Standing in the Gap for Oregon

Oregon Trail, La Grande to Hilgard section For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land – a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;  Deuteronomy 8:7 Union County is part of the Northeastern Region of Oregon, just to the east of Umatilla County. La Grande is the county seat. This is a beautiful, mountainous area of Oregon. It was once a big mining area, but the economy is now mostly based on ranching, farming, and logging. One new development has been wind energy. Near the town of North Powder, on the Pyles Canyon ridges, Elkhorn Valley Wind Farm was established in 2007. This contributes to the county economy in a number of ways including jobs and taxes. The Oregon Trail, which brought immigrants to the Oregon country from the 1840’s to the 1880’s, ran through Union County. A well-preserved section of the Oregon Trail has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The La Grande to Hilgard portion of the trail is

Milton-Freewater Church, Umatilla County The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.  Isaiah 35:1 We are now moving into the Northeastern Region of Oregon, which includes Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Grant, and Baker. When I think of Umatilla County, I think of the Pendleton Roundup, rolling wheat fields, and the Wild Horse Casino. I noticed a box of Hermiston’s famous watermelons for sale outside a grocery store the other day. That is Umatilla County . The small town of Athena, about twenty minutes northeast of Pendleton, hosts Caledonian Days every year, in honor of Scottish clans and traditions. Many of the early ranchers in the area were Scots. There is a web page, Pioneer History , of Christian Church and Church of Christ history in the Pacific Northwest, that is very detailed and informative. These churches came out of the Reformation or Stone-Campbell Movement that arose out of the Second Great Awakening of the early 1800’s.

Crooked River Rocks, Crook County, OR Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.  Psalm 126:6 NIV Crook County is the final county we will look at in the Central Oregon Region. Geographically, it is the center of the state, although less populated than Deschutes, it has played a crucial role in the development of this region of Oregon. We explored some of the early history here. Prineville is the county seat, and the economy has been given a boost by companies, including Facebook and Apple, building data storage facilities in the area. Crook County, OR The present Prineville Christian Church dates from October, 1953, and has been at the present location, on SE Lynn Blvd, since 1954. However, various forms of the Christian Church have been in existence since the 1880’s or earlier. According to their website, the church has variously been known as Prineville Church of Christ, Christian Church, and Prineville Community

Deschutes County, Oregon The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:34 NIV While there might be some disagreement about which counties to include in the Central Oregon Region, Deschutes is not debatable. In many ways it IS Central Oregon. The county seat, Bend, is the major population center of the area. With a population of over 100,000, it ranks as the 6 th largest city in the state and growing fast. Deschutes County Earlier we touched on some of Bend’s history, including some early churches , but of course there is always more to explore. One story I recently found is both interesting and touching, (thanks to a blog post by Kelly Cannon-Miller, the executive director of the Deschutes Historical Museum) and ties in with some of the history of the Japanese Americans in Oregon, that we looked at earlier. In the mid-1920’s there were several Japanese American fam