McCoin Upper

McCoin Upper
Location	CRNG, OCHOCO NF
Tree Count	31
Species	22 apple,9 pear
Varieties	16 identified

The McCoin Upper orchard contains 31 documented heritage fruit trees.

History

The McCoin Homestead (1886-1936)

Julius Spate McCoin (1850-1928) and Sarah Osborn McCoin homesteaded on the southeast flank of Gray Butte in the spring of 1886, claiming a 160-acre parcel under the Homestead Act. They selected a site at the head of a gully with a good spring, which provided reliable water for their orchards and livestock. The U.S. Department of the Interior issued a Homestead Patent to Julius McCoin on September 9, 1895 (BLM Serial Number ORTDAA 062819, Document 2435).

Julius established a freighting business between Prineville and The Dalles (and sometimes Shaniko), driving big 12-horse wagons loaded with wool, meat, hides, and other produce going out, and merchandise coming back. According to family tradition, during his freight runs he began collecting fruit tree starts, presumably from The Dalles, planting them in the protected gully below his house. Over time, his orchard grew to number over 100 trees, including apples, pears, and plums.

Family Tragedy

In the winter of 1886-1887, while Julius was away on one of his freight runs, Sarah McCoin died suddenly at the age of 33. She was buried in the Gray Butte Cemetery, leaving behind their children: Minnie (9), Ella (8), Walter (4), and possibly a fourth child. Taking stock of his family's predicament, Julius decided that with Minnie in charge, his children had sufficient gumption to run the ranch during his absences, which sometimes lasted up to two weeks. He never remarried.

As an elderly woman, Minnie McCoin Helfrich recalled how the summer after their mother died, she and her siblings had to wash all the moldy jars and lids from the previous year's fruit canning, as in their mother's absence they had eaten the canned fruit without bothering to wash the containers. The McCoins were among the earliest homesteaders in what would become Jefferson County, and their primary agricultural endeavor included livestock such as sheep and high-quality horses, in addition to their extensive orchard.

Abandonment and Sale (1930s)

Following a devastating ten-year drought during the Great Depression, the community of approximately 700 homesteaders around Gray Butte faced economic collapse. In 1934, Julius's youngest son Walter, who had managed the property, sold the homestead to the federal government for $1,200 as part of the National Grasslands "Relocation" or "Marginal Lands" program under the Roosevelt administration's New Deal.

The Civilian Conservation Corps subsequently demolished the house and other buildings, and the land was converted to grazing use. The community of homesteaders around Gray Butte was dispersed, and their buildings were flattened. The period of significance for the McCoin Homestead extends from occupation in 1886 until abandonment in 1936.

Rescue and Preservation (1970s-Present)

In the 1970s, two U.S. Forest Service/National Grasslands range specialists from Prineville, Duane Ecker and Harry Ketrenos, discovered the abandoned McCoin orchard and undertook efforts to rescue the surviving trees. They systematically pruned the trees and cleared encroaching brush, saving the orchard from being overtaken by juniper and sagebrush.

In August 2012, the Jefferson County Historical Society collaborated with the Home Orchard Society of Portland to conduct a comprehensive survey of the orchard. Expert "fruit detectives" Joanie Cooper and Shaun Shepherd carefully mapped the trees, took samples and cuttings for identification, and documented the varieties present. The survey identified approximately 63 living trees, including apple varieties such as Roxbury Russet, Northern Spy, Yellow Transparent, and Astrakhan, as well as pears and plums in the lower orchard areas.

On May 26, 2015, the Julius and Sarah McCoin Homestead and Orchard Site was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The site is recognized as emblematic of the homesteader experience in the Grasslands as described in the Multiple Property Document "The Settlement and Abandonment of the Crooked River Grassland in Jefferson County, OR, 1868-1937."

Current Restoration Efforts

The Heritage Apple Corps, a collaborative effort involving the School of Ranch, In Cahoots Heirloom Apple Orchard Collaborative, U.S. Forest Service staff, and community volunteers, continues restoration work at the orchard. Preservation efforts have included:

• Creation of a gene bank at the Historic Apple Preservation Arboretum in Clarno, where 41 trees from the Crooked River National Grassland have been grafted and cultivated
• Wildfire mitigation through removal of encroaching brush and juniper
• Ongoing variety identification work by botanists and the In Cahoots Heirloom Apple Orchard Collaborative
• DNA analysis with geneticists collecting cuttings grafted onto M-111 apple tree rootstock with nearly 100% grafting success

Today, the McCoin Orchard stands near the Gray Butte Trailhead as a living monument to the pioneer families who settled Central Oregon and a valuable repository of heritage fruit tree genetics.

Sources: Jefferson County Historical Society "The Agate" (Spring 2015); Duane Ecker, "CRNG Apple Orchard Legacy Notes" (2001); Oregon Historic Sites Database; Home Orchard Society/JCHS 2012 Survey; Madras Pioneer; Oregon State Archives

Orchard Map

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Trees

• Tree #37(good)
• Tree #38(good)
• Tree #39(good)
• Tree #40- White Winter Pearmain(poor)
• Tree #41- White Winter Pearmain(poor)
• Tree #42- Lawver(good)
• Tree #43- Lawver(good)
• Tree #44- Lawver(good)
• Tree #45- Lawver(fair)
• Tree #46- Fameuse(good)
• Tree #47- Fameuse(poor)
• Tree #48- Esopus Spitzenburg(poor)
• Tree #49- Red Astrachan(good)
• Tree #50- Yellow Newtown/Newtown Pippin(poor)
• Tree #51- Unique Trees(dead)
• Tree #52- Red Astrachan(poor)
• Tree #53- Unique Trees(good)
• Tree #54(good)
• Tree #55(good)
• Tree #56(dead)
• Tree #57(fair)
• Tree #58(good)
• Tree #59(good)
• Tree #60(good)
• Tree #61(good)
• Tree #62(good)
• Tree #63- Black Twig(good)
• Tree #64- Baldwin(good)
• Tree #65- Winesap(fair)
• Tree #66- Winesap(good)
• Tree #67(poor)

Condition	Count
Good	19
Fair	3
Poor	7
Dead	2
Total	31

Varieties

• Baldwin
• Black Twig
• Esopus Spitzenburg
• Fameuse
• Lawver
• Red Astrachan
• White Winter Pearmain
• Winesap
• Yellow Newtown/Newtown Pippin

Historical Documents

• Duane Ecker Field Notes (2001)
• Home Orchard Society Survey (2012)
• Tree List (2012)
• Hand-drawn Map (2012)
• "The Agate" Article (2015)

See also: Document Archive

Maps

File:McCoin Map GoogEarth.pdf

Related Orchards

McCoin Homestead Orchards

The McCoin Upper and Lower orchards are part of the original McCoin homestead established by Julius and Sarah McCoin in 1886.

• McCoin Lower