Last updated: April 2, 2024
Place
Birnie Park
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
on C Avenue near Sixth Street, La Grande, Oregon
Significance:
Camping and staging area on the Oregon Trail
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
8 listed
Grill, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Picnic Table, Playground, Restroom, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Water - Drinking/Potable, Wheelchair Accessible
For emigrants, today's Birnie Park was more than just a place along the Oregon Trail. It was also an important camping and staging area. In order to leave Grande Ronde Valley and continue on the Trail, emigrants faced a nearly 1000 ft. climb up steep valley walls. Teams of oxen had to be combined in order to pull the wagons up this rise. The area now known as Birnie Park provided a perfect location to do this.
From the interpretive sign at the park:
"Having endured miles of alkali and sage, the Oregon Trail Pioneers paused at the summit near Ladd Canyon to admire the breathtaking oasis of the Grande Ronde Valley. The trail down the hill was also breathtaking. With chains, the emigrants rough-locked the rear wheels of their wagons, then skidded and bounced wide-eyed to the valley floor.
On this site, many emigrants pulled off the Oregon Trail (present-day B Avenue) for a night of well-earned rest. They often found Indians from the Nez Perce of Cayuse tribes awaiting their arrival; not in ambush, as many feared, but with friendly greetings and an eagerness to trade. The farmers cast appraising eye at the waving stand of head-high grass and were tempted to linger. But provisions were short, the season was late. Still ahead lay the Blue Mountains and the chance of early snows. Daybreak found the oxen yoked for the grueling climb out of the valley.
Many of the Oregon Trail emigrants carried fond memories of this lush valley. By the late 1850s, the good land in the Willamette had been claimed and a reverse migration began. Autumn of 1861 saw a small a group of families and single men building cabins in the Mt. Glen area of the valley. The following spring, Ben and Frances Brown, S.M. Black and William Chaffin staked out claims along the trail. Brown's cabin stood a few blocks west of here, near the southeast corner of C and Cedar streets. The village that grew around it, first called Brown's Town, was later renamed La Grande."
Site Information
Location (on C Avenue near Sixth Street, La Grande, Oregon)
The 2.2 acre park currently contains a trail-themed playground, interpretive exhibits, and a small paved path with eight glazed ceramic columns. These columns illustrate a pioneer family and the trip through the Grande Ronde Valley by covered wagon. Amenities include picnic tables, a small picnic shelter, and restrooms.