Cabins were left standing and windmills were spinning away in the abandoned communities, Bergeman said.

"It's one of those things in history when there is a flurry of activity and poof it's gone," he added.

From the 1930s to 1950s, people could drive north from Bend and still cut through the area to see the vacated places. Army maneuvers occurred there during World War II.

"They say they used some of the cabins for target practice," Bergeman said.

Wood from the cabins was also burned or repurposed. There is little evidence of what used to be out there, Bergeman said.

Many of those same areas he explored during his residency are now off of a dirt road or on private property.

"If you go out there now, it's just sage brush as far as the eye can see," he said.

His exhibit has previously been displayed at the Oregon Trail Museum in Baker City, the Klamath Falls Art Gallery and Roseburg's Umpqua Valley Arts Center. At the end of the year it will move onto the High Desert Museum in Bend.