Rasor Ranch History | Information about Rasor Ranch

We call our desert cabin 'Rasor Ranch' due to a few reasons... But the real Rasor Ranch is located at the end of Rasor Road where the large set of trees are. This is private property and so is the 160 square acres around it. Rasor Ranch is private property and owned by Terry Young.

This old cabin and land along with the other cabin located next to us were built by Sharon Patterson's father & friend. The other cabin has a new name now and they call it 'Senior DC's' place. The reason for this is due to our cabin use to be owned for many years by a guy named Jr (Ed Penfold) and the new owners of DC's use to think that since our cabin was called Jr's, that it would be appropriate to call the one next to it Senior's.

Sharon Patterson has told me that these cabins were built in the late 1940's and that she worked many times with her dad building these two cabins. Her father and his buddy worked at the ship docks in Long Beach California and they salvaged a lot of packing lumber boxes and used that wood to build the cabins.

By Sharon Patterson 4-01-2010

Desert Cabin History

In the late 1940�s John and Maud Bilderbeck bought a quarter section of Desert land from a BLM auction for $3.00 an acre. John built what you now call the love shack thinking it was on his property. When he found out it was not on his property he asked Eugene Selk if he would help him build another house in exchange for 40 acres of property. John Bilderbeck and Eugene Selk worked together for a company called Preco, Inc in the Los Angeles area for over 25 years and were the best of friends. They built railroad cars there. John also sold to Gene Russel, Lonnie and Chester and I believe one other person 10 acres of his land to each.

So Eugene and John together built OC Keiths & HB Marc's house using a lot of wood they got from packing crates out of the dumpsters at work. They finished it around 1953. Then Eugene started on his house around 1954 and worked on it for about 5 years before he had all three rooms built. Most of the wood and paint he got out of the dumpster at work also. Sharon and Darlene did a lot of pounding nails out of boards and straightening them. He built the shed later. John retired from Preco in the early 60�s and Eugene in 1969. John and Maud Bilderbeck lived in Los Angles and Eugene and Norma Selk live in Whittier with their two girls Sharon and Darlene.

John sold his house and property to Art Purcell around 1968 and it was inherited by Art�s son Ron who finally sold it to JR. Jr sold it to OC Keith & his brother after that. John and Maud moved to Yermo and still enjoyed the desert.

--Explanation of the "Love Shack" by OC Keith

This little cabin was named the 'Love Shack' on July 22nd, 1990 It was a very hot and sunny summer afternoon when JR, OC Keith, Don, Bonnie & many other friends were all having a little party on the sand dunes in front of the shack celebrating OC Keith's friend's birthday. Heather turned 18 years old that day and while she was busy pouring upside-down margarita shooters to all the guys.... Dan Shilling had his stereo in his jeep blasting and the song that was playing was the "Love Shack" by the B-52s, so JR yelled out "The Love Shack Baby" and everyone laughed and then the name stuck...... Believe it or not!

John Bilderbeck in July 1961. John was the original purchaser of the property and who, with the help of his friend, Eugene Selk, built the house that is now called 'Rasor Ranch'.

John Bilderbeck and Eugene Selk moving the heavy water storage tank to its location on the corner of Johns house.

Picture of Sharon Selk helping with the hand digging of one of the original water wells. The first part was always dug by hand using a pick and shovel and completed using a �home made� well digging bit. This was in Nov 1960.

A picture of Johns house. You can see some of the swamp coolers used to cool the inside on the really hot days.

This is a photo of the old Jones place as it appeared in March 1968. The Jones place was a working cattle ranch for many years. This view shows the granary used for feed storage.

Another view of the Jones place. This shows the house that was occupied year round by the Jones family. The buildings were well protected and shaded by the many trees. All the buildings have since been destroyed by thoughtless people who used everything available to fuel their camp fires.

This is just an old shot of the �love shack� . Not sure what year, but I suspect it was in the mid 80�s.

A picture of John Bilderbeck and Gene Selk drilling a well. Here they are about to drop well casing in the hope. You can see the home made drill bit leaning against the front of the vehicle.

This is a picture of two long time residents of the area. The donkey was named Jake and the Goat was Roscoe. These two were inseparable and spent years roaming the desert. Here, Sharon is feeding Jake carrots which, along with crackers, were Jakes favorite snack. Roscoe is looking on waiting for an opportunity to �attack�, which he seemed to love doing. When you turned your back, he would charge and butt you. It is believed Jake died of natural causes; however, Roscoe was apparently shot by some �great sportsman� from the city. Only his head was found.

This is a photo of the front of the house in Nov 1988, before the swimming pool was built but after junior bought the place.

WOW !!!! Thank you very much Ray (Walking Bear) and Sharon (Dancing Lady) Patterson, Thanks for helping us preserve the natural history of Rasor Road.

What a great flash back... now see the restoration of the Ranch by friends of the Ranch! ~just click here now~