Travel Through Time - Oregon Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This sign is located at the Sun-Lava Path trailhead at Sunriver.

Marker Name: TRAVEL THROUGH TIME

Marker Text: How did Local History change this Forest?
13,750 BCE - First Inhabitants, Lasting Traditions
Various Native American tribes have utilized this area for thousands of years; evidence of human habitation nearby is dated as early as 13,750 BCE. Native Americans continue to maintain traditional uses in the region. It is thought that the Wasco, Klamath, Modoc, Mollola, and Tenino/Tygh (Warm Springs bands) lived in or adjacent to this area over time.
About 7.000 years ago, climate change reduced populations of large game which led tribespeople to rely more heavily on plant foods. With more favorable resources found along the Columbia River to the north and the Klamath Basin to the south, the Deschutes Basin was used as a travel corridor, a trade route, and a seasonal stopover.
Northern Paiute bands from the east, for example, visited this region as part of their seasonal round. Camping on the shores of the long lake that overflowed the banks of the current Deschutes River, they fished for salmon, hunted deer and elk, and collected roots and berries during certain seasons of the year.

1845 - Stephen Meek: Trapper Turned Trailblazer
As an alternative to the Oregon Trail, former fur trapper Stephen Meek brought a party of 1,000 emigrants to Central Oregon over the disastrous Meek Cutoff, which passed very near here. In the years that followed, more settlers arrived, sometimes with the help of Buckaroos who transported water and supplies with pack horses.

1855 - Treaty Relocates Native Americans
With increasing numbers of settlers, hostilities between whites and Native Americans grew. This resulted in a treaty and the creation of the Warm Springs Reservation. Native Americans were removed from their lands.

1878 - Forested Lands Acquired
In the years prior to building their mills, Minnesota-based lumber companies Brooks-Scanlon and Shevlin-Hixon purchased thousands of acres of land ‘unfit for farming’ at $2.50 an acre under the Timber and Stone Act of 1878.

1915 - Mills Arrive in Bend
Brooks-Scanlon and Shevlin-Hixon built mills in Bend. Railroad logging ensued. Loggers and their families lived in communities of railcar-sized homes. The location of these communities changed frequently over the next four decades.

1920 - Mills Spur Growth
With a population of 5,400, the town of Bend grew as logging and milling became a way of life.

1936 - Recreation Industry is Born
During the Great Depression, with plummeting lumber production, outdoor recreation became popular. The ‘Skyliners’ winter sports club built a ski lodge in 1936 along Tumalo Creek. The Mt. Bachelor ski area followed 20 years later.

1955 - Railroad Logging Ends
The two lumber giants laid down over 3,200 miles of railroad track in local forests which, in the 1950s, were converted to logging roads.

1922 to present - Age of Sustainable Use
With the General Exchange Act of 1922, the government was able to acquire cutover lands in exchange for allowing logging on national forest lands. Newcomer Walt Perry supervised this logging with an eye toward long-term sustainable forest management. In 1990, the Newberry National Volcanic Monument was established, and by the time the last log had been sawed at the Brooks-Scanlon mill in 1995, central Oregon’s economy began transitioning to one of sustainable recreation.

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