<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<!-- saved from url=(0084)http://www.or.blm.gov/salem/html/archaeology/historic-sites/riddle_bros/riddle_1.htm -->
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Riddle Brothers Ranch</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR>
<META content=FrontPage.Editor.Document name=ProgId></HEAD>
<BODY background="Riddle Brothers Ranch Peter French_files/sitetile.gif">
<DIV align=left>
<TABLE cellPadding=2 width=600 border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>
<P align=center><MAP name=FPMap0><AREA shape=RECT alt=Search
coords=4,2,52,22
href="http://www.or.blm.gov/salem/html/search.htm"><AREA shape=RECT
alt=Browse coords=55,1,107,22
href="http://www.or.blm.gov/salem/html/browse.htm"><AREA shape=RECT
alt="Salem Home Page" coords=111,2,162,22
href="http://www.or.blm.gov/salem/index.htm"><AREA shape=RECT
alt="Frequently Asked Questions" coords=163,1,203,22
href="http://www.or.blm.gov/salem/html/faqs.htm"><AREA shape=RECT
alt=Feedback coords=205,3,272,22
href="http://www.or.blm.gov/salem/html/feedback.htm"></MAP><IMG height=23
alt="" src="Riddle Brothers Ranch Peter French_files/navbar.gif"
width=273 useMap=#FPMap0 border=0></P>
<P><IMG height=91 alt="Riddle Brothers Ranch"
src="Riddle Brothers Ranch Peter French_files/archbar.gif" width=397
border=0></P>
<H2 align=center><FONT color=#003366>Riddle Brothers Ranch</FONT></H2>
<HR>
<H3><FONT color=#800000>Riddle Brothers Ranch<BR>National Historic
District</FONT></H3>
<P><FONT color=#000080>In 1986, Burns District BLM acquired 7,500 acres of
land on the west flank of Steens Mountain. The core of this parcel is the
Riddle Brothers Ranch, a 1,120-acre property on both sides of the Little
Blitzen River.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=#000080><IMG height=174
alt="Fred Riddle house and cook's bunkhouse"
src="Riddle Brothers Ranch Peter French_files/hse_cookshack.gif"
width=250 align=left border=0>Since 1986, most of the buildings have been
stabilized or restored and the entire 1,120-acre ranch property has been
inventoried for archeological sites and nominated to the National Register
of Historic Places. Although the ranch property is in a remote location
that many Oregonians have never seen, it has a connection to one of the
better known pioneer families of Southern Oregon.</FONT></P>
<P align=center> </P>
<P><FONT color=#000080><IMG height=298 alt="William Riddle"
src="Riddle Brothers Ranch Peter French_files/dadrid.gif" width=170
align=right border=0>In 1852, William and Maximilla Riddle traveled the
Oregon Trail and then the Applegate trail to settle in the South Umpqua
River country of Southern Oregon. This region was subsequently known as
Riddle Valley and by 1884 known as Riddle, Oregon.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=#000080>One of William’s sons, Tobias, married Sarah Smyth
and moved to the Harney Basin in 1872 with his in-laws. Initially, they
settled at some warm springs near Hines and, after a tough winter, moved
to more moderate climes near the present-day Diamond. Later in the 1870’s
the Riddles sold their holdings to Peter French (the famous cattle baron)
for $30,000 and they moved back to the Riddle Valley. Shortly thereafter,
Sarah’s father and brother were killed by Indians during the Bannock
War.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><!--webbot bot="ImageMap" startspan
text="(98,204) (244,230) {Tobias and Sarah Riddle} {Times New Roman} 10 B #ffffff CT 0 "
border="0" src="../../../../graphics/archy pix/hsitepix/riddlernch/bro_sis.gif"
width="250" height="280"
u-originalsrc="../../../../graphics/archy pix/hsitepix/riddlernch/bro_sis.gif"
u-overlaysrc="_overlay/riddle_1.htm_txt_bro_sis.gif"
alt="Tobias and Sarah Riddle" --><IMG height=280
alt="Tobias and Sarah Riddle"
src="Riddle Brothers Ranch Peter French_files/riddle_1.htm_txt_bro_sis.gif"
width=250 border=0><!--webbot
bot="ImageMap" i-checksum="50885" endspan --></P>
<HR>
<H4 align=center><FONT color=#000099><A
href="http://www.or.blm.gov/salem/html/archaeology/historic-sites/riddle_bros/riddle2.htm">Next
Page</A> <A
href="http://www.or.blm.gov/salem/html/archaeology/define.htm">Back to
History Page</A></FONT></H4>
<P> </P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></BODY></HTML>