My
name is Bob
Jenkins and
I created this website to provide genealogy
information and links to genealogy
information to assist people in
researching
their Crook County Oregon ancestors.
I would appreciate any contribution that
you would like to make to this site:
biographies, obituaries, birth, marriage,
death info, grave info, photographs....etc
Crook
County, Oregon
Crook County was created on October 24, 1882, carved from the vast expanse of Wasco County and named for Maj. Gen. George Crook, a U.S. Army officer known for his service in the Civil War and the Indian Wars.
Located in the geographic center of Oregon, the county developed slowly at first due to difficult access. The earliest non‑Native group to overwinter in the region arrived in 1862 via the Scott Trail, and settlement increased after improved routes opened through Santiam Pass in the 1860s.
The county’s only incorporated city, Prineville, was founded in 1868 and became the county seat. Its early years were marked by frontier conflicts, including tensions between cattlemen and sheepmen, occasional Indian raids, and episodes of vigilante justice—typical of Oregon’s high‑desert frontier communities.
Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, cattle ranching dominated the local economy, with large herds grazing the open rangeland. Smaller communities such as Powell Butte, Post, and Paulina grew as rural hubs for ranching families.
For genealogists, Crook County offers rich research opportunities:
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Land records date from 1864,
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Marriage and probate records from 1882,
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Federal census schedules from 1900 onward, with territorial/state enumerations in 1885, 1895, and 1905.
These records, combined with local museum archives and rural cemetery data, help document the families who shaped Oregon’s high‑desert interior.