A Deeper Look: Jefferson County

Church on Warm Springs Reservation

Those who go out weeping, carry seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. Psalm 126:6 NIV

In my own subjective and personal division of Oregon into regions, I placed Jefferson, Wheeler, Deschutes, and Crook Counties in the Central Region of Oregon. There is some debate on what area constitutes Central Oregon, but most agree Jefferson, Deschutes and Crook make up the core. Some add neighboring counties as well, as I have with Wheeler.

This is high, dry, pine tree country, a semi-arid area sitting in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains to the west; the smaller Ochoco Mountains bounding it on the east. Central Oregon has become a tourist destination for those wanting to camp, ride horseback, rockhound or just fish, hike, and picnic.  Lumber and ranching are other major economic sources.

Central Oregon Region



Peter Skene Ogden, of the Hudson’s Bay Company, is credited with being the first European to lead a group through Central Oregon. He traveled through on a trapping expedition in 1826. Other explorers followed, including Captain John C. Fremont and his Army survey team that mapped part of Central Oregon in 1843.



We are focusing on Jefferson County this week.

Jefferson County

The county seat is Madras, incorporated in 1911 and currently with a population of around 7,000. Madras was already a town when Jefferson County was created in 1914. Earlier the site was called “The Basin” after the round valley where the town is located but was renamed later after the Madras in India.

Jefferson County was settled after the best land in the Willamette Valley was taken, in what is sometimes called “reverse immigration.” Settlers moved east over the Cascades trying to find good farming and ranching land after finding the Willamette Valley too crowded for their taste. The early 1900’s saw the largest influx of settlers into the area.

The First Christian Church of Madras was established around the time Madras and the surrounding areas were settled. In the early 1900’s a circuit rider, Charles Arba Sias, a graduate of Cotner University in Lincoln, Nebraska, moved with his wife Grace to a ranch near Madras. For a couple of years, he had pastored the Christian Church at Athena, Oregon, a little town north of Pendleton. Charles Sias established the Madras congregation, serving as pastor from 1903 - 05, and as circuit rider to Lamonta, Grizzly Butte, Haystack and Prineville communities. Most of the circuit meetings were held in schoolhouses, while baptisms were held in Willow Creek. After several years of holding meetings and setting the stage, by 1909 the Madras congregation was ready to formally organize and build a building. The lumber was purchased from a sawmill near Grizzly Mountain and the church erected in Madras on 7th street.

In the century since Jefferson County was settled, the population has come to be culturally and ethnically diverse, including Anglo, Native American, and Hispanic populations. One large employer is the Confederate Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation. While the reservation lands are spread over four counties, 236,082 acres are in the northwest corner of Jefferson County.

Agriculture in the county is primarily seed, potatoes, hay and mint with the eastern portion known for dryland wheat farming and cattle.

How do we pray for Jefferson County?

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4 NIV

Pray for the elected officials: The County Commissioners are Mae Huston, Wayne Fording, Kelly Simmelink. Katherine Zemke is the County Clerk, and Steven Lericke is the District Attorney.

The Mission Statement for Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is Safeguard all people and their property, serving all equally, with empathy, dignity, and respect. The Sheriff is Jason Pollock. Currently the Patrol Division has at times only one deputy on duty for 22,000 people spread over 1,781 square miles. They are working to add enough officers to always keep a minimum of two on duty.

Pray for the Clarion Call Event on the Warm Springs Reservation this weekend, July 22 -24. Speaker is Genevieve Skidmore.

 

  

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