EASTERN OREGON

This Gallery is from far eastern Baker County.  Pioneers entered Baker County at Historic Farewell Bend.  It was the last camp on their weary journey across the Snake River Plains.  They must have been sad to leave sights like the  Snake River Reflections  to head overland to the Columbia.  But some stayed in this idyllic place, building  Homesteads on the Old Oregon Trail Highway  and a  Train  track aside the Snake River.  A taste of the  Wild Snake River  encountered by settlers can still be had by visiting nearby Hell’s Canyon.  Today the  Oregon Trail Interpretive Center  explains the plight of the pioneer with it’s life size diaramas and Covered Wagon displays.
      Any season is the right season to visit Baker County.  In the summer, fish Anthony Lake at 7150 feet...the Elkhorn Ridge summit of the Blue Mts.   In winter, pass over the North Fork of the  Burnt River, mindful of Winter Frost on Teasel  and   Frosty Mullein  nearby.   Or seek Reflections on the Powder River...wild yet soft & golden.   This Powder River is nature’s gift to Baker County.  It serves as a backdrop to the nearby Wallowa Mountains in  Frozen Pond 203  as well as in  Peniplane (Meander) of the Powder River.     Alfalfa Keating to Quartz drinks from the Powder River as does   Hole in the Wall...a cluster of ranches in Sharp canyons.    In 1984 a landslide on the only road into the area trapped residents till a new road could be built!!   Difficult times are not only for the pioneer days!
      A stop at Sumpter Dredge is a must; one sees acre after acre of gold mining remnants...the  tailings  (rejected rubble) from  this huge gold Dredge.   Gold mining was on everyone’s mind in the early 1900’s.   It brought electricity to this rural area (first to run the dredge...later for the farms)  AND  gold nuggets  so big they still are on display in the US bank in Baker City!
          Baker City is replete with everlasting  Clock towers.  They were the rage at the turn of the century and still dress the skyline.  Baker County residents think ahead!