Baker County was 1st official jurisdiction in Eastern Oregon

Published 9:00 pm Monday, June 29, 2026

Although Native Americans had lived in what became Northeastern Oregon for millennia, when the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, the better part of a century would pass before settlers began to start towns in the region.

Tens of thousands of immigrants rolled through the area, following the Oregon Trail, starting in the 1840s.

Although their destination was the trail’s end at Oregon City, and ultimately a farm in the Willamette Valley, eventually some retraced the ruts to the northeast corner of Oregon, which became the nation’s 33rd state on Feb. 14, 1859, while others halted their wagons in the valley of the Powder or Grande Ronde river, or in the Columbia Basin on the west side of the Blue Mountains.

The first post office in Eastern Oregon actually predates the state. The Umatilla post office was established on Sept. 26, 1851, although it was closer to present-day Echo than to the city of Umatilla. The post office closed just a year later.

The region’s first official jurisdiction was Baker County, which the Oregon Legislature carved out of Wasco County on Sept. 22, 1862.

That was prompted by the region’s first gold rush, which followed Henry Griffin’s discovery of gold in a gulch, a few miles southwest of what would become Baker City, on Oct. 23, 1861.

Just five days after designating Baker County, on Sept. 27, 1862, lawmakers shrunk Wasco County even more by creating Umatilla County.

Two years later, on Oct. 14, 1864 — apparently a busy day in Salem — the legislature added two more counties in Grant and Union.

Grant County was made of parts of Umatilla and Wasco counties, while Union County was originally part of Baker County.

On Oct. 14, 1887 — it’s not clear why Oct. 14 seems to have been 19th century lawmakers’ favorite day to create counties — the legislature designated a chunk of eastern Union County as Wallowa County.

In many cases, such as Umatilla, post offices were started before towns were incorporated.

And most cities in the region were settled years, or even decades, before they were incorporated.

People were living in what became Baker City, for instance, in 1863, but the city was platted in 1865 and incorporated in 1874, eight years after the post office was established.

La Grande was already a town when it was incorporated in 1865.

And two cities — Umatilla and Canyon City — were incorporated even earlier, in 1864.

Incorporation dates for other cities in the region:

Pendleton: 1880

Hermiston: 1907

Heppner: 1887

Boardman: 1921

Milton-Freewater: 1950 (Milton, 1873; Freewater, 1890)

Enterprise: 1889

Elgin: 1891

Echo: 1904

Haines: 1909

Halfway: 1909

Huntington: 1891

Imbler: 1922

Ione: 1903

Irrigon: 1957

Island City: 1904

John Day: 1901

Joseph: 1887

La Grande: 1865

Lexington: 1903

Long Creek: 1891

Mount Vernon: 1948

North Powder: 1903

Pilot Rock: 1911

Prairie City: 1891

Richland: 1917

Stanfield: 1910

Sumpter: 1901

Summerville: 1885

Union: 1878

Unity: 1972

Wallowa: 1899

Weston: 1878

Athena: 1904

Three firefighters were killed Saturday while battling two wildfires near the Colorado-Utah border, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service announced.

Emily Barker, 38, was from Michigan; Nick Hutcherson, 27, was from Arizona; and Sydney Watson, 26, was from Alabama.

Loved ones and friends started sharing tributes on social media, and FOX 13 News spoke to the loved ones of Emily Barker.

It all started when Sarah Brubeck was looking for a roommate in Colorado.

“Emily answered a random Craigslist ad,” Brubeck said. “We didn’t even know we had so much in common, so we had multiple hockey bags in our garage and multiple snowboards.”

Little did Brubeck know, she was getting a lot more than just a roommate.

“Grew to be more sisters than friends,” she said.

3 firefighters killed in wildfires

Just a couple of states over, Barker had touched the life of Kayla Lindsey.

“I met her when I was doing my interagency fire season with USFS and BLM Idaho,” she said. “You cannot see Emily and not want to talk to her.”

However, both friends’ worlds came crashing down when they heard the news that three firefighters did not make it while responding to the Knowles Fire along the Colorado-Utah border.

“One of our teammates was like, ‘Hey, Emily, let us know you’re safe,’ and she didn’t respond,” Brubeck said. “I just assumed she was out of service, and she would respond when she could, but she couldn’t.”

“I saw it first on Facebook,” Lindsey said. “I just kept reading it over and over, like, ‘That’s not the Emily Barker, I know that’s not my Emily.’”

Barker had died during a burn-over incident, something that hits close to home for Lindsey.

“I remember my first state fire, we pulled our shelters, and that’s never a good feeling. You never want to have to hear the words, ‘Get to your safety zone,’” she said. “I couldn’t imagine as strong as Emily was, how scared she must have felt when that happened, because that’s a terrible way to go.”

“She was more than life itself,” Lindsey added through tears. “She took so much interest in every person she met. She loved her job.”

While the world is getting to know Barker as a hero, her friends said it’s who she’s been all along.

“Showing up to house sit for free while we’re on our honeymoon or offering to carry someone’s hockey bag — she just gave of herself constantly,” Brubeck said.

“Didn’t matter how much she didn’t have in her cup, she always tried to fill everyone else’s,” Lindsey added. “I just wish we had more Emilys in the fire service.”

A wildland firefighter who knew the victims in Utah released the following statement:

“It’s times like these we’re reminded how truly dangerous our jobs are. Fire is the only natural disaster we ask men and women to stand in front of and stop. While we are often successful, sometimes the power of fire overtakes us, despite our best efforts and safest decision making. As we see so much criticism online about how we do our jobs, please remember our ultimate goal is to get every firefighter home safely. Saturday, we failed. The loss of Emily, Nick, and Sydney is burned in our souls. Our agencies and firefighters are hurting. We appreciate the public support now. And we hope that continues long after this has been forgotten for most of you. Because, for us, it is never forgotten. Every decision“It’s times like these we’re reminded how truly dangerous our jobs are. Fire is the only natural disaster we ask men and women to stand in front of and stop. While we are often successful, sometimes the power of fire overtakes us, despite our best efforts and safest decision making. As we see so much criticism online about how we do our jobs, please remember our ultimate goal is to get every firefighter home safely. Saturday, we failed. The loss of Emily, Nick, and Sydney is burned in our souls. Our agencies and firefighters are hurting. We appreciate the public support now. And we hope that continues long after this has been forgotten for most of you. Because, for us, it is never forgotten. Every decision, every pause in action, is because of a lost firefighter. To our fallen comrades… we’ll take it from here.”

WASHINGTON (7News) — D.C. is looking forward to an economic boost from added tourists this summer.

Tourism numbers for the America 250 celebration are looking positive. Hotel bookings are up, as D.C. prepares to celebrate America’s birthday.

The National Mall is ground zero for the 4th of July festivities, with the Folklife Festival, the 4th of July Parade, fireworks and free museums. Plus, this year, there is an extra emphasis on historic and cultural exhibits. 50 million visitors are estimated to inject millions into the local economy.

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“It’s very hard right now for us to tell you exactly what the economic impact is. overall, events like this, we typically don’t know the impact until after the event has taken place,” said Elliott Ferguson, Destination DC CEO.

According to Destination DC, 27.2 million people visited D.C. in 2025, up 20,000 visitors from the year before. They spent almost $12 billion, bringing in $2.5 billion in tax revenue and creating more than 114 thousand jobs.

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International visitation declined by 4%.

This summer of 2026, hotel bookings are up. More than two dozen hotels have DC250 packages, hoping to attract overnight guests. Luxury hotels are reporting record packages.

Visitors to the District pump billions directly into the local economy, accounting for over $11.4 billion in recent annual visitor spending and generating $2.3 billion in local tax revenue. And there’s a strong demand for the July 4 period.

D.C. has also secured 18 conventions for 2026, estimated to bring in $317(m) according to Exhibitor Online. This influx saves the average D.C. household more than $3,600 in taxes.

“As we look at the events with America’s 250 and the events that this Trump administration is bringing to the city, it has been positive for the industry,” Ferguson added.

Major openings are adding to the expected summer tourism boom, including the National Geographic Museum, renovations to the Air and Space Museum, and the new Lincoln Memorial Undercroft exhibit. The Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., will take place Aug.22 to 23, 2026, marking the firstever IndyCar series race on the National Mall.

These tourism dollars are critical, saving the average D.C. household more than $3,600 in taxes, as D.C. is facing headwinds from reductions to the federal workforce and commercial real estate challenges.