A Deeper Look: Union County

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 a 3.6-mile section of preserved ruts between the towns of La Grande and Hilgard. This section is known as the steepest part of the entire Oregon Trail.

Union County, Oregon

The Methodists established a congregation in Union County at La Grande in 1867.  They met in a store, the Ok Grocery. Other groups met there as well, including a Union Sunday School. Catholics also began holding services in a private home in La Grande in 1867. Many French Canadians lived in the Catherine Creek area (near Union), and Catholic services were held in several communities in the vicinity until a church building was built at Island City in 1882. The Episcopalians came next, in 1884, and ten years later built the first church building in La Grande.  

Other denominations were also represented: Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans. There were a group of 75 or 80 Christian or Church of Christ followers in La Grande by 1870 but their minister was based in Walla Walla and was unable to continue holding services for them due to poor health. In 1891 a small group organized the Christian Church in La Grande but again had a minister who lived elsewhere, this time The Dalles. Don’t know what route he took in 1891, but today it is 178 miles on I-84 from The Dalles to La Grande. I’m sure it was longer in those days, and he was probably on horseback. I continue to be impressed with the dedication of those early ministers, of all denominations.

The minister, John W. Jenkins, appears to have been a life-long church planter. Born in 1857 in Ontario, Canada, he graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia when he was 23. For several years he pastored in a variety of places including Michigan, Ohio, and finally spent some time in Jamaica. In 1884 he married Flora Scott, and they moved to Oregon where they spent most of their lives establishing churches in The Dalles, Hood River, Athena, Klamath Falls, McMinnville, Corvallis, and Portland. He died in 1939 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and is buried in Canada.  

The county has three County Commissioners.

The County Sheriff is Cody Bowen. When he was elected in 2021, one of his goals was to restart the Patrol Reserve Program and he added a Cadet Program as well. The Reserve Program recently graduated their first group of new reserve deputies. They also have a K-9 unit with dog Molly and handler Dano Jonson.

 How do we pray for Union County?

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12

Keep County Commissioners Paul Anders, Donna Beverage, and Matt Scarfo in prayer.

Pray for County Sheriff Cody Bowen and the Union County Sheriff’s Office, along with the K-9 unit of Molly and Deputy Jonson.

Pray for the churches of Union County. Many of those established in the early days are still active.