Standing in the Gap for Oregon

Lafayette Historical Museum They may curse, but  you will bless: when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice .   Psalm 109:28   Lafayette, Oregon is a pretty little town along the Yamhill River on Oregon Route 99, about 35 miles southwest of Portland, 25 miles north of Salem. It is the third oldest town in the Willamette Valley, established in 1846 and incorporated in 1878. It is in Yamhill County and was originally the county seat until 1889 when the citizens voted to make McMinnville the seat. The population is currently around 4,000.   The town has a number of old homes and historic buildings, a few even on the National Register of Historic Places. The Lafayette Locks Park is at the site of a former dam and locks that were decommissioned in the 1950’s. Other points of interest include a log house museum and the Lafayette Pioneer Cemetery which was established in 1873.   The old cemetery has a lot of atmosphere and is associated w...

  The  Lord   is  my  shepherd ; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters… Psalm 23:1 Morrow County was created in 1885 from the western part of Umatilla County and a bit of eastern Wasco. In 1887 an election was held to determine the county seat with Heppner defeating Lexington by a narrow margin.     I’ll admit I have not been very familiar with Morrow County. It’s a bit like “flyover country” to someone who drives to the eastern part of the state occasionally. I have driven through Morrow many times via I-84 but never paid much attention to where Wasco County left off and Morrow began.    It has, I find, a fascinating history.   The story of Morrow County is often linked to or even hyphenated with Umatilla County (Umatilla-Morrow.) The geography and economy, tied to agriculture, ranching and the Columbia River, are very similar.    In 1855 the Native Americans in that a...

Ontario, OR park The   stranger  who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were  stranger s  in   the   land  of Egypt: I  am   the   Lord  your God .  Leviticus 19:34   We briefly mentioned the eastern Oregon town of Ontario when we wrote about Malheur County. Today I want to delve into the history a little more, and to honor one long-term resident, my mother-in-law Ila Mae Mills, who passed away August 13 th  at the age of 97.   Ontario is a town with which I am familiar. My grandparents lived there for many years, from the 1940’s until the 1970’s. My parents were married there, as was I. My in-laws lived in Ontario from 1948 on. My father-in-law, a local bookkeeper, passed away in 2013 at the age of 95.    Ontario is the largest town in the far eastern portion of Oregon and sits right up against the Snake River and the border with Idaho. P...

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.  Isaiah 35:1   We have covered ten of the thirty-six Oregon counties in our blog so far. This week we are looking at the county just to the west of Wallowa and Union Counties in the northeastern section of the state.     Umatilla County was established in 1862 out of part of Wasco County. Its northern border is the Columbia River. Like many places in Oregon, it was gold that first drew pioneers to the area who then realized the country was a good place to raise cattle. By 1868 the town of Pendleton had become the county seat and remains so. In 1881 the arrival of the railroad made dryland wheat farming practical. Other types of agriculture were limited, however, in an area that grew sagebrush best until the Umatilla Irrigation Project was established early in the 20 th  century. Then "the desert bloomed" and the economy began to grow, especially in the western section ...

View from Mt. Pisgah in Lane County Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.  Isaiah 60:18 The thought of Lane County automatically leads to thoughts of Eugene, one of the population centers of Oregon. It rivals Salem in population, so is either the second or third largest city in the state, depending on your source of information. The county itself has about 77 people per square mile, and is the fourth most populated county in Oregon. It was established in 1851 and carved, like many of Oregon counties, out of parts of others - in this case Benton and Umpqua. It was named after Oregon Territory’s first governor, Joseph Lane. Over the years there have a been a dizzying number of changes to the county’s borders. Basically, the changes made it much smaller – it once went all the way to the California border – but also extended it to the Pacific...

Mount Hood, Oregon Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep;  Psalm 36: 5-6   We turn our attention to Multnomah County, but most eyes, and news cameras, are fixed there already. Multnomah County is the smallest in land - 466 square miles - and the largest in population…and influence. Compare Multnomah with 1705 people per square mile, to Malheur County with three. This is, of course, due to Portland, the largest city in the state, which is also the county seat. In fact, since 1968 the county government has had a consolidated city-county government and there have been some attempts to merge the city-county government into one unit.  Multnomah was created in 1854 out of the eastern edge of Washington County and a northern strip of Clackamas County. Its northern border is the Columbia Ri...

Garibaldi, Oregon   O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions— This great and wide sea, In which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great.  Psalm 104: 24-25   We’ve been going through Oregon county by county, but would like to take a moment to spotlight individual communities as we go through the state. For this post we are focusing on the coastal community of Garibaldi, known as "Oregon's Authentic Fishing Village." Garibaldi is in Tillamook County, one of the counties where I do have roots. I have family about half an hour to the south, near Pacific City. More on Tillamook County in a later post. My last trip through Garibaldi was just last fall when some friends and I stayed in Rockaway Beach, a few miles north. As the guide for my out-of-state friends, my plan was to ride the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad train from Rockaway to Garibaldi,...