![]() ![]() "They just got tired of having to haul all their stuff in from Fossil or Condon or Prineville or John Day, and they wanted to have their own community where they could sell and buy things," said Steve Lent, a historian at the Bowman Museum in Prineville. The settlers were nearly all sheep herders who grazed their flocks on the remote mountains during warm months and moved to valleys when it got cold. The town of Richmond was created when traveling in the area was extremely difficult. A store, church and school are split by a modern asphalt road. Twenty miles north of Mitchell, past the Painted Hills, the bones of a town lie scattered among newer-built cattle ranches. Some held on in some form for decades and others remain, memorializing the spirit of the first homesteaders claiming their 160 acres.īut what killed these communities in an area where other towns are now thriving? Many of these towns were vacated as quickly as they grew. The Millican Store on Highway 20 hasn't sold a thing since 2005 after 85 years helping customers between Bend and Burns. ![]()
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