Pringle Flats: Center of Homestead Activities

Pringle Flats is located near the Crook-Deschutes County line about twelve miles north of Brothers.  The immediate vicinity was known as Warm Springs when the first stockmen came to the area in 1873.  It received the Warm Springs name from the heated waters which boiled up from the ground.  Livestock used the water year-round and there were lush meadows nearby.  It was an isolated region until the homestead era led to hundreds of homesteaders arriving just after the turn of the twentieth century.    One of the early settlers at the site was Octavius Pringle and the meadow became known at Pringle Flats

By 1912 homesteaders were having success growing grains, principally rye.  Even vegetables were growing successfully.  As the population grew a school district was formed in 1912 and a dozen students began attending class.  A post office was never established at the site and mail was received at Held which was a few miles further north near the headwaters of Bear Creek.

School enrollment boomed to 37 by 1915.  A large social hall often known as the Pringle Flats Dance Hall was constructed and served as a center of social activity for all of the surrounding homesteaders.  In 1915 a Fourth of July celebration at Pringle Flats attracted over 250 people. It was a merry day as there were horse and foot races and young men participated in wrestling matches and there was a large table of food.  It was a time for fun and meeting with neighbors before harvest activities began.  Small homestead cabins could be spotted throughout the sagebrush country as hundreds of people had settled in the vicinity.

The dance hall was constructed from lumber milled on the south slopes of Maury Mountain.  It was a rather large hall that served as the center of social activity for a wide ranging territory.  Dances were one of the ultimate pleasures for early homesteaders and often settlers from as far away as Post, Paulina and Silver Lake would come to Pringle Flats to attend dances.  Most people would make it a holiday and large spreads of food were shared and conversation was fluent.  Dances would often last all night and it was a merry time for those who mostly led harsh lives trying to make a living off the land.  After a long night of enjoyment homesteaders would then straggle back to their bleak cabins.

The harshness of the environment for dryland farming finally led many of the early settlers to abandon their claims or sell out to large land owners.  Eventually only a few scattered ranches remained.  Long after many of the homesteaders left the dance hall continued to be used for square dances and social events.  But eventually the building began to deteriorate and more entertainment options became available other places through more rapid transportation and the building ceased to be used.  It stood for many years as a symbol of the pioneer spirit but eventfully a heavy snow and strong wind collapsed the long standing landmark and only a pile of rubble marks the site of the once bustling center of activity at Pringle Flats.

Story contributed by Steve Lent, historian