At the time of European contact the predominate Native Amerian group using the area was the Northern Paiute. Many of the petroglyphs of southeast Oregon may date to the time of the Pluvial Lakes which fill many of the desert basins. Some estimates place the earliest petroglyphs to as much as 12,000 years old, if so the Northern Paiute may not have been involved with creating them.

There’s a sign at this location, reading, “These designs are examples of Native American rock art. They are called petroglyphs. The exact meanings of the designs are not known. They may have been used in ceremonies, or as maps. Perhaps they marked tribal ownership or represented personal power.”

Lake County was once home to Basque and Irish sheepherders. Cattle ranchers later feuded and beat out the wandering sheepherders. Lake County grew with the arrival of homesteaders, but the dry climate made for tough going.

Lake County was created from Jackson and Wasco Counties on October 24, 1874 by the State Legislature. It then included the present Klamath County and all of the present Lake County except Warner Valley. In 1882 land was removed to create Klamath County, and in 1885 the Warner area from Grant County was added. Linkville, now Klamath Falls, was the first county seat.

M. Bullard gave 20 acres as the Lakeview townsite. By the 1875 election a town had been started there and an election moved the county seat to Lakeview. Because of poor transportation connections with the rest of Oregon, the early economic orientation of Lake County was toward California. As an indicator of that connection, both the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner arrived in Lakeview daily, often before the The Oregonian. During the 1840s and 1850s the county was part of the military courier route between The Dalles on the Columbia River and the Presidio in San Francisco.

The county acquired a railroad connection in the 1890s. That railroad spur, the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway line running from Lakeview toReno, Nevada, emphasized the isolation of the county from the rest of Oregon. A devastating fire in 1900 destroyed much of Lakeview, including 75 businesses.

Pictured below is what’s thought to be the original homestead of the Crump Ranch.  This house dates back a 100 years and is located on on the shores of Crump Lake.

Our grandparents homesteaded the original Crump Ranch in 1888 in Warner Valley (Lake County) on the shores of “Christmas Lake”, later renamed “Crump Lake”. In 1900, they purchased additional acreage in Adel, Oregon and moved four miles south to the current ranch headquarters location. Ed & JoAnn Stabb have continued to restore and improve the ranch, and are currently growing over 2,000 acreas of alfalfa, barley, oats and peas, and a meadow hay crop. Additionally, they operate a commercial and registered Angus cow-calf herd of over 500 head.