Rainey Ranch On the 150-year-old Rainey ranch, the family still bucks hay by hand • Kalmath Falls Harold and News Feb 14, 2012 Updated Mar 8, 2012 A valley and a lake are named after them.
The Rainey family has been around the Seiad Valley since traveling to Siskiyou County from Ireland in the 1860s.
Gary Rainey's great-grandfather and great-uncle bought land in Seiad Valley and along Horse Creek to range cattle. And cattle still roam over 130 acres, down from 160 originally, in the rocky, lush mountains through which the Klamath River cuts.
"The brothers bought different land ... and had some Shasta Indians teach them about the country," he said. "The ranch itself has changed very little since then. We went from horses to machinery, but not anywhere near cutting-edge. I still buck hay by hand."
When Gary Rainey and his brother left their tiny town for the Vietnam War, their parents sold some of the land. Now he and his cousins have 60 acres of pasture and 130 acres of rangeland - what remains of 130 acres of pasture and 160 acres of rangeland.
Even though he and his wife have worked full-time jobs in addition to ranching (he is a retired helicopter mechanic, she works for the U.S. Forest Service), Rainey said he wouldn't give up the nearly 150-year-old ranch.
"It's not just a job, not just a living. It really is a way of life," he said. "I could sell my cows off, keep two or three pasture calves down here for our meat and not have all that extra work, but it's so hard to give up because it's not something you can get back." From Rainey Page 2