Christian Group Trying To Get Rajneeshpuram

A Christian group hoping to open a summer camp is trying to acquire the former Rajneeshpuram commune developed in central Oregon by followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Young Life plans to fill the Hotel Rajneesh’s 140 rooms with bunk beds and turn the commune’s 8,000-square-foot meditation temple into a sports complex.

Last week, after six months of negotiations, Young Life gave Montana industrialist Dennis Washington of Missoula a letter of intent to begin operating a camp on the 64,000-acre former Big Muddy Ranch along the John Day River.

If Washington agrees to donate the ranch, which spreads over portions of Wasco and Jefferson counties, Young Life will have succeeded where the state of Oregon faltered, The Oregonian reported.

Washington met with Gov. John Kitzhaber last December to discuss donating the property to the state. The donation would have increased the acreage of state parks by 70 percent.

“Mr. Washington was looking to donate the property in a way that would benefit children,” said Bob Applegate, a Kitzhaber spokesman.

“We had some ideas on how to use it but clearly were not able to meet his time line.”

Washington bought the land from creditors of the religious commune for $3.65 million in 1991.

In the 1980s, the north-central Oregon ranch was home to the Rajneeshpuram commune, where the self-proclaimed “guru to the rich” Rajneesh lived with his followers.