Resident recounts Lower Bridge history

There's a rich treasure trove of history out in the canyons east of Sisters.

Barry Clock, a resident of the Lower Bridge area and a lifelong historian, has dug for that treasure and compiled it in a new book: "I've Seen It Snow on the Fourth of July: Living in the Five Canyons Area of Deschutes County."

Clock moved to Lower Bridge after teaching history at Newport High School for 30 years. When he learned that the canyons were home to one of the West's great cattle outfits and that there had once been a post office and a school in the area, he realized he had something that no historian can pass up: a story that hadn't been told.

Clock began exploring the history of the area, planning to write a small, spiral-bound monograph of 60 pages or so. But as such projects are wont to do, it grew as interesting trails branched off into fascinating forks and traces.

"I went door to door, mostly," Clock said of his research methodology. "Somebody would tell me about somebody else."

He tracked down families who had moved away from the area - some as far as Canada - and got their stories.

The book is not only a historical account. Clock was interested in depicting the area right up through the present day, telling interesting stories about beautiful places. For him, it remains a bit of a pioneer story as the region still lies off the beaten path. In fact, it's more off the beaten path now than in pioneer days when it was on an east-west route and Long Hollow Ranch was the headquarters of the massive Black Butte Land & Livestock Cattle Co.

The book contains many historical and contemporary photographs, including aerial shots obtained when a neighbor offered to take Clock up for a birds-eye view of his subject.

The book, published by Maverick Publications in Bend, is a labor of love for Clock. He doesn't expect to knock John Grisham off the bestseller list.

"I just did it for fun, really," he said. "I might lose a couple hundred bucks on it, and I'm fine with that. To break even would be great."

"I've Seen It Snow on the Fourth of July: Living in the Five Canyons Area of Deschutes County" is available at Paulina Springs Books in Sisters and Redmond, at the Deschutes Historical Society and the Bowman Museum in Prineville.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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