 Rich with the history of
the Shoshones, Paiutes, Nez Perce, and Umatilla
Indians who hunted, fished, and lived in this
plentiful and beautiful area, Baker County is
situated between the Wallowa mountains and the
Elk Horn ranges. Discovered afterwards by the
trappers and explorers and the John Jacob Astor overland
expedition
led by Wilson Price Hunt which camped in the Powder River Valley, it was then occupied by
the missionaries who followed to save the souls
of those before them.
By 1845, westward
immigration had begun. Dr. Elijah White, after one unsuccessful
attempt to find a pass through the Cascade
Mountains to Western Oregon, led a group of 200
emigrants from Independence, Missouri on an
abandoned trail of a fur company up the Malheur
River. Guided by Stephen H. L. Meeks, the company made it as
far as the alkali lake region, and then the men
began to die from drinking the water and turned
against Meeks, who eventually reached The Dalles and sent back provisions
by pack mule to the suffering party.
While at the
headwaters of the Malheur River, it is said that
the emigrants found bright yellow nuggets which
they had left behind when they crossed a
waterway. This story reached four California
miners who had been on their way to the Oro Fino
mines in the Washington Territory. Interested in
what they were told by a man named Adams who had
claimed to have been one of the emigrants of that
1845 trek from Independence, they asked Adams to
guide them; and in August of 1861 they led about
fifty-five others in search of the gold.
 The suffering began again
at the alkali desert, prompting men to become
suspicious of Adams and so they immediatley
conducted a trial, found him guilty, stripped him
of all his property, and then forced him to sign
a confession. His life was spared, however, when
the party divided, one returning over the route
they'd come, and the other striking out toward
the emigrant road and returning toward Portland
where they found color at the head of the Burnt
River on China Creek.
Henry Griffin, one of the four
Californians, struck gold on October 23rd.
Twenty-two claims soon followed which brought
about 30,000 miners eager to strike it rich
within the year. Soon after, the mining towns
sprung up and then came the cattle ranches and
farms to sustain them. Hence, Baker County was
established on September 22, 1862 from Wasco
county.
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