The Allen Ranch Cemetery sits quietly to the left of the 11th hole, a low white picket fence forming a delicate rectangle. In a field of tall grass, its easy to miss as the professional golfers stick mostly to the manicured fairways of Crosswater Club this week at the Jeld-Wen Tradition.

But its always there, one of the last remaining vestiges to remind us from whence this golf course came. The small cemetery illustrates the juxtaposition between the Central Oregon of today, a tourism and outdoor recreation mecca, and yesterday, a lonely frontier.

Just eight marked graves sit in the cemetery, though historical records indicate there are likely several more unmarked graves in the small plot. Several are set off from others by faded, rickety wood fences.

Those who rest in the cemetery owned a ranch on the property beginning from the mid-1800s until 1942. A History of the Deschutes County, a book by the Deschutes Historical Society, states that Joel and Nancy Allen, along with their children, Cortes and Miriam, came to Oregon by covered wagon in 1857.

Nancy Allen died of mountain fever in Wyoming and was buried there, but the rest of the family continued the journey, settling in California before coming up to Oregon five years later.

Joel Allen drove livestock from Lane County to the Bend area to raise them, and he and his son, Cortes, eventually settled where the Deschutes and Little Deschutes rivers meet, building a log house and barns.

The large log house at the confluence of the Big and Little Deschutes Rivers was a fixture for many years until torn down by the Army in 1941, the history book states. It stood on the bank of Little River where the river comes within 25 feet of the road about 2 miles south of Sunriver.

Cortes Allen and his father raised cattle on the ranch, and a homestead document for 160 acres of the Allen Ranch was signed by then-President Grover Cleveland in 1889.

Final resting place

Miriam, Cortes Allens sister, came to the ranch in the late 1870s with tuberculosis and died in 1880, according to the history book. Miriam is buried in the cemetery on the 11th hole.

Joel Allen died in 1898 and was also buried in the Allen Ranch Cemetery, which by that time contained several other graves, including people named Mrs. Pringle, Joe Whitfield and a child, Doris Campbell.

Cortes and his wife, Ora Allen, raised a daughter, Ethel, on the ranch. Ethel went away for college in Corvallis before returning with her husband, Fred Ellenburg. The pair are also buried in the cemetery, along with Cortes and Ora. In the late 1990s, Ethels daughter Virginia and her husband, Malcolm Boslar, joined the rest of their family in the cemetery.

In 1920, Cortes and Ora leased the ranch and moved to Gresham. Before Cortes died in 1942, he sold the ranch to the Stearns Cattle Company, who resold it 40 years later.

Josh Willis, the head golf pro at Crosswater, said the Allen homestead stood near what is now the eighth-hole green.

Photos of the Allen Ranch line the walls of Crosswaters clubhouse. The course was built in 1995 and designed by renowned course architect Bob Cupp. Because Cupp had 600 acres to work with, Willis said, he was able to wind the course through the scenery, preserving large swaths of meadow and, of course, the cemetery.

Its very rare to have that much acreage, Willis said. He was able to wind the course around the meadow while maintaining that natural landscape, and around the Allen familys cemetery.

Part of the story

Deschutes County Historical Society Director Kelly Cannon-Miller said the society gets a call about once each year from people interested in more information about the cemetery.

The historical society keeps a small file on the Allen Ranch Cemetery, filled with photos from the 1980s and a variety of articles about Cortes Allen, who ran the ranch for so many years.

According to a State of Oregon Inventory of Historic Properties document filed with the historical society in 1984, the cemetery measures about 30 by 40 feet, and in the 1980s was surrounded by a cyclone fence. The document stated that the site lacked regular upkeep, but today thats a different story.

This year, the clubs homeowners association decided to allocate a percentage of dues to restoring the cemetery. It also created a cemetery committee, which has begun that restoration with a sign explaining the history of the cemetery.

While Crosswater Club is a private, gated community, there is one family who is free to come and go: the Allens.

Family members can access the grounds at any time, and they do, Willis said. Several times a year, we give them golf carts, and they know right where to walk through. … They know everyone at the gate house.

When those family members come through to visit, perhaps they can forget the golfers playing through and imagine the ranch with its wooden buildings, a large garden and livestock. Maybe they can picture their ancestors as they appear in the clubhouses pictures, holding handfuls of freshly caught fish and playing at the edge of the river.

This is a huge part of the story of Crosswater, Willis said.