In 1969 Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. purchased his first ranch outside of Madras, Oregon for $40,000. It consisted of 1,400 acres, including 60 acres of irrigated land from Trout Creek. 

Over the next more than 50 years, Pamplin combined through 22 additional ranch purchases 85,000 acres which today forms the R2 Ranch.

 It was his vision to create a ranch that represented rich, well-watered rangeland with irrigated hay land for winter feed and outside sales, and recreation opportunities. Today, the ranch is built around more than 4,000 acres of irrigated land, 81,000 acres of rangeland with 150 improved springs and 7 year around creeks and ponds, and a 35-acre lake.

Recreation opportunities are critical to the modern ranch asset value. The R2 ranch is rich in wildlife including quail, pheasant, deer, elk, turkey, antelope, sheep, chukar, duck, geese, and doves. The lake features trophy rainbow trout and bass. There is an entertainment saloon, recreation barn with pool, bag toss, shuffleboard, bowling card tables, and darts.

For the shooting enthusiast, the ranch has a permitted preserve for quail, pheasant, and chukar and an old West town for target shooting. At a separate location, skeet, trap, and sporting clay professional courses are available.

The R2 ranch rodeo has all the features of any high-end public rodeo that stages bull riding, bronco riding, calf roping, and all the other major rodeo events.

The R2 ranch has 23 homes for employees and guests. The owner’s home is the original stagecoach stop from the town of Shaniko that has been remodeled and added onto.

The R2 ranch is perimeter and cross-fenced with 1000 miles of fencing. A 250-acre rock quarry supplies rock that is crushed in the ranch’s plant for maintaining roads. A sawmill is used to mill lumber for some ranch needs.

The ranch carries historical significance. The Cross Keys post office was established at the owner’s residence on July 8, 1879. It is located at the mouth of Cow Canyon and close to the bank of Trout Creek. It was also a stage and freight station in the early days. St. Peter’s Episcopal Mission was established at Cross Keys in 1906. Today, church services are held for ranch guests.

The R2 Ranch is located in the central Oregon counties of Jefferson and Wasco. The ranch is 47 miles long and in some places 22 miles wide.

The R2 western ranch town of Cricket Flat features recreational activities for both women and men. Shooting skills can be tested in skeet and trap shooting along with some of the best hunting to be found anywhere.

Sight-seeing trails offer the opportunity to see, walking or by horseback and stagecoach, unique wild-flowers and wild game.

Long ago, homesteaders existed in houses much like this. The construction was simple and basic, the exterior walls were also the interior walls, and generally, there was only a one-inch thick board between the inside and the elements outside. Insulation was not to be found in most of these rugged homes. The people who resided in these home sites had to be of the hearty type just to make it through the winters, not saying anything about how difficult it must have been to scratch our a living. Today, the R2 Ranch employees are furnished with comfortable houses with beautiful yards. There are 23 homes on the ranch.

R2 is a working cow-calf operation with a total headcount of 3,000.and a hay production of 5,000 tons of hay.

A composite of all that is necessary to sustain value and take advantage of wealth growth showcases the R2 ranch. Without reserve, it is a singular ranch of the highest value and recognition of being the prized ranch in Oregon and one of like acknowledgment in the United States.