Our Story

EARLY CHAPTER

From the Takelma and Klamath Indians to the Fredenburg and More Families… To understand the story of JRL Ranch is to first understand the people who have called this land home. For centuries, the Native American Takelma and Klamath tribes lived on this land; they passed through, hunted large game, and often camped here during winter months.  In 1864, the Fredenburg family homesteaded this quarter section of land (160 acres) with another 100 acres approximately three miles downstream of Butte Creek. These ranches were aptly named The Fredenburg Ranch (present day JRL Ranch) and Lower Fredenburg Ranch. Benjamin (Ben) Fredenburg (born in 1864 while his family was traveling west on the Oregon Trail); his wife Letetia; and their three children, Gertrude, Edith, and Benjamin Theadore (Ted), lived on the main Fredenburg Ranch. Over the next few decades, the Fredenburgs gradually built barns, outbuildings, and a large home in the area where the JRL main house and buildings are currently located. Through the late 1800s, the Fredenburgs and Klamath and Takelma Indians peacefully coexisted on this land. 

In early years, the Fredenburgs cleared patches of forest to establish the present-day grazing pastures for their cattle.  Rock piles that are present at the edges of the fields were placed in these locations in an early effort to create clean and efficient grazing areas. The Fredenburgs also established approximately 5 miles of irrigation ditches to convey water from the Butte Creek watershed to the ranch so they could flood-irrigate their fields through the summer months.  The runoff from these irrigation ditches also served as the main water source for grazing livestock. The Fredenburgs, with the help of Chinese laborers, established the ditches and built water diversions, fences, and other ranch infrastructure. The Fredenburgs used grazing provisions that allowed them to turn out their cattle onto adjacent lands to graze throughout the summer, which gave them the opportunity to cultivate grass hay for the long winters. The grazing and water rights that the Fredenburg family established over 100 years ago are still in use today. 

Letetia Fredenburg passed away in 1935, followed by Ben Fredenburg in 1940. The ranch passed to their son Ted who had married Naomi Van Groos, one of the first women to earn a college degree from Pacific University–a prominent Pacific Northwest institution. Naomi Fredenburg, born in 1903, moved to southern Oregon to teach in the Butte Falls School District which supported a growing and bustling logging town of 3,000 residents on the banks of Butte Creek.  Ted and Naomi had a son, Dwight, in 1936. Ted and Naomi continued to operate the Fredenburg Ranch while Naomi taught in the Butte Falls School District. Ted passed away in 1964. Dwight Fredenburg worked in the southern Oregon logging industry upon graduation from Butte Falls High School in the 1950s. Naomi continued to teach in the Butte Falls School District until her retirement. Given her age, wish for true retirement, and a lack of interest in the ranch from her family, Naomi decided to sell the main ranch. She then purchased a home in Butte Falls where she lived until her death in 1997, at the age of 94.   

In 1975, Bill and Rosie More purchased the main ranch from Naomi Fredenburg and raised their two young daughters there while juggling other careers. The Mores owned and managed the Fredenburg Ranch until 1983. 

The Lozano family

Robert (Bob) and Judy Lozano grew up in California’s Santa Clara Valley (today known as the Silicon Valley); Bob in Palo Alto and Judy in Los Gatos.  Both grew up in families that had agricultural roots. Bob and Judy were both high school art teachers and were well connected within the arts community in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bob and Judy were well known for their adventurous and daring spirits – they traveled extensively, were avid alpine skiers, and were always up for adventures in remote places. Bob and Judy purchased 7 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains outside of Los Gatos in 1971 and built a home on the property in 1972 which was awarded many architectural design awards. In 1975 they welcomed their oldest daughter Sarah, and in 1977 they welcomed their youngest daughter, Mandy. Driven by their love for the outdoors, artistic nature, and interest in having second careers away from teaching, Bob and Judy began the search for a ranch to purchase in the mid-1970s. This search led them to Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Colorado, Washington, and Montana. Drawn to the ideal climate of the western slope of the Cascade Mountains, Bob and Judy zeroed in on southwest Oregon as their potential ranching destination. They further found that the foothill areas outside of Medford and Ashland met their needs of proximity to larger communities and to friends and family in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it was a true rural environment in which to raise their children. In 1982, Bob visited the Butte Falls area and left his business card with every ranch owner that would talk with him. In 1983, Bill and Rosie More called Bob and told him that they were ready to sell their ranch. The Lozanos purchased the Fredenburg Ranch in 1983.  In the summer of 1985, Bob retired from teaching at Los Gatos High School, and the Lozano family gathered all their animals and belongings, moved to Oregon, and renamed the ranch “JRL Ranch” in honor of Judy and Robert Lozano and their young family.

By 1985, the ranch was in much need of investment and a management reset.  Years of drought coupled with lack of consistent grazing management and infrastructure investment had taken its toll. The buildings were in disrepair, the pastures were hardly productive, and the irrigation infrastructure had long stopped working. However, the hard work and sweat equity that the ranch needed did not intimidate the Lozanos. Sarah (10) and Mandy (8) learned first-hand that a job gets done only when everyone helps, and only when a job is done and the animals are put away and fed do they get to stop and enjoy the fruits of their labor. This motto played out while the Lozanos worked to improve the ranch. 

Their first job was to repair all of the irrigation infrastructure so that it worked properly. The Lozanos spent the majority of their first summer on the ranch  undertaking this immense effort. As each year went by, the Lozanos chose a major project that would help them reach their goal of a fully-functioning, economically-viable ranch where they could raise quality beef in a sustainable manner. By 1990, they had constructed the hay barn, expanded the garage/work-shop, rebuilt all of the corrals and working pens, reconstructed all of the fences, invested in a beautiful and productive garden and landscaped yard area, and purchased several key pieces of farm and ranch equipment.

Ranch house & bunkhouse

The early chapter of the ranch was characterized by many challenges – severe winters, wildfires, and predation of livestock by wildlife.  In the 1930s, the main ranch house was destroyed in a fire. The Fredenburgs did not have the resources to rebuild, so they purchased a single-walled surplus outbuilding from the former State of Oregon Fish Hatchery that was approximately 1.5 miles away. They relocated this “house” by horse-drawn skids to the ranch. This served as their home for over a decade. This home was approximately 400 square feet and was not insulated. In 1953, the Fredenburgs built an 800-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bath home on the site of the present-day main house. The house plans were obtained from the State of Oregon for a minimal fee and had no bearing on the property or home site. In the late 1970s, the Mores added an additional 800-square-foot room to the back of the house that served as their art studio. When the Lozanos initially moved to the ranch in 1985, Judy used this studio for her graphic design business. 

By 1990, all the animals’ needs had been taken care of, so the Lozanos turned their attention to the primary residence, which was growing tight with two teenage daughters, 800 square feet, and one bathroom. To make sure that Judy’s graphic design business could continue uninterrupted, the Lozanos first built a new, free-standing art studio. This studio was constructed replaced an old woodshed that was teetering on its side and had reached the end of its life. The studio was designed with large expanses of windows to take advantage of the ideal southern exposure for the idyllic views of the property and to reduce the cost of lighting and heating. The east side of the studio doubles as a woodshed and a storage unit for the photovoltaic batteries that store excess power generated by solar panels. 

Because renovating the house would take nearly a year, the Lozanos constructed a “bunk house” above the three-car garage to serve as the living quarters while the main house was being remodeled. Bob and Judy’s design sense always got the best of them, and they incorporated quite a bit of historic charm to the bunk house, such as an antique oven and stove, antique wood-burning stove, and a cupula to maximize summer breezes, to name just a few. The layout was inspiring and took advantage of the view, light, and cross-ventilating breezes; they added four functioning bunks, closets, and a bathroom. The Lozanos lived in the bunk house for the majority of 1991. When they moved out of the bunkhouse and into the newly renovated main house, the bunk house became a true guest house and a storage space for the Lozano’s extensive book and western art and tack collection.   

The main house consisted of the Fredenburgs' 800-square-foot, east-west facing home and the additional 800 square foot north-south rectangle that was added in the late 1970s. The Lozanos worked with a local homebuilder to remodel the structure utilizing the existing foundation and framework of the existing home. As with their award-winning Santa Cruz Mountains home, the Lozanos were decades ahead of their time and took advantage of an open floorplan, a single great room, ample light, radiant heating made possible by the extensive south-facing windows, and the breathtaking views available from the home site. The creative use of space, vaulted ceilings, and open floorplan made the most of the 1,600 square foot home. Many of the walls were designed with particular pieces of artwork in mind.   

The ranch has never been connected to the electric grid; instead, it has always existed on a self-contained, diesel, generator-run power system. Upon completion of the home remodel in 1991, the Lozanos took advantage of the southern exposure and ample sun that is present in southwestern Oregon for much of the year and installed solar panels on both the main house and studio. This highly efficient system stores excess energy in a bank of photovoltaic batteries. The diesel-powered generator is used as a back-up power source. All appliances are propane-based to conserve energy.