Posted on: October 10th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
In the first week of January, 1812, a party of trappers and traders, members of the Astor Overland Expedition, crossed the Blue Mountains in this area. Traveling afoot in bitter cold, often waist deep in snow, they were the first white men in this area. The route they traveled to and from St. Louis and Astoria developed into the emigrant route to the Oregon Country later know as the Oregon …
Posted on: October 10th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
A remarkable construction enterprise of its time, the “Eldorado Ditch” carried water for placed mining from the Burnt River above Unity, over Eldorado Pass to Malheur City and the Willow Creek Drainage. Conceived and designed by William H. Packwood and constructed by Chinese labor, the ditch was started in 1863 and by May 1878 was carrying water more than 100 miles. The main ditch was five feet wide at the …
Posted on: October 10th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
On January 8, 1806 William Clark and perhaps fourteen of the famous expedition reached a Tillamook village of five cabins on a creek which Captain Clark named Ecola or Whale Creek. Three days earlier, two men sent out from Fort Clatsop to locate a salt making site had brought back whale blubber given them by Beach Indians. Appreciating the welcome addition to the explorers’ diet, Clark set out to find …
Posted on: October 10th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
This spot was famous in early days as Express Ranch an important relay station on the Umatilla-Boise Basin Stage and Freight Route. It was also a favorite camping place for emigrants and teamsters.
Location: In front of Durkee School
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Posted on: October 10th, 2024 in Historical Marker Audio Tours, Historical Marker Details |
Dr. John McLoughlin,1784-1857Chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, philanthropist, and founder of Oregon City. The land on the east bank of the Willamette River at the falls was claimed by Dr. McLoughlin and the Hudson’s Bay Co. in 1828-29. First called Willamette Falls, the town was platted in 1842 and was named Oregon City by Dr. McLoughlin. Oregon City was the first incorporated U.S. city west …
Posted on: October 9th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
Water flowed across the high desert country during glacial times carving the Dry River Canyon visible beyond the marker. Near this part of Hwy 20, the canyon deepens from about 20 to 200 feet in less than half a mile. It continues northwest for two miles at depths of 300 to 400 feet before shallowing abruptly and disappearing beneath the basalt of Lava Top Butte that erupted from the north …
Posted on: October 9th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
Madame Marie Dorion, a Native American of the Sioux Nation, gained recognition for her endurance and courage in the early American West. As the only woman on the long and difficult Wilson Price Hunt Expedition from Montreal to the wild Oregon Territory, Marie’s strength of character and courage earned her a reputation for bravery.
In 1811, explorer Wilson Hunt hired Pierre Dorion as an interpreter for an expedition seeking an overland …
Posted on: October 9th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
Courthouse Square Park is a monument to the civic and commercial aspirations of Dayton’s founders, Joel Palmer, his son-in-law Andrew Smith, and Christopher Taylor. Palmer and Taylor, who settled here to farm in 1848, laid out the town site on the banks of the Yamhill River in 1850. Taylor became the first postmaster in 1851. The founders hoped that Dayton would become the county seat of Yamhill County, and planned …
Posted on: October 9th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
Samuel K. Barlow established a wagon road in 1845-46 from The Dalles across the Cascade Range. Many Oregon Trail emigrants preferred the new road to the perilous Columbia River route, which had claimed many lives. The Barlow Road allowed emigrants to drive wagons to the Willamette Valley for the first time.
By 1848 many overlanders left the Oregon Trail soon after crossing the John Day River on a Cutoff to the …
Posted on: October 9th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |
Eager to save time on the Oregon Trail, emigrants often attempted shortcuts. Between 1845 and 1854, three wagon trains left this campsite seeking a cutoff to the Willamette Valley
The Meek Cutoff of 1845Frontiersman Stephen Meek persuaded over 1,000 people with 200 wagons to avoid the notorious Blue Mountains, Cayuse Indians, and Columbia River by turning west up the Malheur River into central Oregon. Unable to find water west of Wagontire …
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