Cyrus Horse Camp
| Tree #0 | |
|---|---|
| Field Tag | 0 |
| Orchard | Cyrus Horse Camp #2 |
| Species | Apple |
| Variety | Red Astrachan |
| DNA ID (2024) | Red Astrachan |
| Condition | |
| DNA Code | AFRS-023 |
History
The Cyrus Horse Camp orchard is located on the site of the 1882-1883 homestead of Enoch and Mary Cyrus. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 26, 2015 as part of the "Settlement and Abandonment of the Crooked River Grasslands, 1868-1937" Multiple Property Submission.
The Cyrus Family
In 1882, the Gray Butte country was so sparsely settled that Mrs. Mary Cyrus later recalled that for their first seven months on the place, she didn't see another woman. But within a few years, they built a two-story, four-bedroom house here and farmed about 500 acres with their five sons and two daughters.
Enoch Cyrus was a remarkably innovative farmer:
- Introduced barbed-wire fences to this part of Central Oregon
- Pioneered a strain of hard winter wheat known as "Cyrus Wheat"
- Innovated new machines for harvesting grain, including a reaper-binder
The Cyruses typically ran 1,500-3,000 head of sheep, planted huge vegetable gardens, and kept orchards of apples, crabapples, peaches, and pears. Only apples survive today, including Yellow Transparents and several varieties of red fall apples.
Later History
In 1900, Enoch and Mary left the Gray Butte ranch and became homesteaders again in the Cloverdale area between Redmond and Sisters, where they practiced irrigated farming and launched a new crop for Central Oregon—seed potatoes.
After his parents moved, their youngest son Warren Dean Cyrus ran the Gray Butte place (with time out for land-speculating in Florida after 1910), and eventually sold it to the Relocation/Marginal Lands program in 1934. The buildings were razed by the Resettlement Administration in 1936.
According to Duane Ecker's 2001 field notes, the orchard contained 11 apple trees and 8 prune trees (5 needing pruning). All were pruned in 2001, with notes that juniper trees needed removal.
Sources: Oregon Historic Site Record (National Register of Historic Places); Jefferson County Historical Society "The Agate" Spring 2015; Duane Ecker field notes 2001
Primary Sources
The following historical documents are available:
