67

LAUREL HILL

BEAVER BOARD INFORMATION

Unknown author: Public Domain
Laurel Hill Chute - Mt. Hood Scenic Byway
The Pioneer Road here detoured the Columbia River Rapids and Mount Hood to the Willamette Valley. The road at first followed an old Indian trail. The later name was Barlow Road. Travel was difficult. Wagons were snubbed to trees by ropes or held back by drags of cut trees. Early travelers named the hill from the resemblance of native leaves to laurel.

FACT BLOCK

LOCATION:
Government Camp
Clackamas COUNTY

GPS COORDINATES: 45.302316,-121.773856

OTIC topic:
Oregon Trail
(part of oregon trail)

beaver board text CODED AS:
no WHITE SUPREMACY ACKNOWLEDGMENT
-
false MULTICULTURAL information

published online:
october 11, 2012
68

Lone Tree of the Oregon Trail

BEAVER BOARD INFORMATION

Photo: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives
Flagstaff Hill, Baker County
Early Oregon Trail emigrants crested the south flank of Flagstaff Hill and, with the Blue Mountains looming to the west, saw a solitary tree in the valley below. Called l’arbre seul (the lone tree) by French-Canadian fur trappers, this large tree, possibly ponderosa pine or Douglas-fir, towered majestically above the floor of Baker Valley about three miles northwest of this marker.

For many years–perhaps centuries–the Lone Tree served as a landmark for Indians, trappers, missionaries, and Oregon Trail emigrants, until felled in 1843 by what explorer John Fremont called, ‘some inconsiderate emigrant axe.’

FACT BLOCK

LOCATION:
Baker City
BAKER COUNTY

GPS COORDINATES: 44.81203,-117.7542

OTIC topic:
Historic Routes

SPONSORED BY:
Baker County Historical Society

beaver board text CODED AS:
no WHITE SUPREMACY ACKNOWLEDGMENT
-
false MULTICULTURAL information

published online:
september 25, 2011
69

lure of the gold

BEAVER BOARD INFORMATION

Beginning in 1843, thousands of Oregon Trail emigrants trekked through this region toward new lives in the West. This epic journey indelibly etched the landscape with wagon ruts, such as those near by.

When Henry Griffin, a prospector from California, discovered gold eight miles southwest of present-day Baker City in 1861, the emigration pattern changed radically. Eastern Oregon quickly became a destination for gold-seekers and settlers-many arrived from the Willamette Valley reversing their initial journey along the Oregon Trail to settle in this area.
Mining camps sprang up with the prospect of gold and many boomed into towns.

By 1862 the nearby town of Auburn, with a population over 5,000, was among Oregon’s largest cities. Local settlers established farms and stores, providing hay and produce to miners, and for much of the 1860s large wagon trains loaded with freight were a common site along this segment of the Oregon Trail.

FACT BLOCK

LOCATION:
Baker City
baker COUNTY

GPS COORDINATES: 44.80816,-117.73186

OTIC topic:
Geology, Hisoric Routes, oregon trail
(part of oregon trail)

BEAVER BOARD TEXT CODED AS:
no WHITE SUPREMACY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
-
no MULTICULTURAL
acknowledgement

published online:
september 25, 2011
69B

Interpretive Center

BEAVER BOARD INFORMATION

Photo by Larry Moore, BLM
The Bureau of Land Management’s National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center near Baker City includes exhibits and living history demonstrations describing life along the Trail as part of an 1850s wagon train. Visitors can walk beside ruts left by wagons a century and a half ago.

Check the center’s website (https://www.blm.gov/learn/interpretive-centers/national-historic-oregon-trail-interpretive-center) for current hours or call (541-523-1843)

FACT BLOCK

LOCATION:
Baker City
Baker COUNTY

GPS COORDINATES: 44.814636,-117.728435

OTIC TOPIC:
Oregon Trail

BEAVER BOARD TEXT CODED AS:
no WHITE SUPREMACY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
-
no MULTICULTURAL information

published online:
october 10, 2012