page_title: Riddle Ranch
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Riddle Ranch / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Riddle Ranch National Historic District in Harney County, Oregon; view of the Riddle brother's ranch in the Little Blitzed Valley with Little Blitzen Gorge in the background
context_page_description: The Riddle Brothers Ranch is a pioneer ranch complex located in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area in Harney County in eastern Oregon, United States. The ranch is located on both sides of the Little Blitzen River on public land and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
  The original ranch buildings were constructed by three brothers, Benjamin, Frederick, and Walter Riddle. Today, the ranch is maintained as an open-air museum with original artifacts displayed where they were used. Visitors can explore the ranch buildings, hike, or fish; however, camping is not permitted. There are a number of Native American archeological sites on the ranch property. These sites are not open to the public. The Riddle Brothers Ranch is listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.
context_section_description: Native Americans inhabited the Steens Mountain area around the Riddle Brothers Ranch for 10,000 years prior to the arrival of European explorers in the early 19th century. The first recorded exploration of the area was by fur traders between 1826 and 1829.  Peter Skene Ogden also explored the area a few years later.  In 1845, Steven Meeks led a wagon train through the area, mistaking the snow-covered Steens for the Cascade Mountains.
  In 1860, the United States Army sent Major Enoch Steen to protect settlers in the area and determine the feasibility of building a road from the Willamette Valley to southeastern Oregon.  His party named many topographic features including Steens Mountain.  In 1864, Captain George B. Curry led a unit of the 1st Oregon Cavalry through the area.  The cavalrymen crossed a river on the west slope of Steens during a violent thunder storm.  Curry named the river Donder und Blitzen, which in German means thunder and lightning.  Over time, it became known as the Donner und Blitzen River.
  Settlers brought cattle into the area in 1872.  Scott Catterson, a rancher from Iowa, claimed the land and built the first cabin at the site of the Riddle Brothers Ranch buildings prior to 1900. The Riddles later obtained Catterson's squatter's claim. When the Riddle brothers arrived around 1900, there were 100,000 cattle and sheep grazing the open range in valleys on Steens.  The three brothers, Walter, Frederick, and Benjamin, settled along the Little Blitzen River, and began raising cattle.  The Riddle's increased their land holding on both sides of the river to 1,120 acres (4.5 km²), eventually gaining control of all the water in the area.  Without access to water, the nearby open range land was useless to other ranchers.
  The Riddle brothers lived on their ranch for fifty years.  However, none of brothers ever married.  In 1952, Fred Riddle, the last of the brothers sold the ranch to Rex Clemens, a lumberman from Philomath, Or.  Clemens continued to raise livestock on the property for more than thirty years.  In 1986, the Bureau of Land Management purchased the property from Rex's widow, Ethel Clemens.  Since then, the Bureau of Land Management's Burns District has maintained the ranch as a historic site.  In 1991, the Riddle Brothers Ranch was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.
  In 2003, Bureau of Land Management archaeologists identified the first of 48 prehistoric sites on the Riddle property.  These archeological sites are collectively known as the Mortar Riddle Site.
caption: Riddle brother's ranch land in the Little Blitzen Valley
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