When I crossed over the Oregon State Line there was a State employee sitting in a State pickup by the side of the road; so I stopped and asked him what all of the markings represented on the vertical slab of stone just to the east of the Oregon Welcome Sign. He gave me a strange look, looked over at the slab, then responded that he had never noticed the marker before. My guess is that it was a historic state line marker, but who knows. Maybe it was placed there by aliens from outer space!
Located on the front lawn of the current courthouse in the Lakeview town-center is a nice veterans memorial and three clock bells from the old courthouse.
Lake Abert (north of Valley Falls) is about 15 miles long and 7 miles wide, and really shallow. No fish live in the lake because of the high alkaline content in the water. However, the water does support a dense population of brine shrimp that in turn support a variety of shorebirds. Consequently, the lake is a major stop-over on the north-south "Pacific Flyway" bird migration route.
The Harney County Historical Museum located in Burns (population 2,806), Oregon, contains a history of local pioneers, ranchers and lumbermen; along with period room displays of wagons, guns, clothing, and archaeological exhibits. The exterior building walls contain a number of interesting painted murals.
Canyon City (population 703) is the county seat of Grant County, Oregon. The county government is the largest employer in the county, followed by the school district.
In 1862 Gold was discovered in Canyon Creek and an estimated 10,000 miners rushed to the area. Between $3 to $5 million in gold was mined during each of the first three years and then production started to decline to about $1 million annually for the next five years. Gold mining continued at a much lower level until 1942 when the War Labor Board issued L-208, which prohibited gold mining and shutdown the gold mines.
The Kam Wah Chung Company Building is an Oregon State Park that preserves early Chinese culture in the community of John Day (population 1,744). The building was constructed in the 1870s (possibly as a trading post) along the Dalles Military Road. Later, the building became a store and apothecary that was owned by Ing Hay (known as "Doc Hay") and Lung On, Chinese immigrants from Guangdong. When "Doc Hay" died, he left the store to the State for a museum. The museum now contains one of the most extensive collections of early Chinese emigrant materials and explains the Chinese impact on the American West. While preparing the building for a museum, $23,000 in un-cashed checks from 1910 to 1930 were found under "Doc Hay's" bed. The checks are now on display in the museum.
If you have ever wanted to camp in a tepee, Clyde Holiday State Park is the place to go. The tepees are located along the John Day River surrounded by some of Oregon's most pristine wilderness areas. (Running water, hot showers and flush toilets are available in the campground for those that appreciate some of the more modern conveniences.)
When the highway crossed Battle Mountain there was a roadside marker that described the decisive engagement of the Bannock War that was fought here on July 8, 1878. The marker indicated that this was the location of the last major Bannock Indians battle in the Pacific Northwest.
The first thing that I noticed when I entered Pendleton (population 16,612), Oregon, was a cattle drive coming down the wash adjacent to the highway. Then I realized that all of the cattle and cowboys were sculptures! There are a number of other sculptures throughout the town, including one of a famous brothel owner. We did not have time to tour the famous Pendleton factory, so we decided to stop in Pendleton again on the way home.
Until I stopped at the current Fort Walla Walla Museum, I did not realize that over the years there have been six different forts named Walla Walla. The first Fort Walla Walla was a fur trading post built in 1818 by Alexander Ross of the Northwest Company, but the fort was sold in 1821. The second Fort Walla Walla was built in 1831 by the Hudson Bay Company, but it burned down in 1841. A replacement for the second fort was constructed in 1842, but it was abandoned in 1855 when the fur trade declined. In 1856 the first military fort was constructed about seven miles to the east but it was found to be too far from the Walla Walla population center, so a temporary fort was constructed at the current site and used until 1858 when the third permanent military fort was established. The last fort was used until 1910, then closed until WW I when it was reopened for a few years. Some of the buildings from the last fort are now part of the Fort Walla Walla Museum.
Dayton (population 2,526) is the county seat of Columbia County, and has the oldest train depot (1881) and the oldest continuously used courthouse (1887) in Washington State. In the 1980s and 1990s about $3 million dollars were spent to restore the historic train depot and the historic courthouse.
The Elmer C. Huntley Central Ferry Bridge crosses over the Snake River at Central Ferry, a small port on the south side of the river. Central Ferry is the most inland port in the state of Washington. The Huntley bridge is very photogenic and is often featured in tourist brochures.
Totem poles are not typically associated with the eastern side of Washington State, but Colfax (population 2,805) is home of the chainsaw-carved Codger Pole, which commemorates a 1988 rematch (50 years after the original 1938 game) between arch-rival football teams St. John and Colfax High Schools. It is the largest sculpture of its type in the world, containing portraits of 51 players carved into five red cedar logs. The players are shown in old age, but wearing 1938 football uniforms and helmets.
We were just leaving Colfax as the sun was setting and all of the smoke from the forest fires turned the sky an orange-red color, almost completely blocking out the sun.
Bear Country Carvings is located about 10 miles north of Spokane and features some of the largest arrows in the wold. Bigfoot sighting are reported often on the property, but we were there early in the morning before the facility was open and apparently all of the Sasquatch were still asleep.
Before we left New Port we stopped by the local farmer's market that is held in the parking lot of the old train depot (now a museum), which turned out to be an expensive stop. While I was photographing an old Corliss Steam Engine ("The Big Wheel"), Linda found a vendor that sold hand-made wooden bowls. After that experience, I had to walk across the street and get a really large cup of hot chocolate.
Arriving in Sagle we picked up our trailer from the storage facility, at which time I noticed that one of the wheels was covered with grease. Not a good sign! The people at the storage facility recommended that we take the trailer to the Les Schwab Tire shop in Ponderay; and even though it required backtracking a few miles, we decided to take their recommendation.We were really happy that we did because they had a very professional staff that were very concerned about our problem. It turned out that the wheel bearing and hub were ruined and had to be replaced, but they did managed to save the spindle. Miraculously, they found all of the parts locally to put everything back together and were back on the road in about two hours.
My kids have been after me for years to go to Russia, so after having our trailer fixed we headed for Moscow. Now maybe they will quite bugging me about going to Russia.
It was getting dark when we left Moscow, but we decided to push on to the Lewston/Clarkston area. (Lewiston is on the Idaho side of the Snake River and Clarkston is on the Washington side.) Although the RV park office was closed when we arrived, there was a bulletin board posted outside of the office indicating that there were two open spaces. We selected one of the spaces and settled in for the night. It was a beautiful RV Park located adjacent to the river, so we decided to just stay for a few days to enjoy the area and complete some bucket list adventures.
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