The World About Us (1967 - 1987): Steens Mountain: A Wildlife Western
(1972)
In 1872 a Californian cattle king, Pete French, first saw the valley of the Donner und Blitzen river in what has now become the State of Oregon. He wanted it, and he took it, He made it the first cattle ranch in the West... and he died by a rival's bullet. Since 1935 the ranch has been part of Malheur National Wildlife refuge and includes one of the largest freshwater marshes in America. It is run to the mutual advantage of cattle and the thousands of birds that twice a year travel the Pacific Flyway. But without Steens Mountain, the real hero of this film, the valley in a desert could not exist.
