State of Oregon - Grant County

Grant County. Bounded north by Umatilla, east by Baker, south by the State of Nevada, and west by Lake and Wasco, Area, 21,000 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1873, $770,676. Population, 3,000. County seat, Canon City. Principal towns: Dayville, Crant, John Day City, Prairie City, Susanville, and Spanish Gulch. The county covers a vast area of that portion of Oregon east of the Cascade Range, comprising the mountainous and gold mining region in the north drained by John Days River to the Columbia, and part of the "Lake country" in the southwest, with the Blue and Steins mountains ranging through the east. The surface of much of it presents a forbidding aspect, being barren sage plains or rocky hills; but, notwithstanding this, its resources are undoubtedly great. Gold was discovered on John Days River in 1861, and since that date it is estimated that from $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 have been taken from the mines. The annual product is about $300,000 of gold and from $5,000 to $10,000 in silver. The prospect is fair for the product to increase, as many gold and silver bearing quartz ledges have been discovered, and some are worked with success. Silver has but recently been added to the list of products, but newly discovered veins bearing this metal are reported as giving very flattering prospects. Cinnabar, copper and coal have also been found but none of these minerals are worked for want of enterprise and capital. There are at present in the county two flouring mills, Ave saw mills, and two quartz mills of 10 stamps each. The valleys of that river, and its branches, are very fertile, but the arable land is quite limited. The grazing capacities of the county are very extensive, the native grasses being abundant and nutritious. Forests of the different kinds of timber common to Oregon are sufficiently distributed for all the uses of the farmer, mechanic and miner, when the immense mineral, grazing and agricultural wealth of mountain, hill, plain and valley shall have been developed. A good road traverse's the northern part, running from Canon City to the Dalles, and the Oregon Central Military Road, from the head of the Willamette to Salt Lake, passes through the southern part.

Officers: M. Dustin, County Judge; James Robinson, Clerk, Recorder and Auditor; W. B. Lasswell, District Attorney; W. P. Gray, Sheriff and Tax Collector; A. Hachney, Treasurer; Samuel French, Assessor; George Kinsley, Surveyor; F. C. Horsley, Coroner; W. H. Kelley, Superintendent Public Schools.

Pacific Coast Business Directory | Oregon Territory Index

Oregon Directory and Gazetteer

Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875.