History of the Order of the Antelope

The Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge and the surrounding country, including Hart Mountain, its top called Warner Peak, and the spectacular Warner Valley we all pass through to get to our encampment, are a part of what was once called the Oregon territories. It came to be part of the United States because, in 1791, a Yankee trader named Captain Grey found and named the Columbia River and, more importantly, declared ownership of all the area drained by it for the United States of America! It took 58 years from Captain Grey’s visit to get international recognition of the US claim, but the state of Oregon eventually became part of the union.

The original area was called “The Oregon Territories” and contained today’s states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, a part of British Columbia, and about half of Montana.

It included the unpopulated and beautiful valley that forms the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, and which is still unpopulated and beautiful.

The Paiute Indians, a Shoshonean tribe, were the first people to pass through this part of Oregon. Paiutes were the northern branch of Indians that spread to Arizona and even had roots said to be connected with the Comanche tribes of Oklahoma and Texas. Paiute tribes were often allied with the Bannock Tribe, whose home range was in Idaho. They were all called Snakes, and over the years, many thought they deserved that appellation.

It would not be proper to say that the Paiutes were residents of Hart Mountain or that they occupied it. They were roving Indians moving through the area in search of food. They were most active in the area from the John Day River south into Nevada and from the Deschutes River to the Snake River.

The news that Captain Grey had discovered these Oregon Territories was welcomed back in the states, but connecting the old U.S. and the “new” territories together was still impossible, since the western edge of all U.S. states in 1791 was the Mississippi, and the Mississippi and all land west of it was owned by France.  But then, one of those damned things that happens in history happened in 1800.

Napoleon Bonaparte was in power in France.  The little Emperor had decided to start another war with England and he was short of cash for cannons and other military toys.  So he sold the Mississippi River and all the land west of it – to the top of the Rocky Mountains – to the United States for something more than $13 million dollars cash.

The deal was called “The Louisiana Purchase.”  President Jefferson, seeing the opportunity of a lifetime to spread the United States from “Sea to Shining Sea”, quickly financed and organized the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1802, to chart for the first time the entire distance from St. Louis, past the “not yet seen” Rocky Mountains, to the mouth of the Columbia River and back.

While the Louisiana Purchase settled ownership to the top of the Rockies, at least among Europeans and Americans, it did not resolve ownership of land further west, including Oregon.

Remember, the US claimed it, but when Lewis and Clark came through, there were at least six nations who declared ownership of Oregon, including: England, Spain, Portugal, France, Russia, and several native Indian Tribes.

Therefore, until 1849, when the matter was finally settled,  Americans coming west had to base their claim of ownership on the following facts:

Basis of the American Claim

• Grey’s finding the Columbia River in 1791;
• American fur trappers coming from St. Lous, and the founding of American John Astor’s fur trading company at Fort Astoria in 1805;
• The Northwest Fur Company taking over Astor’s Fort in 1812, and the Hudson Bay Fur Company in 1842;
• American settlers arriving on the Oregon Trail in 1842 and 1843 adding more settlers.

Even then, it took ten more years of American political debates, including the slavery issue, before Oregon became the 33rd state in 1859.

Early Exploration of the Warner Region

It was during the time before statehood and the civil war, when the US assumed ownership would fall to us and immigrants were settling in western Oregon, that a few people started taking an interest in the land where we are standing.

The first to discover the native tribes in the Warner Area were people like Peter Skene Ogden, (for whom Ogden, Utah would be named) of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

John C. Fremont and Kit Carson were here in 1843, and a Brevet Captain William Horace Warner was killed by hostile Indians somewhere between Hart Mountain and Fort Bidwell, California in 1845.

The Fate of Captain Warner

Captain Warner and a Lieutenant R.S. Williamson left Sacramento in August 1845, for the purpose of exploring the upper reached of Pit River.  When they reached Goose Lake (Lakeview is on the northern edge of Goose Lake), Williamson remained at that location for some reason and Warner continued on north to Abert Lake.

He turned east at Valley Falls and over into what is now Warner Valley.  Then he went south along the West edge of the Valley until he was ambushed and killed.

Five years later, in 1850, Lt. Colonel S. Drew of the First Oregon Cavalry visited the area and named the entire Valley for the murdered officer in the belief he had been killed in the Valley itself.  But Lt. Williamson’s map of the massacre shows the site about four miles nearer the state line – today known as Eight Mile Creek.  The exact location is still apparently unknown – but is conceded to be in California.

But the name stuck – Warner Valley – Now the name “Hart Mountain”.

Sometime after the civil war two men by the names of Wilson and Alexander established a ranch at the foot of Warner Mountain and the lakes you saw as you came into the Refuge.

They used a cattle brand shaped like a “valentine” heart.  The Spanish vaqueros working the ranch, not being scholars, misunderstood, or at least misspelled the name and ever since that date – The Ranch, The Mountain, and The Lake have all been spelled H.A.R.T.  The top of the mountain, however, is still know as Warner peak.

Also, just before the civil war in the early 1860’s a group of Confederate soldiers on their way to California discovered gold in eastern Oregon near Baker City.  (This period  started the gold rush in eastern Oregon – following the California Gold Rush).

This territory had few improved roads.  Goldfields separately located, brought the heavy influx of miners, settlers and others who proceeded haphazardly through the Paiute and Snake Indian lands and at considerable risk.

During this period and continuing into, and even after, the civil war, the Paiute “had a ball” in southeastern Oregon, attacking settlers, travelers, and even killing their own people who had elected to surrender to the whites and were living peacefully in a new Indian refuge opened at Warm Springs north of Redmond.

Paiute War Chiefs

They were led by three very skillful Indian war Chiefs:

• Chief Paulina
• Chief Big Foot, over six feet in height with an 18-inch foot
• Chief “Has No Horse”

These Chiefs had little sympathy for white people.

Which is why this entire region (including the “Blue Sky” and Deer Creek) was not a safe place to be living during the 1860’s.

The Military Road and Camp Warner

Heightened by the news of the murder of Captain Warner and other Indian atrocities, a group in Oregon apparently convinced someone in the Congress that protection was needed against the Indians of Southern Oregon.

On August 2, 1864, (at the height of the Civil War), another damned thing happened.  Congress approved the construction of a wagon road from Boise City, Idaho, to Eugene, Oregon.

The Oregon Central Military Wagon Road

They awarded a contract to a private firm called the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road Company, and advanced $2,000 to survey the road, and to assist bringing men and supplies, and to afford protection.

Similar to railroad-building of the day, the Company was granted title to every other section of land three miles deep on either side of the road as payment for their efforts to build the road.  Most of that road was never built and was very poorly marked over the entire distance.

Formation of Camp Warner

And that road is still historically important to us today because in late summer of 1864, soldiers from Fort Boise under Captain Philip Collins, Company D, 14th Army, were ordered to establish a camp where they could operate against the Indians and protect the settlers, of Warner Valley from the Paiutes who were raiding the ranches.  They had intended to build winter quarters in what was to be called Honey Creek – some thirty miles past the large lakes on the West side of Warner.

But when they crossed the southern end of Hart Mountain and came to the valley containing the flooded Warner Lakes, they found their progress impassable at a point near the location of what is now called the “stone bridge”.

Faced with a detour of 80 miles of “back tracking” to try another crossing they decided to cancel the Honey Creek location and settle back on the east shore of the valley.

Since it was still summer, they returned to a spot they had noticed on the eastern side of Hart Mountain where they had seen sufficient Pondarosa trees, where the camp could be built.  They also discovered an adjacent large, lush meadow, with grass 6 to 8 feet high for their animals.  There was water available (Guano Creek) and the site had a commanding view of the desert.

Establishment of Camp Warner

So, on July 15, 1866, they established Camp Warner – at the very spot where, 66 years later, it would gain another name “the Blue Sky Hotel” our first Order of the Antelope campground, until we purchased Deer Creek a few years ago.

Harsh Winter Conditions

But, in 1866, winter set in early at Camp Warner, which is at 6,500 feet elevation.  Normal rainfall for Warner Valley is 13-14 inches per year, but for the year 1866-67, the rainfall at Fort Bidwell, 40 miles south of Camp Warner, was recorded at “37.2” inches.  The snow was deep that winter.

Meanwhile, back in Fort Boise, there was a new commanding officer.  His name was Colonel George Crook (He later would become “General Crook” in 1876).

In 1866, still a Colonel, Crook was assigned to remove the Indians west from Boise City, since he had been very involved in Indian actions in New Mexico with Geronimo and his Apache’s.

Crook’s Later Reputation

Historically, later, in 1876, to his discredit, Crook was also involved with General Custer the week before the Little Bighorn conflict, where he and his Army group had retreated completely from “The Battle of The Rosebud” against Crazy Horse.

Historians question what part that retreat, with 1,300 soldiers, might have had on the outcome, seven days later, at Custer’s disaster.

Crook’s Arrival at Camp Warner

But, at Fort Boise, in 1866, Crook was informed of the troops at the new Camp Warner and decided to go “find them,” as well as “wipe out” all the Indians he could on the way.  He arrived at our Camp Warner in February 1867, and came near freezing to death in the process of reaching it.

Greatly disturbed by the location of Camp Warner not being where is was supposed to be, and men who were being forced to just survive there, he set about moving the camp to Honey Creek on the West side of Warner Valley, to a lower and hopefully warmer location.  He observed NONE of the lakes in Warner Valley were frozen, and ALL were ice free, since it was now spring, so the order to move was given.

The Building of the Stone Causeway

Crook accomplished what had been thought to be impossible by ordering a stone causeway to be built by hauling tons of rock and closing a narrow gap between Crump and Hart Lake, until it was high enough to allow men and wagons to reach the western shore.  Hauling the rocks turned out to be three weeks of backbreaking and mind crushing work.

The causeway is still visible today at low water periods.

A section of the Boise to Eugene road authorized by Congress during the Civil War still exists down the valley near the old Blue Sky Hotel, at the site of Camp Warner, where the Order camped until a few years ago.  It’s worth going down to Blue Sky, if you get a chance.  A couple of graves mark the spot where Camp Warner used to be, and you will pass a remnant of the road, marked “Military Road”.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, this area remained what it was to the early pioneers.  This was Oregon’s “lost land” and while known to only a few — was held as spectacularly awesome.

The “new” Oregon that emerged in the 20th century developed population centers besides Portland, and Lakeview was one of them.  As with other small communities like Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, Coos Bay, Tillamook, Klamath Falls, and dozens of others, Lakeview grew and prospered – until 1929 when another damned thing happened.  An economic disaster known as the “GREAT DEPRESSION” hit – nationwide.

In that Depression, all communities, large and small, suffered depressed public investment, private and commercial bankruptcies, and no money to improve “anything”.

The Idea for a National Wildlife Refuge

In 1930, a small group of men in Lakeview, called the 20-30 club, suggested establishing a National Refuge for a struggling heard of antelope living on Hart Mountain, as part of a plan that might cause people to come and visit their city and improve the economy.

The idea spread over the community and on June 25, 1931, 22 Lake County men went up to the mountain to see for themselves.  The returned Monday night, June 27, impressed with the idea and determined to promote it.

The Order of the Antelope began in June in 1932, when the Lake County Chamber of Commerce began to press for the Establishment of a wildlife refuge on Hart Mountain.  It was proposed as a “National Park” in the Lakeview papers, but it was later called a “wildlife area”.

Some 370,000 acres of Lake County were to be included in the refuge, although only 276,000 acres were finally set aside.

The First Gathering in 1932

To get the ideal off the ground, they invited a group of prominent business and professional leaders, including state legislators, to make the trip to see Hart Mountain for themselves, and to see what they could do to promote the plan for the entire state of Oregon.

By train, bus, and car they came to Lakeview with “sleeping bags.”  Local citizens provided then with beds to spend the night.  Then early on the morning of June 23, 1932, they were served a “calorie heavy” breakfast and started the trip to the Mountain.

At Hart Mountain they gathered around the cabin of Muriel Jacobs and listened to his tales of the early days, listened to cowboy music, ate barbecued beef, and tried sourdough camp bread.

Formation of the Permanent Organization

Around the campfire, Ned Harlan, then Secretary of the Eugene Chamber of Commerce, proposed a “permanent organization” of those attending and who were interested in the “out-of-doors and the preservation of wildlife.”

Officers were elected whose titles reflected the spirit of the trek – Marshall Dana, then the editor of the Oregon Journal from Portland was named “Chief Whitetail” followed by other positions with similar fitting titles.

The efforts of these men were successful in Washington D.C.  On December 21, 1936, President Roosevelt signed into law “The Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge,” and the concept of MULTIPLE USE was a part of the management policy of the refuge.

It is a policy agreed to by those men that started the Order of the Antelope back in 1932, and multiple use concepts are still being followed today.  Likewise, the Order of the Antelope is still managed by the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce through their Board of Control.

The Order’s original initiation ceremony was started for turning new members (wild jackasses) into “Antelopers” (wild pronghorns), something you jackasses will be discovering.

Gib Fleet wrote a parody for “Home on the Range” that is still the Order’s theme song.

The Antelope Song

Oh give me a life

Far away from my wife

Where my fears and my woes fade away;

Where in ornery ease,

I can do as I please,

And waste my existence in play.

The adversity of the 1930s could not stop what the founding members of the Order created.  With only war and a shortage of gasoline interfering they have met annually beside Hart Mountain, cooked their food, initiated newcomers, peered across the desert to the wildlife, and been refreshed in spirit, until, tired in body – the departed for home.

Today, all those founders are gone, but we still gather for the same reasons they originally came.  One is to witness again for ourselves the tremendous physical natural forces that made the spectacular desert view – that has not changed for millions of years.

So, here today, if you are still with us in our “saga” covering this historic tour, we hope that we have covered at least part of the Hart Mountain story.  But this saga does NOT explain to new JACKASSES the true joy of coming here and why the rest of us keep coming here.  That would take a book to explain.  It is enough, today, in summary to just say it is a chance to get away from the “rat-race” called civilization –and for a pleasant weekend; for the opportunity to see the wildlife and the desert again; to listen to Refuge experts tell us about the antelope and the Refuge – as to its physical condition; and to the interests of the Order itself.

It brings out the best qualities in Antelopers who, at home, are benevolent, kind soles.  Also, it is a chance to get to re-meet, and meet new ones that share the same things.  To talk and tell stories – listen to old jokes – (Some to old Columbus himself may have told then.); To be served great food, have cool drinks in the shade, walk in the dirt like we used to do as kids – and just have fun.

And then at night – to fall asleep after trying to count the billions of twinkling lights overhead in a beautiful ceiling spread of an unbelievable distance called “outer space.”

For that enjoyment we should never forget that some of the descendants of the “old timers” that stated this history are now today working at the many jobs necessary for us to be here.

Be sure to express to all of them how much we appreciate their work.

And, we should  all explain to our NEW Jackasses why so many of us come to this meeting – and why so many of us continue to come back again – and again – to a thing called the Order of the Antelope.

As Bob Holcomb says, this speech is ABOUT AS LONG AS IT SEEMS, so I’ll end it by reminding you Jackasses to try some of the HART MOUNTAIN “SLEW JUICE” when the watering hole opens.

NOW, some of you may doubt what I am about to tell you.

As so many old PROGHORNS know from personal experience, Slew Juice is a very soul satisfactory tasting drink, also referred to as “Hart Mountain Mist” —–– “Bottled by the Keeper of the Waterhole” which should be used with caution, or you will end up in the final stages of what is known as “SLEW JUICE-ITIS”!

Symptoms of Slew Juice-Itis

The first or second drink might signal a funny feeling in the throat and stomach (suggesting “causation” coming from a previous meal consumed yesterday before arriving here).  But, further or “Excessive” use of “Slew Juice” can carry a feeling of UNWELLNESS – accompanied by a “headache”.  Following this is the common massive hangover where everything hurts (and I mean everything.) – when “even your hair” hurts.)

When even emptying the stomach adds no relief, since you soon discover the total loss to muscle control of one leg and both hands.

Then the vision of one eye “dims”, and the other “sees double” – and ends in total loss of both, — then all normal “off” buttons on the body fail, leaving crippling mental depression, which causes a slow drop into fantasy and then insanity.  So drink it with care, as I know you will.  And have fun up at the mountain.  That’s the end of this history, so, as Bob Holcomb always says, I want to thank your “for the use of the hall”.

There were to be no by-laws, nor constitution, and there were only three rules.

The Three Rules

No Dogs and Gals and Guns