OTE - Oregon Travel Experience

Ellmaker Grove

In 1857, Enos and Elizabeth Fisher Ellmaker traded donation land claims with Levi W. and Mary Malinda Zumwalt. The Ellmakers built their house and blacksmith shop by this Oregon white oak, while nearby incense-cedar sheltered their livestock. The bigleaf maples, planted along the driveway by the Ellmakers, linked blacksmith shop customers to the ancient route sometimes known as a branch of the Applegate Trail.

Location: Zumwalt Park, near the town …

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Sequoia sempervirens

Israel Fisk Eddy planted this tree in the 1880s on land that President Andrew Johnson had removed from the Oregon Coast Reservation in 1865. Israel’s grist mill, grocery store, and post office were integral in building this community, then called Little Elk. A railroad aimed to make Yaquina Bay the terminus of its transcontinental route and crossed Israel’s land. Israel said yes, but only if the depot was renamed …

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Pinus ponderosa

This grove of old-growth Ponderosa Pines shaded the extensive lawn of the 1901 A.M. Drake home in the future site of Bend. Drake’s Pilot Butte Development Co. played a critical role in the town’s development, platting downtown Bend and its original residential area. Three of the trees remain, of an original six, which were likely lost when the home itself was demolished in the mid-1950s.

Tree Facts

Approximate height: 80 ft

Date …

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The Caples family, 1844 Oregon Trail pioneers, were the very first settlers in this area and platted the town of Columbia City on their original donation land claim. Dr. Charles Caples planted this orchard of apple and pear trees shortly after bears decimated his original 1870 plum orchard. Charles Caples was the first doctor in Columbia County, founded the first school with his sister, and operated riverboats with his brother.

Tree …

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Corylus avellana

The first commercial-sized planting of hazelnuts in Oregon occurred when George Dorris planted a five-acre orchard here in 1905. In addition to growing trees for nut production, Dorris started a hazelnut nursery that operated for 40 years and produced an average of 70,000 trees per year. It is estimated that more than half of the trees in Oregon’s hazelnut industry originated from Dorris Ranch nursery stock.

Tree Facts

Approx. height: 30′–40′

Planted …

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Metasequoia glyptostroboides

When fossils of this species were first discovered in 1941 in Japan, the tree was believed to have been long extinct. Fossils were also later discovered in the Columbia Gorge. But in 1944, live trees were found in a remote valley in central China. The Hoyt Arboretum planted seeds from these trees and in 1952, this tree became the first in the Western hemisphere to produce cones in about …

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This grove of Oregon myrtle was protected by the Garden Club of Oregon through the “Save the Myrtlewood” campaign and given to the People of Oregon in 1949. The Garden Club started many conservation projects including “Don’t Be a LitterBug!” campaign and Operation Wildflower on state highways. The Oregon myrtle is a highly valued evergreen hardwood that has played a significant role in Oregon’s coastal economies.

Tree Facts

Age: 38 to 165 …

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