Earl and LaRue Morris's family moved from Illinois to Southern Oregon in the early 1940s after hearing of rich gold deposits in a mine near Blackwell Hill. Their father was a mining engineer, but after he suffered a stroke soon after arriving in Oregon, the family could not open the mine. They instead ran cattle on the property and worked at a local sawmill. In time, the Morris brothers created the Hidden Valley Ranch replica gold mining town along Interstate 5, using some old buildings moved to the site and some replica structures built by local students. Known as Gold Gulch, the town officially opened in 1959 in time for Oregon's Centennial celebration. After reopening in 1980, the brothers offered summer tours of the buildings and artifacts and educational programming for area children. When LaRue Morris died in 1991, the tours ended, and Earl Morris eventually sold the 883-acre ranch in May 2004. A new Science Center was built at Crater High School in honor of the Morris family, and proceeds from the 1.6 million dollar sale of the Blackwell Road property are held in trust by the Morris Family Foundation to assist Crater High graduates and area schools pursuing vocational and technical education.