Evans Well. Frozen,
1976
It is a peculiarity of the Oregon High
Desert, days like this. A warm sun in midday, the dry grasses
and distant hills appearing but little different than midsummer.
Then you happen upon that rarity of rarities, open water in the
desert, and it is a dry teat, unusable to livestock, hard-frozen
all day through, evaporating slowly away into the air, a dream
like water on Mars.
A few miles away is a remote sensing
weather station named for Horse Ridge; the station often records
the coldest minimum temperatures in Oregon; eg. October 9, 2017,
with a morning low of only 6 degrees F (but an afternoon high
of an astonishing 61).
1999
1976
As these two images eloquently
attest, a lot of love has been given to renewing Evans Well since
the image on the right was taken one bleak winter day in 1976.
Note that the grinding wheel* has been taken out of its original
building and thoughtfully restored (* see the unrestored wheelon
the left side of the 1976 photo). Any readers who can share more
of the story of Evans Wells' revival are welcome to use my E-mailer
and I'll be happy to add their reports here.
This page last
reviewed 7/30/2023
1976. Cold barn, little shelter
here.
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