The Oregon Story; Rural Voices: Three days at Crane

Funding for production of the Oregon Story was made possible through a generous grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, rural development. [intro music], [indecipherable talking], [locker doors slamming] The high school in the tiny town of Crane, Oregon serves some of the most remote and isolated households in the state. And because many of the students live so far away, most say on campus in dormitories during the school week. For three days in April OPB camera crews documented life at Crane Union High School. Several students use small video cameras to shoot some additional footage of their own. And the combined result is this program, a sort of video snapshot of a unique

community. [music], [inaudible], ...oh, yeah. Yeah I said how many schools have, have you been to that have cattle guards for their entryway. [laughter] And then "no horses on the campus" sign. [laughter] [walking] [birdsong] Crane Union High School was organized in 1918. The original high school, elementary, and dorm facilities were under one roof, but those were destroyed by fire on a cold January night in 1967. The facilities were rebuilt consisting of an elementary building, high school building, gymnasium, cafeteria, and dormitory building.

Crane Union High School is one of the oldest public boarding schools in the United States. Prom pictures! Gosh Laura, look how tan we look! Oh my gosh. [inaudible] can we see those after? Mis abuelos, mi abuela. [inaudible] [hallway noise] The unincorporated town of Crane is located in Harney County which is a remote rural high desert cattle ranching and production agricultural area in southeastern Oregon. Remember you guys are representing the high school, and you're representing Crane in this ag class, so I want you guys to be on your best behavior as possible. Let's see how they judge horses compared to how we judged horses on the video the other day. [inaudible] I'm driving... [inaudible] Do we have [inaudible] [inaudible]. Excellent. Okay. So you guys all stay seated? [inaudible] Warning before... I hit anything [backup beeping] [inaudible] Light 'em up! [inaudible] Like the circle of the horse so that you can get a side view of him. And then

they'll change horses, they'll bring the other horse in for you. Pick the horse you like when we get done then we're going to ask you why. [inaudible] This wouldn't be good for a saddle, it's whether or not [inaudible]. Yeah, and that one's got its good points and that one's got its bad points. [inaudible] got a fairly high tail here, too. I like this one 'cause it's prettier [laughter]. Which horse is wider across the stifle has more [inaudible]. Oh, that one there, I think. You think the red one? Yeah. Has everybody got a pretty good look? Yeah. If they like a horse to ride or if they want to show a horse you know there's a difference and some kids might like a horse that looks like it's better to ride and the other kid might not like him at all. But it gives them an opportunity to see these types of horses. Yeah, who liked the bay horse, if you liked the bay horse the best? I liked the bay horse. I liked that one. Huh? Raise your hands. Keep them up a minute. I liked his face, a lot [inaudible]. the underline and its [inaudible] Yeah.

Better withers. I like what the ?Newton? girl said. I didn't hear any of you other kids say it. The bay horse travels a hundred percent better than the ?saw? horse. You kids that come off these ranches, if you had to ride the saw horse, you might stumble in the rocks a little bit. Bay horse travels way better. I'd pick the bay horse. The saw horse is a nice horse [inaudible] I don't dislike him that much. [laughter] [singing and musical instruments] [machine noise] We're not going to take notes but you need to know what's going to be on the test, and it's going to be a hard test. And on test day, I

am going to look at your arms and everything and make sure you don't have like, radius, ulnar, (student) Dang it! (teacher) you know, humerus, phalanges you know, on your ulna. So I'm not gonna have, so I'm going to check 'cause I've had kids actually do that, they write that on their body parts. [students exclaiming] (student) [inaudible] (teacher) I need to know your age. Okay, if you remember (student) 15. 14. (teacher) Remember you have to have your shoulder, your feet shoulder width apart, your middle fingers on this, forefingers, thumbs on top. And then we'll, then we'll push start. Okay, so set (students) 14. 15. 14. (teacher) How tall are you? (student) Five three. Five three. (teacher) All right, wait, be honest [inaudible] Male or Female? (student) Male. (teacher) Okay. (student) What does male or female have do with body fat? (students) Because males have more [inaudible] (teacher) Someone push the start button.

(student) Oh, oh my God, Joe. (student) Okay, you're zero right now. [inaudible number] Which one is it, the bottom or the top one? (teacher) It's the top one. (narrator) The campus complex also has housing facilities for the faculty and administration. Crane Union High School, Crane Elementary, and Crane dormitories are public schools and facilities and therefore are supported by public funds. [students talking] [tour guide] This is Jennifer's room. Jennifer, say hi. Yeah. She's gonna show us her closet. [student] That's mine! No! [laughter] (tour guide) OK, never mind, that's Sarah's. They've got their room all nice and decorated, too. [laughter] (student) This might be on video. (narrator) Crane High School has about 95 students. About 60 percent of the students live in a dormitory and usually go home on weekends. Some of the dorm students live as far away as 150 miles. (student) Hi. (Interviewer) What's your name?

(student) My name's Shannon ?Barrett? (Interviewer) Where do you live? (Shannon) I live in Rome. The great town of Rome. (interviewer) Where is that? (Shannon) That's 80 miles from here. (Interviewer) 80 miles? That's That's a far aways, huh? (Shannon) Yep, every weekend. (Interviewer) Did you finally get the phone. (student) I got it. (Interviewer) Oh yeah. (student) I'm calling my mom (Interviewer) Oh, how far does she live from here? (student) Forty-five miles. (Interviewer) Oh, yeah? [laughter] (student) It's helped me and my mom's relationship out immensely though. It doesn't, I don't know, there's not the pressure there if teen gets with their parents you know, it just, the time that you get to spend with them is like, treasured moments. So you don't fight and do all that silly stuff. (Interviewer) Excuse me, in the background? Um, you're in our picture right now. (person) Sister of her. (student) This is my sister. She's a freshmen, I'm a senior and she's a freshman. Yeah and she's the tall one, but she's the freshman. (Interviewer) Can you please tell me your name? Carrie. (Interviewer) Who are you talking to Carrie? (Carrie) My mom. (Interviewer) Mmm-hmm. Are you sure you it's not your boyfriend? (Carrie) Uh huh. (interviewer) Ok. OK, back to you.

(student) Oh hi again. It's me. (interviewer) How far do your parents live from here. (student) Forty minutes. (interviewer) Forty minutes? (student) Yeah. (interviewer) What grade are you in? (student) Freshmen. (interviewer) How far do you live from here. (student) Sixty miles. (interviewer) Where do you live at. (student) French Glenn. (interviewer) What do you do there. [laughter] (student) Jennifer? (interviewer) (interviewer) Hey! What do you do there. (student) I don't live on a ranch, we own, like, a campground. (interviewer) Yeah? Do you like Crane? (student) Yeah. (student) What did you name yours again? (student) ?Kendall? (student) Kendall. (student) Kendall what? (student) What goes with Kendall? (student) Kendall Trista. [students talking, inaudible] Sick! (student) Don't say it's sick. I like him, OK? (student) Are you sure? (student) I don't know why [inaudible] (student) You just said that on camera, darling. [inaudible voices]. (teacher) You set your timer. (student) Get it open please, I'm not touching it. (student) Here. You have crabs in your In your (student) One point eight seven. (teacher) One point eight seven? [bell rings] [inaudible voices and laughter]

(student) There's, like, computerized baby dolls that are supposed to be for like a health class and you have to feed 'em, burp em', rock' em and change 'em when they cry. And if you tip their head back like a real baby (student) they start screaming, and we're graded on it (student) Everyone in the freshman health class has to do it. [baby cooing] And you only have to take it for two days and two nights. (student) When I had mine, the first night, it kept me up from eleven to twelve, and from two to three in the morning. (student) It's only kept us up from ten to eleven, two to three, and then five it woke us up. (student) I mean that stupid thing was crying like every 10 minutes, and it just wanted to be held (student) I know. Ours did that last night. (student) It's like really frustrating because like as soon as you're done feeding it, it wants its diaper changed, and then right away it wants to be burped and then it wants to be rocked. And it's hard to like,

do your English and your math with this baby crying and everyone's looking at you in the class. (student) All the teachers give you dirty looks. (student) [baby crying in background] Yeah, the teachers get mad and it's two o'clock in the morning when you just can't get it to quit crying and you're knocking stuff over trying to find your bottle, it just gets really, really frustrating. [baby continues crying](student) So we don't make good parents [laughs] when we're in high school [laughs]. Yeah, I think it's definitely, there's a big difference between the way we look at pregnancies and sex in those kinds of things compared to different kids in areas. But, when you see a momma cow having a baby and you're pulling that thing out hind legs first, praying it's alive, it kind of paints a different picture when you start thinking about it. You know sex and intimacy and then you go, oh my pulling a baby calf. You kind of go oh that's not a good idea. [inaudible voices]

(student) What are we doing now? (narrator) This is the Crane High School computer lab. We use it for our students' recycling use technology program. (narrator) STRUT's a program that was designed in Oregon. It's an idea that, we can take old technology and repair it. (narrator) Big corporations when they upgrade they have to have someplace to recycle their computers. And usually they're not so out-of-date that we can't use 'em. This back here is our clear case computer that we got for a teaching tool. Kids come in they go "a computer, how can you put together a machine that runs so fast?". Well, it's only, you know, about 12 pieces that you put together, it's nuts and bolts and screws and wires. (narrator) All of the good components we'll either put into a computer which we'll put in one of these labs here. We- we also have labs in the elementary and the dorm whenever something goes bad we replace it. When it needs an upgrade, we just upgrade it. It's fairly... complex. (narrator) Logan's been working with different

operating systems and operating systems are basically what runs the hardware of your computer. And he's been working with using a different operating system than what we use. It's Linux. You want to tell them about it? (narrator) Linux is free software. Meaning that you don't have to pay for it. That's why it's nice. Linux, a bunch of people say that it's better than Windows for a bunch of security reasons, that it's more accessible to a lot of people. And it may be, but the great virtue is that it is free. (narrator) When you're done you should have all the knowledge to go up to the ESD and take a test for certification and with that certification you can go on the East Coast and get a job for $50,000, here, probably only maybe $25,000 a year. It gives you something that you can take out a high school and use right in the workforce. (narrator) Family ranching is not only a business but also a way of life in the area. Children learn responsibility at an early age. (narrator) While helping with the ranch work,

they ride horseback and operate machinery. Many are descendants of the first settlers in the area. (student) Yeah, about every family member I ever had was a cowboy. There -I don't think there's one. Yeah, there is, I don't have any family member that hasn't ranched. (student) Cowboying is my favorite thing to do, but it's so hard to make a living nowadays. Most people get [inaudible]. (student) Ranching, [laughs] from what I've seen is a very stressful occupation. It requires a lot [laughs]. Getting up in the middle of the night, go and checking cows and stuff, working yourself to death trying to stay on top of things. I don't really know what I'm going to do but I'm kind of leaning towards something with computers. [door closes] (student) Parents have to work outside the home to make an extra income. There's a lot of

ranching families that both parents have jobs that they do outside the home. Or they [inaudible] for other people. You know, they do other things to make an income because the cattle industry is not supporting you. (student) That's why if you're gonna to be a rancher you always marry a schoolteacher, did anybody ever teach you that? (student) I'm not gonna marry a rancher [laughs]. (student) My dream is like, live close to a town and marry a rancher that's gone to college. [door slams] (student) I ride for Don so he pays me for what I do and then Dad, I get a percentage of the sale price. Not as much as you would make out on- on your own but kind of a start. [rustling noise] I got him used to the saddle first, and now he's pretty good about saddling and stuff,

still learning. But then I got him so you can get- turn him really easy. 'Cause they don't know how to turn at all. And so he did really good at that and I got him moving around and walking same time. I want to go to college so I can get like a business degree and train which is for fun, I like it. I can't see myself in a bigger city really. [signals to the horse] (student) I had an old horse by the name of Blackie. But don't worry none, this story so tacky. This horse was tall, this horse was black. His hair was thick and his hair was course. When you step back and take a peek, all's you see is brute force.

When he starts to buck you better look out. Because he'll suck you down into his well and the only thing you ever hear is some old boy yell, "Hang on, son, tuck and roll and stay out of the muck". Boys hang on when old Blackie starts to buck. (student) And ?Bucker?, it's a nice press guy like you said but his -his ways of doing of -dressing is more old school. More of old fashion like. (Student) A lot of the old cowboy ways are dying out. (student) Using raw hide reata. Wear the neckerchief. The scarf. Some of them wear vests. Some of them wear no collar shirts. Some of them wear these leather cuffs, start at your wrist, come up to about the middle of your arm. Tapaderos on their stirrups of their saddle, to cover the stirrup (student) Oregon was influenced by Mexicans coming in. That's where we got our ways because we're a lot different than

Texas and all them. (student) Style. I mean, if it doesn't bother you to dress like a cowboy no matter what crowd than, you truly are a cowboy. [door slams] (student) The main economy in the area is ranching, production agriculture, and tourism. Harney County rates ninth among counties in the United States in beef cattle production. (narrator) Nearly half of the county taxes are realized from the ranching community. (student) I'm Lauren ?Nichols? and this is my house. And out around here is the Diamond Valley. It's where all our family and neighbors and friends live. And these are the fields that I hay during the summer for my dad and the creek that I fish in. (student) I live right on the McCoy Creek and since I'm gone for a week

I have to say goodbye to it for five days. Then I come back. This is my 4-H steer. He's pretty big this year but luckily he's gentle. [dishes clanging] Hi Mom. (mom) Hello. (student) What are you doing? (mom) I don't know. I'm trying to get [inaudible] ready for branding. You want to help me here in a minute, please? Sure. (mom) Okay. We're going to get enchiladas in there and the beans go in there and Debbie's moving the fire for us so we can drop a [inaudible] when we get out there so. (student) What are you putting in that big cast iron thing? (mom) It's beans and sausages. [cows mooing] (student) Hi, Grandpa. (Grandpa) I spoiled your best shot. (student) That's okay. [cows mooing] [inaudible voices]

My dad. My dad's friend, Jim. That's my uncle. [cows and calves mooing] This is my Grandpa. And one of his friends. All of our family and friends, they come to help us brand, and our neighbors. That's Chance. (person) We've been dating for awhile, but we don't ever have privacy but that's okay. We have fun together. We go fishing together all the time, and stuff like that, during the summer. Go to the movies a lot. Well, guess what. That's pretty much our privacy [laughs]. Go to each other's house, and help with each family like, moving cows. I go to his house and move cows sometimes. He comes to my house all the time and helps my dad, so. [cattle mooing] (student) There's my mom again, she's cooking lunch for everybody. And there's bread [inaudible] and under all that dirt and stuff there's food cooking. There's coffee. [cows mooing] I'm

an outgoing person. I like the outdoors. Mostly I like outside, like outside, like fishing and stuff like that. I like to get dirty. And I'm basically a tomboy. Most the time. I do dress like a girl most time now but, [laughs] I used to not. (student) I've grown up my whole life here so I can, I don't know, to find different ways to have fun, while your friends are here so you come back. Have fun with them, and then I don't know, I like the kind of work that's around here. I don't, I didn't do it. All I want to own my own ranch someday and I'm going to go to college up at LaGrande at Eastern Oregon. I don't know, probably come back, work on a ranch somewhere. I think there's more girls that go to college than guys now. From here. I think. Because most of them just ranch and stuff like that.

Learn a better work ethic out here. You gotta work for about everything you get, so. I think, I don't know, you learn more about life out here. [student] Hi, Chance [student] Hi, Katelyn. [Katelyn] How's it going? [Chance] Pretty good. [Katelyn] Good. [Chance] Hi, Sarah. Hey! [laughter] It's our super secretary and our great patron. Hanging out in the office. And it's our wonderful vice- principal. [person] Yes, she is. [Chance] And what are you up to? [person] I'm going to go check on my class [Chance] Okay. [inaudible] [inaudible] [basketball bouncing] [student] Sports is so big and it's not just in the school, it's the community. This boy's, especially basketball games, there's people that don't see each other for weeks on

end. And basketball games or football games just everyone comes together and they're in one place at one time. [basketball game noises] Yeah they go to watch the kids play and everything but they also sit and talk to each other about what's been going on and what's happening here and there. Come on fellas. [student] Sports. That's the main thing to do at Crane. That's why a lot of kids stay in school get their schoolwork done so they can do sports. [basketball bouncing] I was, I was working for a kid that was working for a guy. [basketball noises] Uh, the kid hired me to take over his job for a week. And so I was moving a wheel line and my shirt, sleeve got caught in between the

gears. You know how gears work right and everything. I was, I was reaching over the gears and it caught my sleeve right there and it just pulled my arm through. Cut it off. [basketball noise] When you work irrigation, you usually used four-wheelers and so I had one there and I just I grabbed my arm and went and jumped on the four-wheeler and drove about 300 yards and I wrecked. And so I got back up and went and found another four-wheeler that was just across the road in the shop. And I got on that one and drove about a mile and a half or so, right over, right at the end of this road right here and I wrecked again and then I ran over to ?Kathy Ann? Miller's house just right across over there and she called Nine One One. And I went to OHSU in Portland and they reattached it there. [basketball] [inaudible] [basketball]

[student] We had a late basketball practice. I was playing basketball at the time. And. I was like, well, I want to go over and see what this wrestling's about. So I went over to the wrestling room. I watch one practice and I was like, I want to do that, yeah so that night I went over to our basketball practice and I was like, Coach, sorry, but I think I'm going to wrestle. He's like, "What are you crazy?" And I was like, no. "Are you delusional or something" I was like no. I really want to do this. I think, I think I should. You know it's something new and something fun. So I was like, I want to wrestle. And that night, I quit basketball and I've been wrestling ever since. Gettin' in there and beatin' up somebody. It just seemed like it was fun.

And I'm kind of an ornery person anyway, anybody around here you could tell you that. I actually made one cry one time. He was ballin', it was funny. It was like, sucks to be you. [game noises] Second, second. [inaudible] Run [inaudible] Go! Go! [inaudible] [inaudible] I'm open! Go! Go, go home! [laughter] [inaudible] [interviewer] Who are you? Hey, who are you? [student] I'm the matron. [interviewer] What do you do? [student] I watch over the girls. [interviewer] Is that

fun. [student] It's fun at times and there's times when we have our days, but everybody has their days. [interviewer] What happens when you have your days? [student] We have to discipline. We run. We run and hide. [interviewer] What do you do to discipline them? [student] Sometimes I room 'em. [interviewer] What's roomin' em? [student] Make them do extra duties. Roomin' em means they have to stay in their room, they don't get to get that phone calls unless it's there parents [student] But we do anyways. [interviewer] Can they come out of the room for anything [student] Just to go eat and do their jobs. [inaudible] And go to the bathroom. [narrator] At one time in the late 1920s the town was an important shipping point and railhead with a population of over 4000 residents. [narrator] Today the one hundred twenty residents of Crane have a much quieter lifestyle. [narrator] The town maintains a small store and service station, a post office, and agricultural supply and hardware store. Several churches, a mobile medicine unit, and small residential area. Several of the local area ranchers also have rodeo arenas. [inaudible] [clanking noises] [inaudible]

[inaudible] [interviewer] You're the coach of the team? [person] Kind of. I help him I don't if I'm the coach. [inaudible] [yelling] Hey! [inaudible] [laughter] There we go. [person] He's going to be the death of me. [subject] I started rodeoing when I was about an 8th grader but I've like I said I've rode ever since I could walk. And we really started competing and haulin' to rodeos when about I was an eighth grader. So I could high school rodeo.

[clanging noises] [inaudible] [clanging noises] [inaudible] [yelling] [inaudible] [subject] We're all sisters and I'm the oldest. And then these two are twins and they're born six minutes apart and Dusty is the second oldest. And Danielle is the youngest. Our parents never let us even have a second thought about it. It's been something, you're going to college and you're going to finish your education. [subject] Even if it wasn't a

requirement I would definitely go to college because, kind of being around here too you just see so many people who are so smart and they just haven't done anything with any, with it. [clanging] I personally, like, want to be a doctor. When I little I wanted to be a movie star. [laughter] I think things have changed. [subject] I wanted to be a cake decorator so I could eat all the frosting I wanted. [laughter] [subject] I don't think college knowledge ain't going to help me out in my career. I'm staying here for the rest of my life but that's not bad. I mean, born in the desert, I'll die in the desert. [yelling] I think I'm gonna go down to Nevada to one of them "last of the big" outfits

and build a ?world? for them. They still have a wagon. Just to do that just [inaudible] I could say I've done. Just plan to cowboy all my life. [interviewer] What do you guys like the most about Crane? [subject] Nah, never mind. I gotta I gotta go to class now Jamie, I'm sorry. [Jamie} What do you like the most about Crane? [subject] Sorry, Jamie, gotta go. Gotta run. [Jamie] You guys! [subject] Sorry, Jamie, I love you darlin. [Jamie] I'm gonna stalk you. What do you like, Al? [Al] Um, nothing. [Jamie] Yes, you do. [Al] Some of the people. [Jamie] The people. [Al] Some of them. [Jamie] Hi Derek. [subject] I'm going to Atlanta, Georgia for [person] extradition. [subject] No. I am the Coca-Cola Finalist so I get to go with 250 other kids, they have an all-expense paid trip back and I get to try for a national scholarship back there. A $20,000 scholarship. So yeah. [laughter]

All right. [interviewer] Good luck. [subject] Thanks. [interviewer] I love you. [subject] I love you, too. OK. A hundred thousand kids put in and they narrowed it down to twenty-five hundred for the semifinalists and then they picked 250 to go back to Atlanta and try for the national scholarship. So. I'm excited. [laughter] It's actually kind of funny because the people, I called the guy yesterday cause I didn't have any mail from them and my airplane ticket and I asked him where they sent it and they sent it Airborne Express and then, little do people know, we don't have Airborne Express out here so we were going to have to drive to Redmond which is three hours away and pick it up so that we can have my ticket by the time I had to leave. But it ended up that the sheriff was over there for a meeting. My mom gave him a call and he ran

by and picked it up for us, so, that was kind of neat. [laughs] Hi, Cody. [bark] Come here, Newbie. Newbie! Come on, dogs. We have some cool Western shops but anything like prom or just regular clothes. You have to go somewhere else for, which is fun because a lot of times we'll take, you know, a group of girls over and just go shopping or you know do something in between sports and school and everything else. I have to go take care of my horse. I'm going to be gone for two weeks so she thinks I'm going to abandon her and my dogs, I don't want to leave my dog. I told mom if I could fit him in my bag I'd just take him with me. But, yeah, I have to go take care of them and make sure everything has water. Yeah.

All right, let's go. I was always the one in my family that, I'm going to move to New York and I am not going to have anything to do with it. And, the older I get the more unique it gets to me and the more important it gets to me. It's pretty special, it's not very many people, you know, grow up in a lifetyle like I have and then you know, we don't lock our doors at night, we don't lock our cars. We, you know, we do we can work with animals every day. I can go ride my horse whenever I want and I don't have to worry about traffic or you know, noise or anything. Baby! I know, there you go. I was having a hard time deciding colleges. There are twenty kids in my class. So, I, first I was going to University of Washington in Seattle and my mom said, "Do you know how many people go there?" [laughs] I wanted to stay somewhere small my first year, even, I eventually do want to get bigger and I want to travel a lot. I want to study abroad and I eventually want to

end up at least a year in New York. I still have big dreams and I want to be in broadcasting but I don't want to, I don't want to lose out on all, everything that I grew up in so, I want to do both. [laughs] [buzzing noise] I got a socket wrench. [buzzing continues] Are you taking that off? Or what is it that you're doing with that? [inaudible]. Means of entertainment are a lot different here. [laughter] I mean, instead of going to a party or something, lets go shoot some squirrels, or let's go mudding with our truck. It's totally different like in that respect. [interviewer] What are you doing? [inaudible] It looks good. [subject] Thanks. [inaudible]

[subject] I'm planning on going on to college. I hope to be a novelist but I'm not sure whether or not I can learn that writing skills in a college setting. So I'll probably be taking some other type of classes. Right now I'm interested in law. I'm also interested in politics. I'm not sure if these are just phases that are passing or whether or not those will be something that I'll look into further. [subject] For some kids here they've never gone anywhere or done anything, I mean [subject] That's me 'cause I've gone tons of places but it's always camping and fishing so I haven't really had like, people, experience around people, [inaudible] Yeah, but I've never been around crowds. [subject] It's aggravating. [subject] The first time I went to Portland I almost cried. [subject] I think there's different forms of [subject] I think we know more [subject] Whose to say this city is the real world because what we do here, we work, you know people work for a living [subject] We [inaudible] We don't live in a make believe life here. [subject] No, I don't say they

don't but I think there's different forms of the real world. [subject] Stereotypes? Yes, definitely. [subject] I think that the biggest one is when they go, "Do you have electricity?" [subject] Yeah. [Subject] That's the one we probably resent the most, because we aren't completely out in the middle of nowhere. And there are a lot of stereotypes that we don't know what goes on in the rest of the world and the probably the greatest stereotype that we hear from other students coming in is just wait till you get out in the real world. [subject] You know I think everything's real and you know people work here for a living just like they do in the city. And just 'cause we don't live on top of each other doesn't mean we don't know what the problems are in life's about. We came to the dorm at the age of 14. And so from the age of 14 we've done our laundry, I know for the girls at least, we do our own laundry [laughter]. We take care of ourselves. We're more independent and we make our own decisions. We're, most of us are financially independent, too, where we pay for all of our own stuff. And so, when we think about going out into the real world we're like, you know we've already got a taste of what the real world is like because we've had to do our

laundry, we've taken care of ourselves, we've making the decisions and living here in the dorms a lot what it's going to be like in college. I mean, this is a small taste of college right here. It'll be bigger but we've already had some experiences with it. [subject] We still need advice because we don't know everything. It's impossible. [subject] We think we do, but we don't. Well, Mr. ?Thews? [inaudible] is the teacher of the year and everything so we definitely his advice. Don't let him fool you. He acts all low key like he doesn't know much but he's like the smartest guy in the world. He was teaching when my dad was in high school. [teacher] I'm gonna tell you things that are absolutely none of my business but I'm gonna tell you anyway. [interviewer] Perfect! It's not true, whatever you heard about me, it's not true.[laughter] [teacher] Well, I'm not worried about you. What I'm talking about is what to do when you, when you go to school. One, is you've got to, you know, remember why you're there. That's hard because you're [inaudible] [laughter] you're going to see people who have no clue why they're there. They're using

somebody else's money and they'll do it until it's gone and they'll probably be gone by Christmas. And you don't have to know why you're going to school exactly. Because you can find out who you are, maybe. Maybe you don't know yet. You live in the most protected society in the world right here in Crane, Oregon. The rest of the world is not Crane, Oregon. If you're a girl, freshman girls the first week are like, uh, a hatch, they are like a hatch on the surface of the water. You're going to, you're going to have so many boys around you can't stand it. Or maybe you'll just go all over. [inaudible] Yes, absolutely. Same thing. But, if you're male it's, it's that girl that can empty your wallet faster than you could fill it. [student] Sometimes there is like that boy-girl like attraction, but not most of the time. We've

lived with each other, it's more like family now, you know, you think Will is more like a brother than oh like, "Oh I want to go out with him". But, [student] That's what my sister said, I shouldn't tell this story but she saw Willy last weekend she's like, "Man if I hadn't seen that boy in diapers, I'd think he's pretty hot" [laughter] [student] Even though like Shan has a boyfriend, Katie has a boyfriend, and I do we, you know, we're not like attached at the hip, "everything revolves around our boyfriends" kind of thing. We, we all go out and do things together there's hardly any one-on-one dating. We don't go on dates one on one very much. Everything's group friends. [student] It's like you go on a date with someone, you're like hey, you go up to your boyfriend, hey you want to go to the movies tonight. Sure. Oh cool, these four want to go too. [laughter] It's funny because, you have always, there's almost always someone breaking up or getting together or the big news you know. I can't believe those two people are together, when did that happen you know. That's the biggest question. But. And then when someone breaks up, and it's, it's big. You can't get away and that's bad because you know especially if you live in the dorm or

you break up with someone and you don't want to see that person of course you just don't want to be around them at all. But oop there they are dinner and that's where you usually sit for dinner and do you sit with them or do you go find someone else to sit with. Or you go into the lounge and they're sitting there maybe they're sitting there with another girl or something and, and you know you just, you can't get away from them. And it's the same as if you get in a fight with one of your friends, you can't get away from them. [teacher] The other thing that really that I can really say from from experience, is please get done before you get married. [student] That's OK. Darcy and I are [inaudible] [student] Remember the whole "don't get married before you get out of college"? [student] Did I say I was getting married, I said I was going to college. [student] Uh huh. Yeah. Just remember you're out in the real world now. [laughter] [interviewer] What are you guys doing? [student] Chillin. Just got out of the shower. [interviewer] Shower, you all clean? Hi, Shannon. [interviewer] What do you guys doing? [student] Homework. Smile, you're on Candid Camera.

[student] We have good cooks and we don't have to pay for lunches. We exchange our services for lunches. [kitchen noises] We used to have a bar going down with a bracket across the bottom on each side. We'll just use those as heater hose as something to hook up to these. That way we can [inaudible] this is engine or we can set up one of the other with this particular radiator. [machine noises] [machine noises] [student] The stereotype of the woman is, the stay at home mom. How many stay at home moms is there that just cook and clean the house? I mean stay at home moms, they, they ride, they brand, they do everything, along with the cooking and cleaning. Women out here are like superwomen. [student] My sister-in-law had to, when they had their first daughter, she just packed her everywhere when she rode. I mean, this kid was two months old whenever she was on a horse the first time. She

was packing her but, and she's 6 now and she's rode more than a lot of kids here, I think. When I was born I, right out the hospital I came home and dad took me out to the corral and got a horse and put me right up there in the saddle. And he walked along the side then he rode, rode with me a little bit ways. They got a picture of me straight out of the hospital. And ever since then I've just been addicted to riding horses. That's how we all kind of grew up was in the saddle. I know when I was a little kid, you know they start you off right in the saddle. You go with your parents riding. You know you start riding and you start working right off the bat you know. Being four- years old driving the tractor to go feed the cows is not rare around here I mean that's the lifestyle. [student] But you guys all had like cattle ranches. We were farmers. Good old alfalfa. But when we were little my mom used to, she took me in my car seat and she put me behind her seat when she had run the swather. And she put Joe over here and Brien over here. And she ran the swather all day with three kids in it.

Three little kids. Could you imagine in a little cubicle? That'd kill somebody! [announcement] Buttermilk fried chicken and biscuits. [inaudible] [student] This is Home Ec. But this isn't my class. I'm here for kicks. I like to cook. My mom makes quilts all the time. So I've never done it, this is the first year I've ever worked with a sewing machine. [cooking noises] [student] And we stand together and watch the chicken fry. We canned that. We can do it together. [noise of frying] [student] Let me do something. [student] I think you burned it. [student] See? I didn't screw up. [laughter] [inaudible conversation] [student] Willy! Go away! [laughter] [student] There we go. Got all my stuff on my floor. Well, this is my room, my bed here, and my roommate's bed.

Chance lives here and there's Chance's closet. Got the basic picture of him and his girlfriend, got to keep that in the closet. Nice and handy. Got your shampoo. All your clothes in your dresser drawers. All our pop cans over here, save those, worth some money. Then we got my side of the room, my closet. Some deer horns I found there. All my scrunchies I steal off the other girls. This is our couch where our friends come and sit, visit at night when they're supposed to be in bed. Pretty good stuff. Hey, what are you doing, Clyde? Why did they get you, huh? I don't know. Probably because they knew I'd annoy you. [laughter] [Clyde] Don't forget I know where you sleep. [student] Wow, that's Clyde's room. Look at that nice couch right there. You know I like to sit on this bed, watch the TV. We don't get MTV. [student] What are you going to say to them? [laughter] [student] Crane School is the best. You ready to start it?

[student] Once more. [engine cranking and starting] [engine running] [narrator] At an elevation of four-thousand three-hundred and twenty-five feet, the Crane area has fair winters and dry summers. [narrator] The average annual precipitation in Harney County is only 12 inches, making water a highly valued resource. [inaudible] [student] I ride my bike frequently. It's something I enjoy. It's a little bit over 15 miles.

It's a flat place. There are five hills and none of them come up to my knee. Name them all of course, you know, there's the Tomato Hill, there's the Relay Hill, you know after the greenhouse, and the relay station and then there's the Heart rate Hills. That's where I always check my heart rate to see whether or not I've been working out enough. And then there's the Lawn Hill, Heart rate slope. I've pretty much named it all. It's an hour long bike ride - I've got to think about something. [narrator] Crane Union High School Districts covers about 7,700 square miles in Harney and Malheur counties. Ranches that date back to the late 1860s are located far apart, even as the crow flies. [narrator] It has been said that one could put three states of the Union and District of Columbia within the boundaries of this district. [student] Sara, I like your sweater. [student] Thank you. [student] Is it nighttime? When Janice is in her room, you bust it out. Yeah, you go party in Burns, you know. [student] Have you ever done that? [student] No. [student] People expect more out of us. We have to be more responsible than people who get to go home

every day. I mean a lot of kids our age still don't have to do the dishes or don't have to, I mean, their mom still does their laundry. We have to do our laundry, we have to make sure our clothes are clean and we have jobs we do every week and I mean, it's just, then we have basketball and school, we don't have our moms going, "Have you done your homework?". I mean, I don't know if, because I haven't really experienced like living in the city, you know, if they really, if they just go home and sit in front of the TV all weekend or if they go work, because we know how to work and get a job and have those responsibilities. [inaudible] Yeah, I'm gonna go to work. Don't forget to drop off my envelop at the post office. I won't. [student] What's in it anyway? [student] College enrollment forms and a two-hundred fifty dollar check. Hopefully I'll be there, hopefully I'll get to do some [inaudible] today. [student] Some what? [student] Sealants. That's the funnest thing. Little kids are so cute. I'm coming to the [inaudible]

Bend Sunday night. You don't work, it's Friday. [student] It's a Friday? I won't work. What'd you say? [student] Make sure they don't bite your fingers. [student] Dude! Little kids do! They like chomp down, they won't let go. See you guys! Bye! [inaudible] [student] Hi Bree! [student] I'm starting Boise Bible College and then probably University of Idaho after that. And I can't see myself going from living in a Crane, since going to school in Crane since I was in kindergarten and there's you know so few people to all the sudden going to the University of Idaho where there's 13,000 students, that's just, I don't see that happening for me I don't think I can make that transition. So I'm trying to start small and then, get bigger. I don't think I could have gone anywhere else just because of my character and I don't know if it's because I've always gone to Crane or because it's just my, my blood, my heritage. I don't know because sometimes it's boring and you go through your day saying I hate this place it's so boring. But in the long run it's not boring

and it's, it's made me who I am. [narrator] The Crane Community Schools and boarding facilities have remained one of the only, if not the only, viable institution in the local area. [narrators] Today it serves as a social gathering place, a key recreational facility, and employer, and maybe, most important, a stable pattern in the web of social life that binds individuals together. Our schools are playing a significant role in helping to revitalize our small rural communities because they remain one of the last infrastructures linking the community and the outside world. [music] [student] I'm Bree Crisp. You know that. And I'm the editor of the yearbook and the newspaper. [student] Thanks. [student] No problem. I can't see myself in a bigger city, really. [student] You can love him or you can hate him. But he's unique.

[laughter] [music] [conversation] [music continues] [birdsong] [music continues] [student] I like trees. And there aren't that many trees here. [student] It doesn't matter if I spell every word wrong. [music continues] [inaudible] [music] [narrator] Today the hundred twenty residents of Crane have much, have [frustrated noise] I can't do this. [narrator] Debbie, what's your baby's name? [student] Mine's Chad Hayden Edward. Yeah, and mine is Kendall Bariah Sitz. [laughter] [music] [lockers closing]

[student] What kind of name is Healty? [student] German. [student] Oh next year I'll be a senior so what what would make me,Tom. [laughter] A junior. [student] A junior, yeah! Yeah, that's it. [director] Tom Bailey, take one. [inaudible] [laughter] [music] [inaudible] [music continues and fades out] Funding for production of The Oregon Story was made possible through a generous grant from the United States

Department of Agriculture rural development.