The Cant Ranch in the John Day River Valley is one of the best-preserved examples of early 20th century ranching operations and spans three historic development eras: the Officer Homestead Era from 1890 to 1909, the Cant Sheep Ranch Era from 1910 to 1946, and the Cant Cattle Ranch Era from 1946 to 1975. Agricultural lands and structures from all three eras remain in view, including Christina's Cabin across the river, a one-room cabin built in 1932 for James Cant's daughter Christina for homesteading purposes; a watchman's hut used during lambing season in late March or April, when ewes were enclosed in a corral east of the barn and tended around the clock, with many lambs born at night or in the early morning and often needing assistance; a one-room log cabin with a dirt basement constructed by Floyd Officer around 1900 primarily for storage; a one-room bunkhouse built during the 1930's for hired hands; the main house built for James and Elizabeth Cant between 1917 and 1918, a two and one-half story, twelve-room house whose open attic sometimes served as a schoolroom and dance area and which replaced Floyd Officer's earlier house near the spring; a blacksmith shop built in the 1950's for machinery and equipment repairs; a barn built around 1920 that measured 66 by 120 feet and contained sheep pens, horse and mule stalls, a backroom, milking stations, grain storage, and a loft, with sheep pens called Sheep Alley along the entire north wall; and open-walled shearing pens with ten shearing stations, where shearing began in May or June and equipment first powered by a one-cylinder engine allowed one person to shear 60 to 120 sheep in a day.