History:
The first school in District No. 4, located east of the present town of Crane on Crane Creek, opened on October 28, 1901, with Alice Smith as the teacher. She was hired for a term of twenty-four weeks for which she was paid a salary of $50 a month. The chairman of the board that year was James Bunyard. H. A. Martin taught a term in 1902. In 1903, G. O. Hendricks was hired to teach and M. L. Greasman was the new chairman of the board. As nearly as can be determined district No. 4 was discontinued, and when school was organized in Crane, the new district was given the same number. For a period of time the ranchers moved to the Crane area each summer and back to the Lawen area each winter where they fed their cattle and sent their children to school, so it was not until the railroad came to Crane in July of 1916 that there was a need for a grade school in that area. After the railroad reached Crane it became a thriving business center and the school became an important part of the community. This new Crane District was created by the Harney County Boundary Board when they consolidated districts 42, 25, 38 and 60 on June 5, 1917.
The Crane High School was organized in 1920, with school being held in one of the buildings in "Old Lawn," the site of the first town of Lawen. There were nine pupils, and Mr. and Mrs. Jokisch were the teachers. The modern public dormitory school was established in 1922 in Crane.
Harney County is as large as Maryland and as sparsely settled as Nevada. To get to the Crane High School from their ranch homes some children had to travel 120 miles. Obviously it would be impossible for them to make the trip every day. The school was built only because the taxpayers of this large district found that it would be cheaper to provide room and board for its students than to arrange for their transportation over vast stretches of rough and often snow-clogged roads. To offer an educational program conveniently close to all the scattered ranches would have meant scores of one-room schools without modern educational equipment and facilities.
