Interview with Harry Obenchain

The ranch is called the Obenchain ranch; described by being on the Ivory Pine road which some people call the Camp 6 road.

Harry was born on the Obenchain ranch on 10/6/07 at the original Obenchain ranch which is about one mile from Harry's place. It is now called the Rockin' AC. Harry's mothers name was Carrie (Went) Obenchain, and his father was Frank Obenchain. Harry never had any children. He has been a rancher all of his life; never did anything else.

His grandparents crossed the plains of Iowa in 1860. Dad was born around Rogue Valley and Mother lived in Jacksonville Or. Parents originally came from Germany. There is a road near Medford named Obenchain Road; named after his Grandfather. Was Grandfather a rancher? They came across the plains of Iowa in a covered wagon. My dad was about 3 years old when they first came to Bly. Grandfather died when Dad was 16 years old. O'Connor Reservoir was Dad's homestead. He doesn't know if he homesteaded the old ranch or bought it. He bought more over the years that included most of the valley and owned several thousand acres. The old ranch was 3500 acres when Gordon Hevern bought it. Barney Simonsen bought from them and ended up with about 18000 acres. The ranch has sold several times. The Freeman family bought it from Obenchain, Steve Garrard and then Joe Arroyl. Larry Olson bought it from Simonsen who sold it to someone else.

He remembers when the barn was built; the house is over 100 years old. Mom's brother, Ed Went and Charlie Paddy built the barn using beams were broad axed. Jim Redden used to broad axe but he doesn't know if he did this one. Griffin built his barn. (Corky's Smiths grandfather)

Harry's earliest memories of the ranch were fishing out of the creek. He was riding horses about 4 years old and would gather cattle from the Indian reservation. The old corrals down where the scales used to be. Harry has photos of brandings. (Brother and Jack McCarty sitting under the tree) The BK ranch was the biggest around owned by the Bloomingcamps, 2 brothers owned the ranch. All of the Bloomingcamps are dead. Brothers were both single. The ranch at one time was owned by Bill and Lillian Hill. They had the biggest barn in Klamath County, possibly in Oregon. It was close to the size of a football field. Jim Reddin made the shakes for it. Don't know why they needed a barn that size; it is a funny shaped barn. Bloomingcamp stored a lot of loose hay. People build hay sheds now instead of barns.

Harry used to help bring the cattle in to brand the calves. The cowboys would catch the animal with a rope, castrate, brand, and earmark each calf and then crop off the right and under slope the left ear. They would castrate the calves to make a beef steer instead of a bull. Bulls were bought from a breeder so that cattle were not in-bred; usually bought from someone in Klamath Falls. The used to leave bulls in and breed all year round; now they leave in for only a time so they breed all at once. Harry would help when shipping calves. They used to drive cattle to Midland. Louie Gerber bought a lot of cattle around. The drove 587 head to the rail yards in Midland; usually took four days to get there. Cows would string out for miles; it would take about 8 cowboys to get there. Cattle were herded down the highway. Harry was 16 at the time. This was about 1920. Tourists would go through the cattle. One time a guy and his wife went through. He asked "How many cattle?" I said "5000" and the old lady said "Just what I told you there was". We would have to feed cattle along the way. Duffy was the Indian name where they stopped the first day at the bottom of Bly Mtn. Manual Vieira was the next stop, next to Olene and just the other side would stop at a field there. We would continue the next day on to Midland. The train would come in and let off steam, scaring the cattle and they stampeded and broke down the corrals. They were shipped to a commission yard in Sacramento to be weighed. One time the feed bill was more than the cattle brought. We never did that again; had sellers come in. There were no trucks those days. The railroad was later brought into the town of Sprague River, about 25 miles away. The cows weighed here; we had the oldest scales in the country. Scales are still there. Gordon Hevern used the scales; they have been moved from where they originally were. They could weigh 8 or 10 at a time and had a gate on each end. Folks used to come from Silver Lake and Summer Lake to weigh their cattle.

They had stockyards in Bly when Harry was single (got married when he was 36) ZX biggest cow outfit in the country. They came with 5000 head that they shipped out of Bly. The Chewaucan Cattle Company sold their land to the Nature Conservancy. It was the biggest ranch in Oregon, ran 25000 head. Texas cowboys came to run the ranch and they were used to warm weather. It snowed 3' deep and the cows began calving. "It was a pitiful site." We helped gather the cattle; cows were spread eagle on the ice. Texans cut the throats of the calves and left a pile of cows going to the Summer Lake rim. It does get 42 below here and snow can vary up to 2 1/2 feet.

Harry had a pack string of horses and would pack groceries to the people at Ivory Pine. They would line up along the road when I came back. Bags, for the horses, are called Al Forkus's.

During the flood of 1964 Harry's wife broke her leg elk hunting. She was supposed to get the cast off but we couldn't get to Bly, whole valley full of water. We finally made it to Lakeview a few days later. Lakeview didn't get as hard hit as this valley. We used to ice skate from the ranch clear to Bly when I was a kid. The North Fork runs by the ranch, 5 Mile Creek is on the other side of the valley.

The water rights were established in 1876. Harry heard there is a new ruling that you can't let water run out of the land now or you loose the water rights. This could cut everybody off. Environmentalists claim this causes pollution.

I liked to fish for Rainbow Trout. They would get about 3 feet long. Still likes to fish.

We were chasing a big buck, hunting horseback with another guy. We bad hit a buck and the horse fell in the rocks and threw me, broke three ribs and split me down the esophagus. The fall broke gun in the middle and knocked me out. The guy with me left me for dead until I came too and squalled. He came back and helped me on the horse. We were 8 miles from home. I broke my pelvis in two places in April of this year.

I was chasing a bear, knew he was there when I saw big bear track. We had 3 Golden Retrievers. I followed the bear with the dogs; one pup stayed with him and bayed him 3 times. I knew my wife, Inez, would be scared to death so I came home and next day went with the pup and the old dog. The barking started, had the bear bayed in a skid road. He was slapping at the dogs and I ran right into his arms. He embraced me and then let me go; he was taller than I was. It turned out to be a world's record black bear; 500 pounds. After he hugged me he broke and run. I hit him in the hips with the bullet while he was trying to climb a tree. Hit him in the spine with a 30/30 and didn't faze him. He was in a thicket and lowing like a mad bull. He followed one of the dogs out and I shot him above the ear. That was quite a thrill. I skinned the old bear out and took him to a taxidermist in Lakeview. He said he thought it was a world record. He told Harry that the dogs packed the head off.

I used to kill lots of porcupine and trapped a lot of beavers. We would ship the beaver hides to New York and get $70.00 a skin. We trapped coyotes also. I would take salt out to the cows on a packhorse above the ranch and saw a cougar up on the rocks. There didn't use to be so many as there is now.

Weyerhaeuser Company used to haul a hundred carloads a day of Yellow pine. It was beautiful timber. Weyerhaeuser Camp 6 is 8 miles from the Obenchain ranch.

Ivory Pine had a string of houses up the road, had a dance hall and it was a pretty wild place sometimes. There were a lot of families lived there, too. They had a cookhouse for the single men and a row of bunkhouses. It helped the community. They wanted to put Ivory Pine on the ranch in one of the field. That was our hay field.

Someone bought 20 acres up in the woods. The just put up a cabin and then sold and re-sold.

Why the flat is called Preacher Flat? A Preacher came from Ohio homesteaded and built house there. One time I was going fishing and he wanted to go. He rode on the horse with me. He couldn't catch any fish so I caught some and gave them to him. He hooked his pole in the willows and then cussed. A fellow name Garrard bought the place. He went back to Ohio and found the preacher's relatives.

Gearhart Mountain is about 10 miles as the crow flies to the foot of the mountain. You can see clear to Nevada and Crater Lake from the top. Blue Lake is located on the mountain. Fishing used to be great but you had to walk in to get there because of it being a designated wilderness. When they first stocked the lake with fish, they put them in Lock Haven and took them in on a packhorse.

My wife, Inez, raised Hereford cattle. When the Hevern's moved up in 1979, folks told them not to take Black Herefords to Oregon, or they would run them out of the country.

One registered Hereford Bull brought $7,900 in the 1970s at a bull sale.

I once rode on a jet, took 2 minutes 20 seconds to go over my house. That is about 70 miles.

We had pretty fast saddle horses. I chased wild horses many times and pretty near roped him once near O'Connor Reservoir. He had two mares and a colt with him. One year later, sheriff of Klamath County was with me. I saw the horse; build a corral near the homestead cabin. Ten days and night I stayed there and got him on the tenth day. I was feeding him hay; one afternoon my brother and another guy came up and got on the other side of the corral. All 3 horses started running; I pulled the gate shut and "By God I had him." I roped him and choked him down and he fought like a cougar. He ended up being the best cow horse I ever had. He was a Blood run bay with whiteface and sock feet. He wasn't a big horse but he could go all day. I bred one mare to him and then castrated him. He was ornery when he was a stud. He would come right at you. I didn't want to leave in the corral because someone might take him. Old Griff castrated him for me. I called him Socks. I had him for 10 or 11 years. He was laying for you everyday; just lay the reins wrong and he would try to buck you off. Gordon Hevern remembered wild horses being here when they come.

My wife Inez had a bridle horse, named Whirlwind; he was a registered quarter horse. He was a buckskin stud, also bought two mares. He was only 2 years old and was the Pacific Coast Bridal Champion.

There used to be lots of wild horses. Hevern captured a colt, pure black, when it came into the corral one winter.

O'Connor's had two bands of sheep. There were 1000 ewes and 1500 lambs to a band; two bands were about 5000 sheep. They had land leased from the Forest Service. There wasn't any problem between the cattlemen and the sheep owners. There used to be 70 bands of sheep that come from Lakeview through here. About 50,000 sheep went through by the old ranch. The road by the old ranch was steep; one time three log trucks spun out on the hill.

Irrigation ditches were dug by hand, about 4 miles in length. We had to blast the rocks out, my brother Matt did a not of the blasting. There were lots of rocks. We put in a weir up above the ranch. I did a lot of the digging; every 16 feet we would take a reading from a plumb bob to make sure the ditch would drain. Dad had a hired hand or two to keep the ditches clean and free of debris.

This was wild country. Ever have any problems with the Indians? I had a big pistol in my pocket and would ride to Beatty alone daily. Sycan River was the reservation boundary. We would have to check at Ben's Flat where the cows would go for water and herd them back to 5 Five Mile Creek.

When I got bit by the rabid dog I had to go to Klamath Falls and have 21 shots right in the stomach. I was 14 when that happened. It was our dog; a rabid coyote had bitten it. We had a bunch of cattle that we had to take a sleigh to get to them. A coyote jumped and grabbed one heifer. He bit the dog and it started up the road. We were afraid Mother would be outside doing something. Dad said, "Get on the horse and get the shotgun and shoot it." That old horse could run. I hollered at Dad "How do I get around him?" and Dad said, "Run over the SOB." I did and the coyote jumped and hooked his teeth on my boot but he didn't break the skin. I had 4 shells and I went to meet him by the bridge, rode up and got off the horse, waited for him to go closer. I shot him 2 times and he took off. It finally killed him. It took 60 days for the dog to get the rabies. The dog got in a fight with Mother's little dog. I reached down to get it and felt her mouth on my hand; she had the rabies. Sometimes the cows would get rabies. You could hear them bawl for 10 miles. We would fill their heads with lead and you could hardly kill them. Coyotes would bite them.

We don't have rattlesnakes in the watershed of the Sprague. Indian legend says they drove them out.

Gordon Hevern heard about how the Indians used to stop people and charge a toll. Harry hadn't ever heard that but some of the Indians were pretty mean. Some really mean; part of them even killed each other off. Dad used to hire Indian families. They had great teams of horses. Indians by the name of Foster were good Indians. They were Paiutes from North of Beatty. They butchered a lot of our cattle, but I guess they needed some beef.

There used to be thousands of deer in the 1940s. It was like they exploded, they would come into our haystacks. Indians killed them by the hundreds and fed them to the hogs. I saw them do it. They killed them on Charlie Mountain, hundreds of them. They have hunting rights that allow them to hunt year round.

Indians and environmentalist are trying to get all the water rights. If they ever close deer season they will never get it open again. Special hunts for doe season have hurt the deer population.

What about the pet buck deer? "I hate to think of that." My wife Inez raised him. We had him for 13 years. Weyerhaeuser construction boss found him on the road and thought they would raise him. The guy brought him because he had the scours. He asked if we wanted him. Inez brought him out of it. He thought she was his mother. He grew up with the dogs. He would ride in the pickup like a dog. He would even hunt deer. I crippled a buck one-time hunting. This was after the season closed. I turned the dogs loose, they caught him and Bambi was holding him just like the dogs. He got to be a three point but would never shed the velvet. He would chase geese with the dogs. He was laying in the yard with three colored ribbons on his neck one hunting season. Three hunters (one a doctor and his son) saw him lying there and they shot him laying in the yard with ribbons around his neck. He said he was showing his kid how to hunt. I poked the Doctor a few times and he sued me for $65,000.

We used to hay with teams of horses and big slides; in the 1950s we still used horses. We finally got tractors.

We used to buy saddles from Hanley's in Pendleton.

Niece, Margaret married to logger, Wayne Jacobs, takes good care of Harry. They have a son that is a logger too, Darrel, his wife is pretty. They have a little girl; she works in ICU at the hospital.

The drought out west was hard on the cattle; sold them ate them or whatever. The "turnout" came back up for bid again. The Hill brothers bid on the turnout, Harry's was the highest but they gave to them. Harry went and told the Indian agent so they cancelled the whole thing and nobody got it. Wade Crawford was the agent and he was part Indian. The drought caused them to loose the turnouts. They had 1000s of acres from Beatty clear through. The Weyerhaeuser shop used to be called Ben's Flat. We had no horse trailers. We would ride to Beatty every other day to see if the cattle were at Ben's Flat and bring them back to Five Mile.

Harry's mother did a lot of cooking. She had a chicken house up next to the creek and always had a terrific garden. We had raspberries and every kind of vegetable. We irrigated out of the creek. Dad used to bury potatoes, rutabaga, in a pile in the shed, pile over with straw and then dirt. They kept just like they were fresh. Don't need much dirt, straw kept them clean. We used to share with Modoc Henry and Modoc Charlie who were brothers.

Mother used to cook for the hay crew. Dad did a lot of riding, broke horses. He was unconscious for 14 days one time, when the horse turned over with him. They hauled him in a wheelbarrow. He came too with an old horse doctor whipping him with whips. He had a bump on his head after that. He had bottles of whiskey stashed all over. Mother cooked for 10-14 men; sometime she would hire someone to help with the dishes.

The war in Mexico, Dad furnished 100 head of geldings for the army; Calvary horses but this was before Harry was born. Dad was 87 when he died.