Farm with view of Mount Hood.

A photograph of Mount Hood taken from Sandy, Oregon. Before farmers could till a field, they had to create one, which often meant clearing an area of dense forest. This photograph of a farm up against a forest makes clear what an enormous physical effort it took to make space for crops. Native people created clearings for deer and to cultivate certain food crops by managing controlled fires. This method was so effective that white settlers adopted the practice.

Flowers Family Farm, Portland, c. 1890.

A photograph of a group of people standing in front of a tent on the Flowers family farm in the Lents neighborhood of Southeast Portland. A handwritten note on the back of the photograph reads, "Allen Elmer [sic.] Flowers Farm on north slope of Mt. Scott. about 1895. Across from Lincoln Park Cemetery."

Horses pulling farm machinery, Culver, Oregon, c.1915.

Photograph showing approximately a dozen horses pulling farm machinery in an agricultural field. Several farm workers sit on the machine. Handwritten note on the back of the print reads, "Culver, Ore."

Threshing machine at work, c.1920.

Panoramic of a farmhouse and crop fields, c. 1920.

Panoramic photograph showing a farm and adjacent agricultural fields. The farmhouse and crop fields are on the left. They are outlined by rows of trees. On the right are a barn and several large bales of hay. Panorama is made up of 2 photographs. Faded signature on the bottom right of the print reads, "Gifford."

Farm in the Willamette Valley, early 20th century.

Photograph showing an agricultural field, likely an oat field, in the Willamette Valley. Bales of crops lie scattered in the field. A farmhouse and barn sit on the far edge of the field. Handwritten note on the back of the print reads, "Oats potatoes & clover, Logged off lands - Divide between Willamette & Tualatin Valleys."

Farm structures in desert landscape.

Farming in Central and Eastern Oregon was particularly difficult, but many farmers sought out land east of the Cascades as the lush Willamette Valley filled up. Reclamation projects encouraged people to stay by building elaborate irrigation systems. Cattle and sheep ranchers had better luck with the landscape, and much of Eastern Oregon supported both individual ranches and huge conglomerates.

Strawberry Ranch, Clackamas, Oregon.

Photograph of farm laborers in the rows of a strawberry field. Writing on front of print reads, "Strawberry Ranch, Clackamas, Oregon. Mr. F. Mott owner." Writing on back of print reads, "Mr. F. Mott's ranch near Clackamas, Oregon. Plate made by C. Clark, Clackamas, Oregon."

Eastern Oregon ranch house.

A view of a ranch house and outbuildings in the eastern Oregon desert, 1917.

Harrowing on Willow Ranch.

A harrow is a tool used after a field is plowed to break up and smooth the surface of the soil. This harrow is attached to a team of work horses. More than one farm was named "Willow" in the Pacific Northwest, but it is likely that this is either the Willow Ranch in southern Oregon or the similarly named spread in northern California.

Deschutes River and Sherar's Ranch.

Joseph and Jane Sherar were settlers in Wasco County in the 1870s-1910s. Many placenames reflect their prominence, including Sherar's Bridge and Sherar's Falls along the Deschutes River in the Tygh Valley. Joseph was perhaps best know for his road-building, but he and Jane also managed the Sherar Bridge Hotel (and ranch), shown here.

Pete French (seated, second from left) and his ranch crew..

During the late-nineteenth century, cattle baron Pete French managed hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Southeast Oregon, the majority of which supported his cattle operations. A hardened businessman, French frequently expanded his empire by buying out struggling farmers and ranchers, some of whom were made desperate by French's shrewd dealings. One of those affected farmers shot and murdered French in 1897. By the mid-1930s, French's cattle empire had declined, and subsequent owners sold most of it to the federal government, which turned a chunk of it into the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Several buildings French built, including the P Ranch and the Sod House Ranch, still stand.

Buena Vista, part of the French-Glenn cattle operation, Harney County, 1906.

These abandoned buildings were once part of cattle baron Pete French's extensive cattle operations in southeast Oregon. The spot was known as Buena Vista and is now a public Overlook and rest station in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. To the left, there is a cattle pen made of stacked logs leading to a low-roofed barn. To the right, is a house which appears to be made of sod (turf, grass, and mud), next to a wood-planked shed and log stock barn. Beyond, is the vast landscape of Harney County, ideal for cattle grazing.

Chicken farm, Redmond, c. 1915.

Photograph showing a view of a chicken farm in a desert landscape near Redmond, Oregon. Dozens of chickens are scattered across an open area. The coops are to the left. Three men stand in the left foreground. The desert landscape beyond the farm is dotted with sagebrush. Handwritten note on the back of the print reads, "Chicken Ranch, F.G. Bancroft, near Redmond." Second handwritten note reads, "Chicken ranch in Eastern Oregon. SP&S." Stamp on the front of the print for Kiser Photo Co.

Cattle ranch near Lewis and Clark River, Clatsop County, c. 1910.

Photograph showing a herd of cows grazing in a field near the Lewis and Clark River in Clatsop County, Oregon. The river is on the far left. Handwritten note on the back of the print reads, "Ranch of J.W. Reith, Lewis and Clarke (sic) River, Clatsop County - Ore."

Field of grain, Pilot Butte Ranch, Bend, c. 1915.

The wheat and flour markets have been healthy for Oregon farmers since the 1840s (with some disaster years sprinkled throughout), and foreign markets have made planting vast fields, such as this one, profitable. In 1893, a single county (Umatilla) grew 4.5 million bushels. In 2011, Oregon farmers produced 80.5 million bushels.

Farming country and the Three Sisters, Central Oregon, c. 1911.

Photograph of crops growing in a vast agricultural field near Sisters, Oregon. The Three Sisters mountains of the Cascade Range are visible in the background. Handwritten note on the back of the print reads, "Farming Country and the Three Sisters (from a point 7 mi. E of the town of Sisters.)" Stamps on the front and back of the print indicate a 1911 copyright by Kiser Photo Co. for SP&S Railway.

Group with horse and farming equipment.

There is evidence of a fire in this hay field, located near Seaside on the coast,

Group with horse and a Fresno scraper, near Seaside 1908.

The Fresno scraper was an effective tool to move and level soil and sand. It was used to dig ditches and canals and to build roads and railroads.

Harvesting beans on Sauvie Island, 1943.

Between 1943 and 1947, the Oregon State Emergency Farm Labor Service placed thousands of youth and women on Oregon farms, where they thinned and harvested crops. Some of the children and teenagers were members of the Victory Farm Volunteers, a national organization for youth between the ages of 11 and 17. Members of the Women’s Land Army, an government organization that encouraged women to work as farm laborers, often supervised the children.

Linn County Farm of Dr. H. A. Davis, 1878.

This image of an 1878 engraving found in Historical Atlas Map of Marion and Linn Counties, Oregon shows the property of Dr. Henry A. Davis of Harrisburg in Linn County. By the time the Donation Land Law expired in 1855, a total of 5,289 donation land claims were filed with the Surveyor General’s office in Oregon City. (An additional 2,141 claims were filed in Roseburg; 5 were filed in The Dalles, and 2 more claims were made in La Grande).

Rill-Type Irrigation, Parks Ranch, 1928.

This 1928 photograph shows two men standing in an irrigated alfalfa field at Parks Ranch in the Fort Rock Valley, located in central Oregon’s high desert. The Fort Rock Development Company, founded by Henry M. Parks, used this photograph to promote farming in the valley. The Parks family moved to the Fort Rock Valley in 1928 and used several abandoned buildings to make their home. They grew alfalfa and grazed livestock near Hayes Butte, one of few areas in the basin where effective well irrigation was possible. Three generations of the Parks Family farmed there with limited success.

Gasoline Plow Owned by George Hilderbrand, c. 1910.

George Hilderbrand operates a Hart Parr tractor and plow at his wheat farm near Wasco, in Sherman County. The first steam tractors were built in the late 19th century, but it wasn’t until 1902 that the Hart Parr Gasoline Engine Company in Iowa produced the first commercially successful gasoline tractor. While competition soon followed, the Hart Parr’s tractors were the most popular in the nation in the early 20th century.

Central Oregon Sheepherders, c. 1880.

Central Oregon was a choice area for sheep raising. Sheepmen would graze their animals on the slopes of the Cascades and Ochoco Mountains during the spring and summer, moving the bands to the lower elevations during the cold winter months. In addition, the sheep proved particularly adapted to the changing plant life of the Central Oregon range.

Harvest Hands Rest on Sacks of Grain, Moro, c. 1900.

Thousands of itinerant workers roamed the Pacific Northwest in search of work during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Always on the move, they found temporary employment in mines, on railroads, in canneries, in the forests, and on farms and ranches. Farms often hired immigrant laborers, as well as and Native Americans and African Americans, as evidenced by the photo above. These diverse groups sometimes worked side-by-side, though work forces were often segregated, with non-white workers earning less than white workers.

Redmond Now, Promotional Pamphlet, 1910.

This promotional pamphlet of Redmond, Oregon was co-published by Southern Pacific and the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company in 1910. The railroad companies hoped to attract settlers to central Oregon’s communities to increase the trafficking of commodities on their rail lines. According to the pamphlet, “Everything points to Redmond as a commercial center. Merchants, professional men, manufacturers, homeseekers should investigate Redmond now, before the railroad [the Oregon Trunk Railway] is completed, before values enhance greatly, before the big opportunities are all taken.”

Linn County Promotional Brochure, 1902.

When this pamphlet was printed, Linn County was just emerging from an economic depression that had slowed regional agricultural and industrial growth between 1890 and 1900, and it is designed to encourage economic recovery. The depiction of a classical harvest goddess on the front cover represents the bounty of the Willamette Valley’s agricultural economy, while the three views of the Lebanon Paper Mill on the back cover speak to the growing industrial nature of the Linn County economy.

Plateau Culture Digging Stick.

This digging stick originated most likely from the Columbia Plateau. Digging sticks have been used since Time Immemorial to gather edible roots like balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva), camas (Camassia quamash), and varieties of biscuitroot (Lomatium).

Threshing near Klamath Falls, c. 1905.

This postcard shows farmers using a steam-powered thresher near Klamath Falls. A 1910 government census showed that Timothy grass and alfalfa were the most commonly grown crops in the county. In 1930, the county's population was 32,407 and prominent agricultural products included potatoes, alfalfa, and beef.

The Golden Horn of Plenty, 1907-1908.

In the early 1880s, the completion of railroad tracks connected northeast Oregon’s Union County to Portland markets. A railroad extension to the town of Elgin in 1890 made it the transportation hub for northern Union County and Wallowa County. In 1900, 16,070 people lived in Union County and 5,538 had settled in Wallowa County.

Promotional Brochure, Hermiston, 1910.

Between 1906 and 1908, the federal government built the first part of the Umatilla Irrigation Project, a large-scale development to divert water from the Umatilla River to farmers’ fields in northern Umatilla County. By 1920, there were 20,000 acres of irrigated land in and near Hermiston. Farmers primarily grew grains, peas, and potatoes that they shipped to Portland markets on railroads and riverboats. The U.S. Census reported that farmers produced 11,341 acres of wheat in Umatilla County in 1900 and 41,487 acres in 1909.

Milking time on Andrew Hill farm, 1908.

Ruth Flowers and Rose Scott at the Flowers farm in Lents, Portland, c.1920.

Ruth Flowers and Rose Scott on the Flowers family farm near Mt. Scott in Southeast Portland. Ruth Flowers stands beside a dairy cow holding a lead rope. Rose Scott is kneeling.

Branding iron from the Philip Foster Farm, c.1855.

Livestock branding iron for cattle; letters "PF" One piece. Handle composed of a single squared rod tapering to a point; single nail positioned perpendicular through end of point. Wide end of handle splits into two arms, each with a single serif letter at end.

Wheat Harvesting, Sherman County, c. 1895.

Workers gathered around a steam engine during the wheat harvest in Sherman County. The steam engine is being used to power a threshing machine, shown in the left of the photo partially obscured by the stack of wheat. Steam engines usually ran off of straw, wood, or coal, and could do the work of a dozen or more horses. A belt was looped to the pulley wheel of the engine then attached to the thresher which separated the wheat from the chaff. The separated wheat was then sacked and stacked—the sacked wheat can be seen in the middle of the photo behind the wagon.

Wheat Fleet, Portland, 1890.