Fantz Ranch
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Hikes including this location
- Illinois River Hike (TH | <— —> | LOG)
- Weather forecast: NWS/NOAA
- Maps: Oregon Hikers Maps Google Maps
- Latitude, Longitude: 42.48854, -124.00070
- Elevation: 410 feet
Description
The Fantz Ranch is named after Robert Fantz, who purchased the existing homestead in the early 1930s and move there with this wife. Fantz had tuberculosis and he'd been told a drier, warmer climate would prolong his life. Across the Illinois River lived the hermit Hugo Mayer, who eked out a life trapping and living off the land. Mayer's solitary life seems to have induced a paranoia that Fantz was out to get him, and one day he waylaid Fantz and shot him off his horse. Several months later, Mayer was captured, sentenced, and became a denizen of the Oregon State Penitentiary until he died in 1961.
All that remains here is a rundown cabin here. Tarps have been put up to make it habitable. Gravesites are marked on the topographical map.
There's a campsite near the trail, with a stream, maybe 0.1 mile away.
More Links
- "“Hermit of the Craggies” went from acorns and roots to prison food" (Offbeat Oregon)
- Illinois River Trail #1161 (USFS)
Contributors
- retiredjerry (creator)