Praying for Oregon Counties: Wasco

Image by ljlabarthe from Pixabay                   Shaniko,OR

Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Psalm 37:3

We began by praying for Clackamas, a county with a lot of early history. Wasco county is just to the east of Clackamas and was also created early in the formation of Oregon state by the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1854 out of the parts of Clackamas, Marion, Lane, and Linn counties that were east of the Cascade Mountains. It was named for the Wasco, a Chinook tribe that lived in the area. Celilo Falls, on the Columbia River in Wasco county, was a gathering place and trading center for many western tribes for thousands of years. Celilo Falls was flooded by the creation of The Dalles dam in 1957.

I have a family connection with Wasco county, since my father, as a young boy, lived with his family on a sheep ranch near Shaniko.

The county seat is the town of The Dalles, and the whole county is on the dry east side of the mountains, supported by agriculture and a some tourism. No urban-rural divide as far as I know. It’s a big county in land size, but not population.

Antelope, in Wasco county, is where the Rajneeshees settled in the 1980’s. 

Image by ArtTower from Pixabay 

I have spent some time as a tourist in The Dalles, visiting the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum and once taking a tour of the city in a horse-drawn buggy. One of the most fascinating bits of history I came across was the account of a revival at the Wascopam Mission.

This happened even before the wagon trains started coming through The Dalles and Wasco county on their way to Oregon City. In the early 1830’s Jason Lee was sent out as a Methodist missionary to establish missions among the Native American tribes. He started one mission in the Willamette Valley, then sent his nephew, Daniel Lee, and the Rev. Henry Perkins to open an outpost near what is now The Dalles. 

I have long been fascinated by the history of religious revivals in America, beginning with the Great Awakening in the 1730’s. Later, around 1800, there was a second revival that began in Cane Ridge, Kentucky. These movements were marked by large crowds gathering for days to hear preachers, and great numbers of conversions and changed lives. In 1839 – 40 the Wascopam Mission experienced a similar event with much preaching and praying taking place, and many conversions. In April of 1840 they had crowds of 1200 when the local population was only about 1600. When Jason Lee himself came to preach and witness what was happening, Daniel and Henry were disappointed that the crowds dwindled to "only" a few hundred.

At that time, Jason Lee was putting in much effort to encourage settlers to come to Oregon. When they did begin to arrive in 1843 the focus of the missions both in the Gorge and in the Willamette Valley turned to attending the needs of the folks on the wagon trains, who often arrived in need of food, medicine and other care. 

There is a twelve-foot tall rock in The Dalles, in the middle of the intersection of Court Street and East 12^ththat was left as a reminder of the Methodist missionaries. It’s called Pulpit Rock and the preachers used to climb up on it to deliver their open-air sermons.

How do we pray for Wasco county? Pray for peace across the land, prosperity and bountiful crops for the farmers and ranchers, then ask the Lord to reveal deeper issues. 

Margaret