1898-1974
Reub Long was a lifelong cowboy of the Oregon desert.
When Reub was two years old, his family moved from Lakeview to Christmas Lake (about 30 miles S.E. of Fort Rock).
By the time he was twelve, he and his horse "...were out doing a man's work."
Reub spent most of his life working with horses, but along the way he admitted he tried sheepherding, trapping, dairying, dryland farming, surveying, dude wrangling, moving picture making, working for the government and running a pool hall.
Reub was also an active conservationist and was a longtime member of the State Board of Agriculture, Oregon State University Foundation and Advisory Committee for the Bureau of Land Management.
He was also named Oregon "Grassman of the Year" in 1952.
Reub found time, in addition to these many activities, to accumulate thousands of acres of land in this Fort Rock country where he ran his beautiful horses and raised Hereford cattle.
The Oregon desert country was his home and he loved it.
Reub was widely known to many as a desert philosopher, "Sage of the sagebrush country", with wit and wisdom far beyond most of us. His stories and sayings are legendary in this part of the state.
"If my reputation is good, it came from trying to keep my mother from finding out I wasn't the wonder she thought I was."
"The reason I've been able to produce some fast horses out here is that where I graze them they have to feed at 30 miles an hour to get enough to eat."
"The older I get, the better I used to be."
"Give advice sparingly, it is seldom wanted and little used, besides, you might run out just when you need it most yourself."
"God has quit making land, but he keeps right on making people."
"I remember once when it rained out here, I went a running outside to see what all the commotion was about and one of those big raindrops hit me on the head and knocked me cold. They had to throw six buckets of sand in my face in order to bring me to my senses again."
"A technician is a man who comes out to your ranch and tells you things you knew before, in terms you can't understand."
"...I want you to remember just one thing - more than half the darned lies I tell are the honest truth."
REUB LONG AND HIS WIFE ELEANOR DONATED THIRTY ACRES TO THE STATE FOR INCLUSION IN FORT ROCK STATE PARK, WHICH IS A FITTING AREA FOR A MONUMENT TO REUBAN LONG, A MAN WHO GAVE ALL OF HIMSELF TO THE LAND HE LOVED.
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