JOHN DAY FOSSIL BEDS John Day Fossil Beds: A Study (Preliminary)

HISTORY

The principal historical theme represented in the study area is that of Westward Expansion to the Pacific, 1830-1898. The more important sub-themes that relate to the history and development of the area are The Mining Frontier; Transportation and Communication; Military and Indian Affairs; Religious Movements; The Cattlemen's Empire; and The Fur Trade.

Of these subthemes, The Mining Frontier, in the form of gold mining, was the most important and dramatic. It had far-reaching consequences in the occupancy and settlement of the John Day country.

This era began in 1862 with the discovery of gold on Canyon Creek, just south of the present community of John Day. Prospectors flocked to the John Day country and to Canyon City on Canyon Creek from "diggings" in south-western Oregon and northern California. A large influx of Chinese prospectors and laborers helped shape the new "boom" town of Canyon City and the surrounding area. Canyon City was the earliest settled community in Grant County and became the county seat in 1864.

The Dalles-Canyon City pack train and stage line began operation in May, 1864. Gold was shipped on this line from Canyon City to The Dalles on the Columbia River. From there it was transported by boat down the Columbia to Astoria, thence by sea to the San Francisco mint.

In February 1867, The Dales-Canyon City Military Wagon Road was established under contract with the Army and gold shipments were continued via the Wagon Road. Some $26 million in gold was mined and shipped from Canyon City from 1862 to 1870. At its zenith, Canyon City supported a population of 10,000. However, after a few years the mines and gold-bearing gravels were worked out and the gold rush was over. All but a fraction of the Canyon City population moved to newer fields. While Canyon City today remains the county seat of Grant County, it is thoroughly modernized. Only a few individual buildings from the mining era remain.

The extraction of gold from the vicinity has continued on a limited scale until recently. One of the few gold dredges remaining in the United States and one of two in Oregon is located at Mount Vernon. It was in operation at least as recently as 1946 and is essentially intact.

The Mining Frontier, as well as the Transportation and Communication sub-themes, are represented by the site of the Burnt Ranch and stage station on the south bank of the John Day River near the mouth of Bridge Creek in western Wheeler County. The ranch and station, established in 1864, were operated by James N. Clark, an early homesteader. It was a stopping point for pack trains between Canyon City and The Dalles, and later served as a stage station. The station and ranch buildings were burned by Indians in 1866, from which the name Burnt Ranch is derived.

Gold mining dredge at Mount Vernon. Used as recently as 1946, it is nearly intact and could be of interest to tourists.

A ranch at Fossil is of historic interest and relates to Transportation of Communication. Four land claims were laid out here in the early 1800's. Hoover's cabin, situated on one of the claims, became the post office in 1876.

Military and Indian Affairs in the study area includes the sites of two U.S. Army posts: Camp Watson in southeastern Wheeler County and Camp Logan in southeastern Grant County. Both were short-lived. Camp Watson, astride The Dalles-Canyon City Military Wagon Road, was commissioned in 1864 to protect the gold shipments and the settlers. It was typical of the posts established along travel routes after eastern Oregon had been opened to settlement. The post was released and the buildings burned by the Army in 1869.

Camp Logan was established in 1865 and terminated in 1868. No physical evidence of either post remains today and the site of Camp Watson is not accessible by road.

A cabin built in 1864 and occupied for a time by Joaquin Miller, the "poet of the Sierras," is located in Canyon City on grounds administered by the Grant County Historical Society Museum. Miller had come to Canyon City to practice law and is said to have started writing verse here. The cabin has been moved to its present site from its original location. Miller's home in Oakland, California is a Registered National Historic Landmark.

The Joaquin Miller Cabin Canyon City

The Historical Society Museum displays an extensive collection of items from the gold mining era, plus a large assortment of antiques and relics from the frontier days to the recent past.

The first church in Grant County was the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Canyon City. It was built in 1876 under the direction of a pioneer missionary, Dr. Rueben Denton Nevins, when Canyon City was a mining community. It is still an active church and the best remaining example of the Religious Movements sub-theme in the area.

The first cattle ranch in the general area was established northeast of John Day by the Trowbridge Company in 1862. It is still operated by the descendants of the founder and, under a program administered jointly by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Historical Society, it has been designated a Century Farm. Other ranches that have been in continuous operation by the same family for approximately 100 years are the Cant Ranch at the main unit of the Thomas Condon-John Day Fossil Beds State Park and the Mascall Ranch just south and east of Picture Gorge.

One other building of historical interest is the Chinese Building, located in John Day City Park. It was constructed in 1867 of masonry and hand-split logs by Chinese during the gold rush and is the only remaining structure erected by this once-numerous segment of the local population.

With respect to The Fur Trade, the area was one of the fields of operation of Hudson's Bay Company fur brigades during the 1820's and 1830's.

ARCHEOLOGY

The University of Oregon Museum of Natural History has conducted most archeological research, investigation, and cataloguing in the study area. Sites for further investigation and excavation have been found and two excavations have been made at sites adjacent to the study area. Of minor importance, they revealed only one burial, dated at about 1400 A.D., and minor artifacts. In the study area there are no known scientific excavations. One excavation was done near Service Creek but there is no record of the findings. Cave sites along Rock Creek have been vandalized by "pot-hunters," but open sites are relatively untouched. All sites investigated are only of local significance.

RECREATION

The John Day River Valley itself has very limited recreational facilities at the present time, not because of any lack of resources but because little development has as yet been accomplished.

Oregon's State Park System is widely known throughout the United States for its outstandingly high quality of development, administration, and park acquisition programs. As with other public land managing agencies, however, the mounting recreation pressures and greater demands of the more populous and heavily-travelled sections of the State have made it necessary for the State Parks and Recreation Division to concentrate its efforts and funds in those sections. Consequently, programs in areas like the upper John Day Basin have had to be deferred. Even so, some new acquisitions and developments of State Park and Recreation areas have been made, such as Clarno State Park, now in the initial phase of development, and the Clyde Holliday Wayside.

The older Shelton Wayside (180 acres) on State Highway 19, 10 miles southeast of the town of Fossil, includes a 20-unit campground. At Unity Reservoir, just east of the upstream limits of the Basin on U.S. 26, there are 20 trailer sites and minor camping facilities. Limited picnicking is available at the Foree Unit of the fossil beds area and at Painted Hills. Rest and lunch stop areas are located in a number of places along the highways: at the Johnny Kirk Springs, a highwayside a few miles north of the Sheep Rock Unit on State Route 19 noted for its abundance of cold, sparkling spring water; and the newly developed Clyde Holliday Wayside just east of Mount Vernon.

Overlook parking areas and foot trails have been established in some of the fossil bed units but, for the reasons noted above, the State has not developed an interpretive program for the scientific resources.

The Bureau of Land Management has a checkerboard pattern of public domain lands adjoining the river and has classified this land for recreational use. However, no planning or development of recreational facilities has as yet been undertaken.

The river valley offers the visitor opportunity for such recreation activities as sightseeing, steelhead and salmon fishing, picnicking, hiking, and rock and fossil hunting. With the exception of camping, for which the valley has but extremely limited potential, a definite need exists for the development of additional public use facilities and access and for the interpretation of the resources where appropriate.

The valley is surrounded almost entirely by national forests, four of which are in the basin. These lands certainly contain unlimited recreational resources. The area is widely known for its hunting of both big game and game birds. It contains the headwaters of several small rivers and many streams, which are fairly evenly distributed throughout the national forest land and maintain a year-round flow of water which supports fish life. The many small lakes are open to sport fishing throughout the year. Boating is permitted on a few of the larger lakes. Road access to the vast area is good and current camping and picnicking facilities adequate. The Malheur Forest alone has 17 improved campgrounds of various sizes, well located with good distribution throughout the forest. In addition, they have numerous unimproved areas where camping is permitted. The other forests involved have similar facilities. These are hiking and horseback riding opportunities throughout this area on an adequate system of foot and riding trails. Currently there is some winter sports activity in the forests; however, the U.S. Forest Service believes that these areas are poorly located and, consequently, during years of light snow and extremely cold temperatures, little use is made of these facilities. Because of the distance to these areas from any population center this activity would probably be limited to local use only.

In summary, interesting and colorful scenery is to be found through the entire basin and recreational resources are abundant throughout the area. The existing facilities in the John Day River Valley are not adequate, and there is a definite need to develop and interpret the resources found here. Existing facilities in the national forests, on the other hand, are more than adequate to meet the present demand. Expansion is planned by the Forest Service to accommodate public use of the national forests when the visitor use indicates the need.

It is believed that the existing, primarily natural, water resources of the Upper John Day Basin are adequate to meet the present recreational need. Should future needs require expansion, the construction of the Hall Hill, Deardorff, or Joaquin Miller Reservoirs, now under study by the Bureau of Reclamation, could well meet the demand, All are a considerable distance from the fossil beds area and the impoundments would have little or no effect on the natural qualities or features of that area.