Buckner Homestead Historic District - Buckner Family

Buckner Family

In 1910, Buzzard sold his remaining property to a Californian named William Buckner for $5,000. Instead of a lump-sum payment, Buzzard wanted $50 per month until the total amount was paid. After selling the property, Buzzard moved to Chelan where he lived until his death in 1919. When Buzzard died, Buckner was only one payment short of completing the agreement so he used the final $50 payment to purchase a headstone for Buzzard, who was buried in the Old Fraternal Cemetery in Chelan.

In 1911, Buckner brought his wife and three sons to the farm (also call the “Buckner ranch”). Upon arrival, the family found most of the land covered with stumps because the timber had been cut and sold by the previous owner. Over the next several years, the family cleared enough stumps to plant a 50-acre (200,000 m2) apple orchard. The Buckners also designed an irrigation system that diverted water from Rainbow Creek to their orchard. The main irrigation canal and watering ditches, totaling over four miles (6 km), were all dug by hand during the summer of 1911.

Initially, the Buckner family only lived on the ranch during the summer, moving back to California in the fall to avoid Stehekin’s harsh winters. However the family returned each spring to work their farm. Over the next few years, they constructed a variety of buildings for protecting animals, sheltering farm equipment, and preserving food. Eventually, the Buckner ranch had more than a dozen structures including a barn, workshop, milk house, smokehouse, root cellar, chicken coop, outhouse, sleeping cabins for guests or hired hands, and several general-purpose sheds. They also built a mile of wooden fence to enclose their entire property.

In 1915, Harry Buckner, one of William’s sons, took up permanent residence at the ranch. In 1919, Harry married a young lady from Stehekin and she joined him at the ranch. Since William Buckner and his wife continued to live in Bill Buzzard’s log cabin during the summer months until 1924, Harry expanded one of sleeping cabins into a home for himself and his new wife, Olive. Harry and Olive worked hard to make the farm a comfortable place to live. They raised pigs, cows and chickens. The family grew vegetables in their garden, and planted large flower beds. When the family decided they wanted electric lights, Harry converted a smokehouse into a power generator house. Harry also built a play house for his three young daughters; and when the girls were older, he constructed a concrete swimming pool, feed by farm’s irrigation system.

In 1922, the Buckners built a large packing shed to protect their apple harvest. In the 1930s and 1940s, the farm produced between 4,000 and 5,000 crates of apple each season. That was enough fruit to fill their 40-foot (12 m) by 100-foot (30 m) packing shed. This was the peak of the farm’s production.

Olive Buckner died in 1948. Harry continued to live on the ranch and eventually remarried. In 1953, the packing shed roof collapsed under a heavy winter snow load. In 1956, Buckner retired from farming and became Stehekin’s postmaster. In 1970, Buckner sold the homestead and most of his property to the National Park Service, retaining a parcel of land for his retirement home. He lived there until his death in 1976.