Sisters Country Historic Timeline

45 to 36 million years

Volcanic eruptions in the Cascade Crest

36 to 18 million years

Powerful eruptions blast huge volumes of ash into ancient skies. Widespread destruction. Plants and animals become fossils.

17 to 15 million years

9 million years

Violent volcanoes in Sisters Country

8 million years

Castle Rock volcano formed (Five Fingered Sentinel) Oldest land in Sisters Country

4.5 to 2.5 million years

Violent earthquakes cause top of Cascade Range to break up and sink.

2.5 million years

First familiar landforms take shape: Green Ridge, Metolius River Canyon, Deschutes River Canyon, Lower Desert, and Dry Canyon NE of Sisters.

400,000 years

Abbott Butte Glaciation

390,000 years

Huge eruption at Tumalo Highlands

280,000 years

First of six volcanoes erupt in Mt. Jefferson

130,000 years

Jack Creek Glaciation

100,000 years

Broken Top and first of Three Sisters erupt. (North Sister) Three Finger Jack and Mt. Washington begin to erupt; Middle Sister and South Sister erupt.

25,000 years

Last Great Ice Age begins – Ice sheet and glaciers carve deep canyons

14,000 years

Evidence of First Americans found in eastern Central Oregon

10,000 years

Glaciers retreat, land warms, flora and fauna improve.

7,700 years

Evidence of First Americans moving into Sisters Country. Tenino and Northern Paiute legend support use of these lands for huckleberry, root and nut gathering, fishing and hunting.

Mt. Mazama erupts, forming Crater Lake and covering much of the area with pumice and ash.

3,200 years

Eruption of Sand Mountain

1,500 years

Blue Lake is formed filling a deep crater

1640-1870 AD

Little Ice-age. Glaciers grow larger; the later retreat leaves behind moraine-dams from South Sister to Mt. Jefferson.

1790

Spaniard, Manuel Quimper, mapped the Cascade Range.

1805

Lewis and Clark note the snow-capped peaks of the “Western Mountains,” (Cascade Range) including a note about what is now Mt. Jefferson.

July 6, 1825

Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson Bay Co. camped by Why-Chus Creek two miles west of Squaw Flat. The next day he fed horses on meadows thought to be at Indian Ford.

1843

Explorers, James C. Fremont and Charles Abbot, encounter Indians along the Metolius River.

Sept. 23, 1855

Pacific Railroad Survey Company camps on Why-Chus Creek, later called Squaw Creek and renamed again in 2006 to Whychus Creek.

1859

Group of men from Lebanon, Oregon scout route for eastern road over Cascades; becomes Santiam Wagon Road, completed in 1865.

Oregon becomes the 33rd state in the Union.

1862

Act of Congress approved allowing settlers to homestead on lands in the Public Domain.

Gold Rush in Idaho causes Willamette Valley ranchers to push cattle east over Cascades for lucrative sale in gold area.

Sept. 28, 1865

Captain Charles LaFollette and forty men from Company A, 1st Oregon Volunteer Infantry establish a military camp at Camp Polk.

May 24, 1866

Camp Polk, abandoned by Company A 1st Oregon Volunteer Infantry.

Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon approved, “An Act donating certain lands to the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road Company.”

1867

Fish Lake Guard Station established. (It operated until 1907)

1869-71

Diversion of water from Squaw Creek for use on individual farms.

1870

Samuel Hindman and family, one of the first settles in Central Oregon, establishes a homestead near the abandoned Camp Polk.

Recording of the Cascade or "McKinzies" Trail on Platte map

1870s

Fire suppression begins in forest areas near early settlements.

1871

First recorded water rights in Central Oregon taken by Charles J. Hindman, who took water out of the Big Slough on Indian Ford Creek at Camp Polk.

1872-1895

Water rights from Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek) are appropriated.

1874

Three families, including that of JB Claypool, settle along (Squaw) Whychus Creek in an area that had been a traditional summer camping ground for Native Americans.

May 18, 1875

Post office established at Hindman Ranch.

1875

Camp Polk Cemetery started.

1880

E.A. Graham homesteaded on present site of Graham Corrals (six miles west of Sisters.)

Alfred Cobb settled two miles east of Sisters (Lazy Z Ranch)

Simon Bodyfelt claimed area around Cold Springs (four miles west of Sister)

John and Mark Wilt settles, obtaining first water rights on Pole Creek.

1881

Five homesteading families established on the upper Metolius River (Camp Sherman area.)

1882

Black Butte School built near First Creek in Camp Sherman area.

Winter 1883-84

Heavy snows, up to six feet in depth, kill many cattle. Some ranchers report losses of fifty percent.

1885

David and Margaret Allingham homestead downstream for Camp Sherman. This area later becomes Allingham Guard Station.

John and Mark Wilt homestead just west of what becomes the town of Sisters.

1886

Four families in Plainview area file for water rights from Three Creeks Lake.

1887

Joe Claypool homesteads just south of today’s town of Sisters.

1888

Post office moved from Camp Polk to area just north of present City of Sisters.

Homestead Certificate No 593 for Joseph B Claypool filed.

T. Egenton Hogg employs over 1000 men to attempt to build a railroad over Santiam Pass. He builds eleven miles of road and then abandons the operation.

1889

First Squaw (Whychus Creek) Canal built by Sam Davis.

1890

Cox Mill built – run by water power – two miles south of Sisters.

One-room school house built at east end of Sisters.

1891

Homestead Certificate No 2157 claim for Jacob Quiberg filed.

Homestead Certificate No 2136 claim for Robert G Smith filed.

Homestead Certificate No 1471 claim for Benjamin C Beaman filed.

Homestead Certificate No 1472 claim for John J Smith filed.

1892

Oscar Maxwell builds the Maxwell Ditch, drawing water from Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek) to Plainview.

Homestead Certificate No 1856 claim for John H Smith filed.

Homestead Certificate No 1919 claim for John W Wilt filed.

Homestead Certificate No 2007 claim for Erastus F Buchanan filed.

1893

Cascade Range Forest Reserve established. Became Cascade National Forest in 1905.

Homestead Certificate No 1918 claim for Marcus J Wilt filed.

President Grover Cleveland creates the Cascade Forest Reserve, ending homesteading along the Metolius River.

1894

Carey Act of 1894 – encouraged the reclaiming of arid lands by setting aside up to one million acres of public lands that the states could sell to settlers or irrigation companies who agreed to construct and operate the necessary canal systems.

1895

Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek) irrigation District organized.

1896

Cache Creek Toll Station is built

George Scott became gatekeeper of the toll gate: traded land to acquire sixty acres along Indian Ford creek.

1900

A two-room school is built on present Sisters grade school site. Later moved twice, became the Barkley home, later Conklin House.

First school house built in Cloverdale on the George Cyrus place.

1901

Brothers Robert and Alex Smith plat the town of Sisters. Plat reads: “All lots 40 feet front by 114 feet and all blocks 140 feet square … bisected east and west by alleys 12 feet wide. Street 80 feet wide …”

1902

Mill near Melvin Butte established.

Black Butte Land and Livestock Company incorporated. (Dissolved in 1918)

1903

Cascade Range Forest Reserve Report – attempt to protect forest lands for the future.

1905

First automobile to cross Santiam Pass, car was part of a transcontinental race.

Cascade National Forest created from Cascade Range Forest Reserve.

1906

First mill established in Plainview.

April 1906

“Spring of the Brown Snow,” because of heavy winds in the Columbia Gorge whipping fine dust into the air, Central Oregon experience a 10 inch “brow snow” storm.

1907

Plainview School established. (Burned in 1973) built to serve Gist-Plainview area children.

Deschutes National Forest established on east side of Deschutes River.

First Ranger posted to Sisters Ranger District.

1908

Mill established southeast of Sisters (near Lazy Z Ranch)

Hardy Allen House built (Main and Larch) Hardy Allen’s father, Albert, was a soldier with Company A at Camp Polk.

1909

Homestead Certificate (number missing) claim for James B Palmer filed.

1910

Mill established in Sisters.

Fire lookout built on Black Butte

McCaffery Addition dedicated to the City of Sisters. Had been part of the original John Smith homestead.

First recorded “bucking contest,” using wild horses, held in Sisters.

1911

Land west of the Deschutes River added to Deschutes National Forest.

October 5, 1911

First train arrives in Bend: James Hill, owner of the Great Northern RR, completes his railroad to Bend, known as the Oregon Trunk Railroad.

1912

Mill established at Indian Ford.

Hotel Sisters built

Two-story building constructed to house 2-year high school and grade school.

Ellis Edgington settles on 1200 acres two miles south of Sisters.

Mel Herrington purchases ranch one mile southeast of Sisters.

Very wet year, 23.46 inches of moisture, followed by several years of drought.

1913

One-room school built on the William Wilt homestead.

1914

First Annual Fair and Race Meet – Three-day event with horse racing and agricultural exhibits held in Sisters.

Jefferson County established from a portion of Crook County.

1915

Sister Fair Association, May Day Celebration, held to promote cooperation between farmers and businessmen.

Carl T Hubbard established first guest ranch in Central Oregon on the Metolius River, known as Hubbard Ranch or “El Rancho.”

October 1915

Second Annual Sisters Fair is held.

1916

Brooks Scanlon opens mill in Bend.

Shelvin Hixon opens mill in Bend and sets up the moveable town that becomes Shelvin.

US Forest Service begins leasing lands along the Metolius River for summer homes.

Deschutes County established from a portion of Crook County.

Winters 1916 & 1917

Very bad drought years, many homesteaders lose crops and cattle.

May 13, 1916

Sisters stages a Race Meet. About 200 people attend to see many of the country’s best horses compete in harness races.

1917

Settlers in Squaw Creek Irrigation District (Whychus Creek) vote for $175,000 in bonds to purchase the Long Hollow Ranch from the Black Butte Land and Livestock Company, including the water rights, ditches and diversion works.

Camp Sherman Store established.

New Black Butte schoolhouse built at Camp Sherman, to replace the 1882 building.

1919

New dam and head gate at Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek).

1920

Flood destroys 1919 Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek) dam

Brook trout introduced to Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek).

1921

Hanson’s Resort, Camp Sherman, begins operation as a summer resort offering tents for its guests. Cabins are built in 1924. In 1935 Hanson’s becomes Lake Creek Lodge.

A 110 foot high ponderosa pine is limbed and turned into a lookout tower in downtown Sisters. Tower is toppled in 1926 after the tree rots.

1923

Three Creeks road built, providing access to lake and recreation.

May 11, 1923

Fire starts in an unattended garage in Sisters. Fire destroys buildings on South side of Cascade Street, including ten businesses and residences, one being the Sisters Drug Store and Post Office. Records lost for Squaw Creek Irrigation District (Whychus Creek)

George and Grace Aitken move a one-story building to site of burned drugstore and post office. Add a second story with living quarters and storage in 1931.

1924

The first golf course in Central Oregon opens at the Hansen Ranch near Camp Sherman, in what today is known as Metolius Meadows.

Sept. 11, 1924

Fire starts in a defective flue in the Gist Hotel destroying buildings on both sides of Cascade Street between Fir and Spruce. “Half of Pioneer Town is Leveled by Flames,” The Bend Bulletin. “Fire fought by every man in the community. Efforts Hampered by the lack of fire fighting equipment.”

Winter 1924-25

Severe winter with heavy snow.

1925

Linn County bought all rights to the original road bed of the toll road over the McKenzie Pass and completed an automobile road over the pass. Spare tires were recommended.

Lookout cupola built on Black Crater.

1926

Suttle Lake United Methodist Camp lease is obtained. The first Methodist camp is held at Suttle Lake in 1922.

1927

Metolius River Market Road built allowing for direct travel between Sisters and Camp Sherman

Very little snow, another dry year for farmers and ranchers.

1928

Spoo Mill, also known as MG Hitchcock Mill, built. Later moved to Mitchell.

Very cold winter with lots of snow.

1930s

Construction of the Santiam Highway begins.

1930

Seventh-Day Adventist church begins (closed in the 1960s).

1931

Emmett Knickerbockers and Hugh Amsberry open a nine-hole golf course just south of Sisters, called Knickerbocker Public Golf Course

On April 22, tornado strength winds uproot pines and flatten cabins in the Metolius Valley, Camp Sherman area.

1932

A lodge is built at Camp Wingwaak at Scout Lake. In 1933 it is reported that 100 Scouts from all over Oregon and Washington use the camp during the summer.

Lookout cabin at Sand Mountain built

1933

Lookout tower built at Trout Creek Butte

Lookout tower built on Cache Mountain

1934

Mill established at Sundown Ranch.

1935

Camp Tamarack is established at Dark Lake by Donna Gill and Lucille Murphy. Twelve girls attend the first summer.

1936

Sisters High School establishes an orchestra.

1937

Separate Sister High School building built. (This brick building is now used as school district administration offices and is on the National Register of Historic Places.)

1938

Sisters residents volunteer and donate materials to build first library building.

Construction of Hoodoo Ski Bowl begins.

North Santiam Highway opens to traffic.

1939

Jan 27th, Sisters Library opens as a branch of the Deschutes County Library.

Sisters City Park created in December as a State of Oregon park.

North Santiam Highway opened and Santiam Wagon Road officially closed.

1940

Sisters first motor hotel or motel opens, Sisters Motor Lodge. This is the oldest building in Sisters still being used for the purpose for which it was built.

The first annual (official) Sisters Rodeo held at the Creighton place, northeast of downtown (near airport.) Two years later the Rodeo Grounds were moved a little west, onto Leithauser land, where Hoyt’s Hardware is today (2006).

Santiam “Ski” Lodge dedicated, built by CCC crew with enough dormitory space for 90 people. A snowmobile operates between the lodge and Hoodoo Ski Bowl.

1946

Sisters become an incorporated city.

Brooks-Scanlon moves 37 “rail houses” including a schoolhouse and store from the Brooks-Scanlon Bull Springs logging camp to a site just west of downtown Sisters.

1949

First separate elementary school built in Sisters.

1950

New Black Butte schoolhouse built in Camp Sherman, replacing log building; 13 students enrolled.

Lodge at Hoodoo Ski Bowl is established. The new building is created from an abandoned officer’s quarters from Camp Adair in Corvallis that is cut into sections and moved to the site.

1951

Artificial propagation of steelhead trout in Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek).

Hitchcock Mill sold to Dant and Russell

1952

Dant and Russell mill closed.

1953

An estimated 1,000 steelhead trout spawn in Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek).

Dant and Russell mill purchased by Leonard Lundgren and reopened. This mill was later moved to Bend

1954

New Sisters grade school built to replace 1912 structure.

April 1956

“Spring of the Brown Rain,” was the result of heavy winds in the Palouse. The high winds brought “muddy rain” to Central Oregon, resulting from the fine dust being taken high into the atmosphere. Some think the dust may have actually acted as cloud seeding, causing substantial rain.

1957

First hatchery reared adult steelhead trout return to Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek).

1958

Pelton Dam built on Deschutes River, creating Lake Billy Chinook.

Sisters Baptist Church begins services in building at Main and Elm streets.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints begins holding meetings in homes.

1959

People in Sisters becoming concerned about the future of the town as mills close or move out of the area. Some begin discussing the idea of enacting an ordinance requiring an 1880s style for commercial buildings.

1960

Wakefield Garage catches fire, embers jump across the street and burn much of the Leithauser Store merchandise.

Camp Davidson, operated by the Oregon District of the Assemblies of God, is established near Link Creek, just east of Suttle Lake.

1963

St. Edward’s Catholic Church constructed on land donated by Rex Trowbridge.

Last mill closed in Sisters.

Johnson’s Sporting Goods store (Sisters) is burned, destroying the second floor and killing Mr. Johnson. Cause of the fire is a cigarette.

1964

City of Sisters hit by major flood; took out highway bridge over Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek)

Round Butte Dam built on Deschutes River.

1967

Last steelhead trout or Chinook salmon seen in Squaw Creek (Whychus Creek).

1968

Sisters High School closed; students bussed to Redmond High School.

1971

First meetings held at old high school for the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration.

Black Butte Ranch, the Brooks Resources resort begins selling lots and Big Meadow Golf Course opens.

1972

Black Butte Ranch – Many new homes built. Work begins on the Golf Course Condos, Ridge Cabins, Aspen Houses, Black Butte Homes and Ranch Houses. Construction of Paulina and South Meadow Pools.

1973

Circle W Properties of Eugene, begins development of Metolius Meadows. It becomes the largest residential development in Camp Sherman.

1974

Hard winter with heavy snow. Gil Ticoulat’s cattle were trapped in the Big Meadow at Black Butte Ranch. 42 inches of snow fall in 24 hours.

1975

Jean Wells and Cathi Howells begin the first annual Sister Quilt Show; eleven quilts exhibited. The annual show is held the second Saturday of July.

Lutheran church begins services held at the home of Pastor Ylvisaker.

Hard winter with heavy snow. Black Butte Ranch uses a tractor to clear snow off Phalarope Lake for ice skating, the ice is 14 to 16 inches thick.

Mid-summer, Hap Taylor is excavating for utilities in Rock Ridge section of Black Butte Ranch and a fire starts. Borate bomber is called in.

1978

City of Sisters passes ordinance requiring 1880s style store fronts.
Click here for Nugget News article about the 1880s theme

1979

Commercial development west of town, Three Winds Shopping Center, opened

Laurence Callwell, a bank robber on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List, lives at Black Butte Ranch in South Meadow 76.

Retail sales employment in Sisters becomes the leading job classification.

1980

New Sisters fire station constructed.

1981

Fire burns east side of Black Butte's top.

January 3-4, 1982

A 68 inch snow fall closes Santiam Pass to all traffic.

1983

New Sisters city park built, called “Village Green,” across from fire station.

Santiam Wagon Road placed on Register of National Historic Places

February 12-13, 1986

39 inches of snow falls at Camp Sherman.

1989

Construction of a new Sisters Library building begun on old library’s 50th Birthday.

July 1980

Tollgate Fire burns 2,300 acres between Sisters and Black Butte Ranch.

1990

Cascade Community Church members begin meeting in member’s homes.

New Sand Mountain Lookout Tower dedicated on August 18.

1991

Sisters Industrial Park opens for business.

New Sisters High School opens, taking old mascot name, Outlaws. Before this school opened Sisters High School students attended Redmond High School.

June 1992

Sage Flat Fire, north-east of Sisters, 250 homes evacuated, 1000 acres and five homes burned.

Winter
1992-93

Heavy snows. At Black Butte Ranch snow depth is up to four feet.

1995

New lookout tower constructed on Black Butte.

1997

Three Sisters Fellowship formed.

Sisters Seventh Day Adventist Church reopens.

Black Butte Ranch Historical Society founded, becomes Sisters Country Historical Society in 2003.

1998

Cascade Community and Sisters Baptist churches merge to become Sisters Community Church

Sisters city voters pass a city sewer development measure

Construction of major new development west of Sisters, Pine Meadow Village

Black Butte Ranch – cache of bi-faced tools found next to Paulina Pool, dated to over 1000 years old.

Jananuary 2001

New lodge at Hoodoo Ski Bowl opens at the top of Santiam Pass.

2002

July 2002, Cache Mountain Fire hits Black Butte Ranch, two homes lost.

2003

August 2003, B&B Complex Fire causing Camp Sherman residents to evacuate twice for over a week of total time.

2005

New Sisters Library building opens in December on site of the old Middle School

A McDonald’s opens in Sisters.

2006

Squaw Creek renamed Whychus Creek

Sun Ranch Business Parks opens in Sisters

First Annual “Sisters area artists” art show held in New Sisters Library.