Many of the lakes, like Lily Lake, are now slowly filling in with sediments and plants. Many of the alpine meadows on the Steens were once lakes. With free, unclaimed choice summer pasture, the mountain top became a mass of sheep, cattle, cowboys, and Irish and Basque sheepherders from July through September. The aspen groves were popular camping and gathering spots, offering fuel for fires, shelter from weather and escape from boredom. On warm summer evenings, you could often catch snatches of lively fiddle music drifting across the mountain slopes as the summer lodgers gathered for an evening of music and fun.
Livestock still graze here, as part of multiple-use management, though in much reduced numbers.
Place names like Corral Creek, Honeymoon Lake and Whorehouse Meadows are reminders of an era gone by. In a land where water is synonymous with life, Steens Mountain is a paradise. Because of its elevation, the Steens collects more rain and snow than the lowlands. Over the years, that rain and snow have crushed, gouged, scoured and carved the mountain. When Pete French arrived in the Blitzen Valley in 1872, he saw the green grass and constant water supply from the Steens as prime ingredients for a cattle operation.