James Cant Ranch Historic District facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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James Cant Ranch Historic District
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James Cant Ranch complex
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 Location in Oregon
Location in the United States
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| Location | John Day Fossil Beds National Monument |
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| Nearest city | Dayville, Oregon |
| Area | Approx. 200 acres (81 ha) |
| Built | 1915–1918 |
| Architect | Radford Architectural Company |
| Architectural style | Common wood frame |
| NRHP reference No. | 84003000 |
| Added to NRHP | June 21, 1984 |
The James Cant Ranch is a historic ranch in eastern Oregon, located in Grant County. This special place sits on both sides of the John Day River within the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. It was first settled by Floyd Officer in 1890. Later, in 1910, James Cant bought the property. He made the ranch much bigger and built many new buildings on the west side of the river.
In 1975, the National Park Service bought the ranch from the Cant family. It became part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. For a while, the main house was even used as a visitor center! Today, the Cant Ranch is a preserved site where you can learn what a working ranch looked like in the early 1900s. The James Cant Ranch is so important that it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Contents
A Look Back: Early Days of the Ranch
For thousands of years, Native American tribes used the land around the John Day River. Groups like the Warm Springs and Umatilla people, who spoke the Sahaptin language, had seasonal camps here for hunting and fishing. Later, by the 1800s, Northern Paiute people also used parts of the John Day area.
The dry climate meant that not many trappers or prospectors came through this area until 1862. That's when gold was found in Canyon Creek, which is a stream flowing into the John Day River. This discovery brought many miners to the region, leading to new mining towns like Canyon City. A wagon road, later called The Dalles Military Road, was built to connect these towns to Fort Dalles on the Columbia River.
Settling the John Day Valley
Soon after the miners, permanent settlers started to arrive in the John Day Valley. The Homestead Act of 1862 helped them by offering 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land to American pioneers. Ranchers in the John Day area provided fresh meat to the isolated mining towns. At first, most ranches raised beef cattle. But by the 1890s, sheep became the main livestock. Many Scottish, Irish, and Basque immigrants, who were skilled sheep herders, moved to the area around this time.
In 1890, Floyd Officer claimed land in the Butler Basin along the John Day River. He worked hard on his 160-acre (0.65 km2) property for seven years. In 1898, he officially received the land. That same year, he married Sylvia Fitzgerald, and they began their tough pioneer life on the remote ranch. Floyd Officer knew the area well and even guided pioneer paleontologist Thomas Condon on some of his fossil hunting trips.
The Officers sold their ranch in 1910 and moved to Dayville so their children could go to school. James Cant and his partner John Mason bought the property for $4,000. It included 357 acres (1.44 km2) in Grant County and another 320 adjoining acres (1.3 km2) acres in Wheeler County. James Cant bought out Mason's share of the ranch in 1915.
James Cant: The Rancher Who Built It
James Cant was born in Scotland in 1879. When he was 20, he moved to South America and spent five years raising horses and mules. In 1905, he came to the United States. After arriving in New York City, Cant traveled to the John Day country in Oregon. This area already had many Scottish immigrants. Alexander Murray, who owned a large ranch near Dayville, hired Cant as a sheep herder.
By 1908, Cant had saved enough money to send for his childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth Grant, who was still in Scotland. They were married in Canyon City on October 10, 1908. Cant continued to work on the Murray ranch for two more years. Then, he had enough money to team up with Mason and buy the Officer ranch.
After the Cants moved to the ranch, it became a popular stop for travelers between Dayville and the Columbia River. They were known for their kindness, and it was common for them to serve dinner to twenty or more people, including family, ranch workers, and guests. To make room for their growing family, more livestock, and many visitors, the Cants greatly expanded the ranch between 1915 and 1918. They replaced most of the old buildings from the Officer family. During this time, Cant built a large main house that became the most important building on the ranch.
In the 1920s, Cant bought more land to grow his successful sheep business. He also improved the area around the main house, adding a big lawn, fences, and many shrubs and trees. A big change happened when the State of Oregon started building Highway 19. This highway runs from Arlington on the Columbia River to Dayville, passing right by the Cant Ranch. The highway was finished in the mid-1920s, which meant the Cant family was no longer so isolated. However, the road wasn't paved until the mid-1930s.
The Cant family kept their sheep ranch going through the tough years of the Great Depression. Things improved a bit during World War II, but it became hard to find enough workers for sheep farming. So, in 1946, Cant switched from raising sheep to raising cattle. Over the next thirty years, the Cant's cattle business grew and did very well. By 1965, the Cant ranch covered 6,500 acres (26 km2), plus another 4,500 acres (18 km2) that they leased from the Bureau of Land Management. At that time, the ranch was sending 500 to 600 cattle to market every year. James Cant passed away in 1972, and his wife died in 1973. The Cant family sold the ranch to the National Park Service in 1975. It then became part of the new John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.
The Ranch Today: National Park Service
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When the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument was created in 1975, the plan was to buy the Cant Ranch to use as the monument's main office and visitor center. The National Park Service bought 878 acres (3.55 km2) from the Cant family in 1975. This included the main ranch buildings and the land along the John Day River. The National Park Service used the main house as a visitor center, museum, and office until the Thomas Condon Visitor Center was built in 2003.
Now, the ranch complex is an interpretive site. This means visitors can experience what a livestock ranch was like in the early 1900s. The main house and some other buildings are open for people to explore.
Today, the Cant Ranch lets visitors learn about the ranching history of eastern Oregon. Because the ranch played an important role in the growth of the John Day River Valley, the Cant Ranch was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. This historic area covers about 200 acres (81 ha) along both sides of the John Day River. There are eleven historic buildings still standing on the property.
Exploring the Ranch Buildings
In the 1930s, there were at least seventeen buildings at the Cant Ranch. Today, there are eleven historic ranch buildings in the Cant Ranch Historic District. These include the main ranch house, a bunkhouse, a watchman's cabin, the barn with its sheep pens, a workshop, a general purpose shed, a chicken coop, a feed storage shed, an privy, and a log cabin from the Officer family's time. There's also a small cabin on the east side of the river called Christina’s Cabin, but it's in poor condition and not open to the public. The Cant family built two hand-operated cable cars to cross the river, but only one still works. The ranch also has original irrigation ditches, fences, gates, and feed racks, plus old equipment bought from the Cant family in 1978.
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The main house is the most important building at the ranch. It was built between 1915 and 1918. Its design came from The Radford American Homes catalog, published in 1903. Cant hired two carpenters, Andrew Cress and Clarence Bisbee, to build the house. They combined ideas from several Radford plans to create the Cant's ranch house.
The front of the main house faces Highway 19, and the back porch looks out over the river. It's a two-and-a-half-story building made of wood, with a hip roof. It has wide porches that run along the entire east and west sides. The eastern porch, which overlooks the river, also wraps around about halfway on the north and south sides. The first floor has a central hallway that goes from the front to the back. Off this hall, you'll find a living room, dining room, kitchen, parlor, bedroom, bathroom, and a storage room. An open staircase in the main hall leads to the second floor. The second floor has six bedrooms and a bathroom. The third floor is one large open room that the Cant family used as a school room and for big social events.
Other Important Buildings
The other ranch buildings are simpler, made of wood. The barn was built around 1920. It's a one-and-a-half-story building with a footprint of about 60 feet (18 m) by 120 feet (37 m). The barn has vertical wooden siding and a gable roof with wood shingles. Inside, there are twelve sections used for stalls, holding pens, and storage. Attached to the north end of the barn is a smaller building, about 20 feet (6.1 m) by 60 feet (18 m), with stalls for sheep shearing. There's a workshop and a small shed west of the barn. The National Park Service still uses these buildings for their original purposes: the larger one is a maintenance shop, and the smaller one is for general storage. East of the barn is a one-room wooden watchman's cabin, used by shepherds during the lambing season.
Closer to the main house are a bunkhouse, chicken-coop, feed storage shed, and a privy. All are wooden buildings with wood-shingle roofs. After the National Park Service bought the Cant property, the bunkhouse was fixed up and used for exhibits. The chicken-coop still has live chickens, and the shed is used to store feed and ranch equipment. The National Park Service also replaced the original roofs on all these buildings in the 1980s to help keep them in good condition. There is also a small log cabin behind the main house. It's the only building left from the Officer family's time. Both the Officer and Cant families used the log cabin for storage.
Where to Find the Ranch
The Cant Ranch historic district is located along the John Day River in northeastern Oregon. The ranch sits about 2,244 feet (684 m) above sea level. Sheep Rock is a famous landmark about 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of the ranch, and you can easily see it from the ranch. There's a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) hiking trail called the Sheep Rock Overlook Trail that starts at the Cant Ranch and leads to a viewpoint of the valley.
The Cant Ranch is inside the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Highway 19 runs through the ranch property on the west side of the John Day River. The main ranch buildings are on the east side of the highway. The Thomas Condon Visitor Center is located across the highway from the ranch complex.
The ranch is about 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Dayville, Oregon. To get there from Dayville, travel west 2 miles (3.2 km) on Highway 26, then turn north on Highway 19. If you're coming from Spray, Oregon, the ranch is about 20 miles (32 km) southeast on Highway 19. This route passes through the small community of Kimberly, Oregon, which is 14 miles (23 km) north of the ranch.
See also
