This is one of four signs in a kiosk at the Brothers Rest Area.
Marker Name: A Rugged Landscape
Marker Text: THE BROTHERS FAULT ZONE
Highway 20 follows a dense swarm of northwest-trending faults that cut diagonally across central Oregon between Steens Mountain and the Cascades. The faults and associated small volcanoes form the Brothers Fault Zone, one of Oregon’s most significant geologic features. The Fault Zone separates two regions that are undergoing different types of crustal movement. To the south, the earth’s crust is stretching apart from east to west, forming long mountain ranges and closed desert basins of the Basin and Range Province. To the north, the earth’s crust is undergoing compression, forming the Blue Mountains Province; a high plateau with deep stream-carved canyons.
“LOST BLUE BUCKET MINE”
Gold was first found in eastern Oregon by members of the LostWagon Train of 1845, three years before the 1848 discovery of gold in California. The exact location of the “clear stream with the shiny pebbles” known in legend as the “Lost Blue Bucket Mine” is still unknown (possibilities include Willow Creek, Trout Creek, Canyon Creeki, and Bear Creek, north of Brothers). All these streams were mined soon after the 1861 discovery of gold in northeast Oregon. A few mining claims are still active today.
A WILD AND DYNAMIC PLACE
At first glance the area may appear desolate and barren of life. Yet the high desert is a dynamic environment. One that provides year-round habitat for such animals as sage grouse, rabbits, ground squirrels, and numerous small rodents and reptiles, as well as the eagles, hawks, falcons, coyotes, and bobcats that prey upon them. The area also provides important winter forage for mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk, and pronghorn antelope, and spring nesting grounds for such migratory birds as meadow larks, mountain bluebirds, and mourning doves. Sagebrush, rabitbrush, grasses, and wildflowers dominate the lower elevations with increasing juniper woodlands as one moves up-slope.
Providing ample opportunity for public use, while as the same time protecting and preserving wildlife habitat, has become one of the most important land management challenges in this austerely beautiful, yet fragile high desert country.
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