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Jarold Ramsey

Jarold Ramsey, who grew up on the family ranch near Madras, earned a B.A. from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He taught at the University of Rochester for more than thirty years before he returned to the Madras ranch in 2000. He is the author or editor of many books, including Words Marked by a Place: Local Histories in Central Oregon (2018), Coyote Was Going There, Reading the Fire, and New Era; four books of poetry including, Thinking Like a Canyon (2012); and numerous articles and monographs. His honors include the Don Walker Award, the Helen Bullis Award for Poetry, the Quarterly Review of Literature International Poetry Prize, and the C.E.S. Wood Distinguished Writer Award by Literary Arts in 2017.

Author's Entries

  • AJ Model Airplanes & Jim Walker

    When Nevilles E. "Jim" Walker, the founder of the American Junior Aircraft Company, died in Portland in 1958, he may have been the best-known, most influential figure in the model aircraft business. His company, which in over three decades manufactured an estimated 232 million ready-to-fly kits, was renowned for the …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • City of Antelope and Muddy Ranch

    The histories of the town of Antelope and the Muddy Ranch are closely intertwined. The town and ranch are only a few miles apart, in the broken range country of north-central Oregon, and what has happened to one over the years has had consequences for the other. The Muddy Ranch …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Coyote (legend)

    The figure of Coyote is prominent in Native American traditional narratives in Oregon and throughout the West. This is hardly surprising, given the widespread distribution of coyotes (canis latrans) and their human-like intelligence, wily resourcefulness, and playfulness. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that all Indian …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Culver

    The town of Culver, north of Haystack Butte in south-central Jefferson County, had its beginings as Perryville in the 1880s. It was named after Perry Read, who established a stage station on the road to Prineville. By 1900, the settlement had a store, a school, a blacksmith shop, and …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Dell Hathaway Hymes (1927-2009)

    One measure of the stature of Dell Hymes as a social scientist in the last three decades of the twentieth century is that he held the presidency, in turn, of the American Folklore Society (1973), the Linguistic Society of America (1982), the American Anthropological Association (1983), and the American Association …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • George W. Aguilar, Sr. (1930-)

    George W. Aguilar, Sr., is a Wasco Elder and life-long resident of the Warm Springs Reservation who won the 2006 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction for his book, When the River Ran Wild! Indian Traditions on the Mid-Columbia and the Warm Springs Reservation. The book, which also received …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Hay Creek Ranch

    For over a century, Hay Creek Ranch has been one of the largest ranch holdings in Oregon and has played a prominent role in the history of central Oregon. The ranch was established in 1873 by Dr. David Baldwin as the Baldwin Sheep and Land Company. It is located on …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • John A. Brown (1830?–1903)

    John Brown Canyon heads on Agency Plains, seven miles north of Madras, Oregon, and descends west about three miles into the main canyon of the Deschutes River. Campbell Creek flows along its bottom, and the Highway 26 grade was cut into its north slopes. The canyon was officially named …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Mitchell

    Mitchell, the second largest town in Wheeler County (Fossil is the largest), had a population of 160 in 2020. It is located along Bridge Creek just off U.S. Highway 26, forty-seven miles east of Prineville and sixty-eight miles west of John Day. The community began in the 1860s as …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Pine Mountain Observatory

    Located at 6,300 feet of elevation on a landmark butte in the High Desert, southeast of Bend, Pine Mountain Observatory (PMO) is owned and operated by the University of Oregon (UO) Department of Physics under a special-use permit from the Deschutes National Forest. It is Oregon's only professional astronomical …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Reub Long (1898-1974)

    A generation after his death in 1974, Reuban A. "Reub" Long still figures in Oregon lore as the "Sage of Fort Rock," the pre-eminent storyteller and chronicler of the High Desert country. Long was born in Lakeview in 1898, the son of Lon and Mary Long. In 1900, the family …

    Oregon Encyclopedia