. At the time of its creation, Crook County covered nearly 8,600 square miles. It spanned from Izee on the east to the summit of the cascades on the west and from roughly Antelope on the north to Fort Rock on the south. The Crook County War began slowly in about 1896 and continued through the early 1900’s as ranchers and sheepherd- ers battled over grazing rights and land The true center of Oregon is about one quarter mile beyond this sign on the opposite side of the road. Meatloaf anyone? Old Grange hall which is now in private ownership. ?