H I S T O R Y

Native Americans roamed the valleys and surrounding mountain regions in the summer months and returned to the milder Columbia River basin to winter. Each summer, several of these tribes, including the Nez Perce, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, and even the distant Shoshone, migrated to the large valley of the Grande Ronde River to hunt, gather food, and graze their horses. Though sometimes hostile to one another, the tribes lived together without incident for a few months each year in what they termed “The Valley of Peace.” Here they gathered berries for their winter food caches, fished for abundant salmon, bathed in the healing waters of Hot Lake and several thermal springs, and collected roots and herbs to cure their winter coughs and colds.

As Bernal Hug, a local historian wrote, “From the Camas Moon (June) through the Thunder Moon (July) and Huckleberry Moon (August) to the Hunter’s Moon (September)... the tribes lived in peace and plenty in the Valley of the Grande Ronde, enjoying yet conserving Mother Earth’s foods, happy with life.”

From 1840 through the 1870’s, more than 300,000 emigrants passed westward through the Grande Ronde Valley on what became known around the world as The Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail crossed the Powder River and entered Union County near a stage station at the present site of North Powder. Then the trail crossed the Clover Creek Valley and the foothills between Glass Hill and Craig Mountain and wound its way through Ladd Canyon and down into the Grande Ronde Valley. To avoid the marshy valley floor, the trail followed the southwestern slopes of the valley. The emigrants camped on the edge of the beautiful valley, many at the site that is now Birnie Park on C Avenue in La Grande. There, they refreshed themselves and their animals and prepared for the wagon-breaking trek across the Blue Mountains to the west. They climbed the hill near what later became Old Town La Grande before crossing the steep, pine-covered ridges of the Blue Mountains.

John C. Fremont wrote of our oval valley in his journal in October of 1843: “This is a place – one of the few we have seen in our journey so far – where a farmer would delight himself to establish.” Yet, in spite of Fremont’s assessment and the beauties of the region, few of those early pioneers stayed on, and none established themselves permanently in the region.

In 1861, settlers arrived in the valley to stay, many of them returning eastward from their homesteads in the Willamette Valley. The once fluid boundaries of the Oregon Territory had been solidified by statehood in 1859, bringing stability and political representation to the region.

The discovery of gold in the mountains to the south of La Grande provided a nearby market for products that would be grown or harvested in the Grande Ronde Valley. Once begun, settlement of Union County quickly burgeoned as one community after another was established.

Benjamin Brown is credited with being the first permanent settler in the Grande Ronde Valley. He settled in what is now known as the Mount Glenn district of La Grande.

At about the same time, Henry and Emily Leasey settled in the valley along with some twenty others. Five log cabins were built that first winter; these became the heart of what was first named Brown’s Fort, since a stockade was built around the small colony. The name of the settlement was then changed to Brown’s Town or Brownsville. Since Linn County on the west side of the state already had a Brownsville, a new name was needed. A frenchman, Charles Dause, used the French phrase “La Grande” to describe the view seen from the heights where the settlement was located. The name was chosen at a town meeting and La Grande, the largest of the county’s present communities was born.

A butcher shop, the first livery stable, and a general merchandise store were opened the first year, and by 1863 a saw mill was in operation. A flour mill capable of producing twenty-five barrels of flour per day was opened in 1865.

In 1862, Conrad Miller settled the area on the opposite side of the Grande Ronde Valley. A post office was established in 1864, and a flour mill and Wells Fargo stage line in 1865. Thus was born the community of Union, the second largest city in Union County. The communities of Island City and Cove sprang up almost simultaneously, with Summerville following close on their heels. The cities of Elgin, Imbler and North Powder were established between 1880 and the beginning of the twentieth century, though each had existed much earlier as either a trading post, farming area, or an important stop along the Oregon Trail.

The coming of the railroad in 1884 rearranged the location of towns, populations, industries and roads, some towns, most notably La Grande, flourished while others declined. Once vibrant communities, such as Alicel, Perry, Medical Springs, Starkey, Telocaset, and Pondosa, remain as remnants of their former selves.

Union County, named for inhabitant’s loyalty to the North during the Civil War (1861-1865) separated from Baker County in 1864.

G E O G R A P H Y

The boundaries of Union County include 1,300,480 acres of fertile soil, timbered slopes, grazing land, and snow-capped mountain peaks. The county is still characterized by those geographic attributes that made it so attractive to Native Americans and settlers some two hundred years ago. The Blue Mountains, one of Oregon’s oldest and largest mountain ranges, with many spurs and offshoots, extend through nine counties in Eastern Oregon and Washington. The Blues, as they are familiarly known, derive their name from the deep blue appearance they frequently assume as the result of atmospheric conditions. They run along the western boundaries of Union County, and La Grande is nestled at their eastern base.

On the opposite side of the county stand the Wallowa Mountains, a gigantic alpine range shared by Union, Baker and Wallowa counties. The two mountain boundaries are separated from north to south by the Indian, Grande Ronde and Powder Valleys. Numerous other small valleys, plains and plateaus that are more sparsely populated create areas that are primarily agriculture or recreation.

The Grande Ronde and Indian Valleys are bisected by the meandering Grande Ronde River, one of Oregon’s longest rivers. The Powder River runs through the southeast corner of the county near the town of North Powder, while the Wallowa and Minam Rivers enter the county to the north.

The Grande Ronde Valley lies at the central core of Union County, and is the largest and most populated region. It is an oval shaped fertile plain some 35 miles long on its north south axis, stretching from Pumpkin Ridge to Pyles Canyon, and 15 miles wide from Cove to the mouth of the Grande Ronde River’s canyon. The elevation of the valley floor varies from 2,700 to 3,000 feet, with an elevation of 2,713 feet at the La Grande Airport. The Blue and Wallowa Mountains rise up dramatically on either side of the valley floor.

John C. Fremont described our valley in his diary entry for October 17, 1843 as “a beautiful level basin or mountain valley covered with good grass, on a rich soil, abundantly watered and surrounded by high and well-timbered mountains and its name descriptive of its form – the great circle.”

The valley is dominated by 6,100 foot Mount Emily to the northwest, 5,372 foot Mount Harris to the north, and 7,153 foot Mount Fanny to the northeast. The surrounding mountains are heavily timbered, and the Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa Range includes several peaks as high as 10,000 feet. There are few such places in the world, where one can turn full circle and view close mountains in every direction.

Black sandy loam on the nearly tableflat valley floor – a large dry lake bed – is incredibly fertile, producing grasses, grains, vegetables and fruit crops, and a variety of other agricultural operations. Wet marshes on the southern edge of the valley create Ladd Marsh, an extensive bird and wildlife sanctuary.

The mountain ranges beyond Union County’s borders have an effect on its climate. The Rocky Mountains in Idaho provide some protection from the cold air masses that sweep across the high plains from Canada, and the Cascades to the west block the flow of moistureladen Pacific air into eastern Oregon. As a result, Union County enjoys a climate that is drier and more moderate than might be expected in mountainous regions. Union County also recognizes the geographic center of the fifty United States within its borders.

T O D AY

In the past two hundred years the presence of humans has left a mark on the land. Farming has spread across the valley floor. Natural resources have been used to build housing, business districts, a university, an airport, industrial parks and transportation links to the rest of Oregon and the west. Population has risen to some 25,000 persons living in eight communities and in rural areas. In spite of the changes, Union County remains much the same as it was in the days of the Native Americans and the first settlers. The mountains still ring the valleys in ever changing colors with the rising or setting of the sun. The rivers still meander through the valleys. The soil is still fertile and productive. Wildlife is still abundant, and the wonders of nature are everywhere just outside our door. Those who live here know, and those who visit quickly realize, that Union County is still “The Valley of Peace.”