Stauffer was a small center of activity located about twenty five miles southeast of Hampton and west of Glass Butte in northeastern Lake County. It was in the Lost Creek Valley on a sagebrush plain. It is now mostly a desolate region with scattered ranches but shortly after the turn of the Twentieth Century it was a booming area. Homesteaders came from all over the United States to take advantage of one of the last big homestead opportunities. Most of the homesteading took place between 1910 and 1913. It was not uncommon to see a primitive structure, usually a tent with a wooden floor, put up in haste by a homesteading family every few miles. Most early settlers tried to make a living by dryland farming and mostly without successes. As the population grew there was a need for a post office. A petition was filed to create a post office and most local settlers wanted to name the office Lost Creek. The postal service claimed there was already a post office of that name so the name Stauffer was submitted to honor the first postmaster Charles J. Stauffer. The post office was officially established on September 13, 1913 and was initially located in the Stauffer home.

The site was more of a region than a community as there was a collection of scattered homesteads. There were no public buildings other than a school. As settlers became more established they began putting up wooden houses with lumber being shipped from mills near Maury Mountain, Prineville or Bend. It was a major task to clear the plentiful big sagebrush. Often wagon teams would pull logs weighted with rocks over the brush to uproot it. It would then be burned before plowing and planting of crops, which was mostly dryland wheat or rye.

It was a long haul to bring supplies to the isolated homesteads and it was typically a six day journey to Bend or Prineville. A journey would be made only about every six months so settlers had to stock up with supplies in large quantities when heading to Atown@. Most of the settlers planted their own small garden for vegetables and they were very stingy with the use of water since they had to haul it long distances. Usually there was a dairy cow to provide milk, butter and cheese. Meat was typically obtained by killing deer, antelope, rabbits or sage hens. But the realities of the harshness of the environment for growing crops soon discouraged most of the settlers. Men often tried to find jobs to supplement the income and left women and children to manage the homestead.

A period of drought destroyed crops and jack rabbit populations exploded after settlers killed coyotes and the rabbits devoured what crops that did manage to survive. Also the lack of reliable water and deficient means to pump water from wells caused most of the homesteaders to abandon Lost Creek Valley after only a few years. A few hardy people remained for a while longer but eventually most of the homesteaders gave up their claims or sold out to large ranches and left the area. Amazingly the post office continued to operate until June 30, 1940 when mail was moved to Hampton.

Today a few scattered buildings mostly in rapid decay are all that is left of the once highly populated region. Mostly only stock grazing occurs at the Stauffer area and it is a beautiful but desolate landscape. The wind whistles across the sagebrush flats almost as a sound of mourning for those that are long gone.

Contributed by Steve Lent, Historian