The historic James Cant Ranch became part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument quite a number of years ago. The old house is still used as the administration building and the rest of the grounds have been preserved as they were. The farmlands still are worked as well.
An old ram skull atop an out building vent.
Heather in the old out building.
Looking north along the homestead site.
A view of the old barn and sheep shearing shed.
Twine hanging up in the sheep shearing shed.
Peaking into the barn.
One of the old mechanical arms used to transfer power from the overhead belt and pulley system to the mechanical shearers used by the ranch hands to give the sheep haircuts.
The aisle where sheep would have been released after shearing. Each of the stalls would have had a ranch hand in it working the sheep for their wool.
Old burlap hanging up in the stalls.
The old pulley and shaft system.
Heather in the sheep sheering shed.
An old tractor sitting in the yard.
This structure was used to fill up large bags full of sheep wool for market.
Looking to the east from the barnyard.
Old farm equipment.
Another view of the interior of the barn. Everything was just left in place when the ranch was turned over to the park service. It is a fascinating time capsule.
This was once a car.
This truck was modified so that the driver would sit backwards.
Looking south and east toward Sheep Mountain where sheep once roamed and made the hillside white with their presence.
We walked down a path along the fields toward the river.
One lonely asparagus clump demarcated where once a garden grew.
Heirloom orchard.
Down along the John Day River looking east toward Sheep Mountain.
Looking across a field of alfalfa toward the homestead.