Lane County’s mounted posse marks 84 years of service
Born in 1941, the mounted posse still sends riders into Lane County’s rough backcountry, where trucks cannot easily reach and volunteers fill rural public-safety gaps.
Established May 9, 1941, Lane County’s Sheriff’s Mounted Posse turned 84 years old.
The posse consists of volunteers who use equestrian skills in a rural or wilderness environment, riding sound, manageable western-type horses. Lane County stretches far beyond Eugene and Springfield, where forested terrain, remote roads and hard-to-reach places can slow a patrol car or make vehicle access impractical. In those settings, a mounted rider can move through ground that is difficult for wheels, giving the sheriff’s office a local response option built for Lane County’s geography rather than borrowed from a more urban model.
Lane County Search and Rescue includes several specialized groups of dedicated volunteers from throughout the community and responds to reports of missing or injured people needing help, rescue or recovery 24 hours a day under Oregon Revised Statute 404.200. A 2021 recruitment flyer required volunteers to be ready to be called out at all hours, sometimes in very inclement weather and extreme conditions. The mounted posse fits that same pattern: volunteer labor stepping into roles where local knowledge, training and willingness to go out in rough conditions still matter.
Lane County appointed its first sheriff, Leonard Howe, in 1851, and the county’s jail history page includes an image labeled Lane County Jail 1853. The sheriff’s historical archive has a photo labeled 1946. Lane County’s photo gallery shows the unit at public-facing events, including a Springfield Christmas Parade reference in 2025, and notes that Lane County Posse and SAR member Anna Flores has been sworn in as deputy sheriff.
A July 22, 2025 civil rights lawsuit alleged Lane County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse volunteers and private security guards racially profiled Keviante “Kev” Hill at the 2023 Lane County Fair, and that Hill, a 20-year-old Black man from Portland, was questioned and detained after a shooting the night before.
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