Imnaha History...37º

After reading the book "Four Lines A Day" by local author and historian Janie Tippett and spending a weekend at the River House, Pat and I wanted to know more about this isolated piece of Oregon...Pat immediately started planning to make that happen...Possible dates were sent to Janie and she responded with "Lets plan on Monday, November 11th.".

The sun was shining as we set off yesterday morning...Pat and I furnished lunch and gas, Janie was the driver and tour guide...We were joined by Jerome, caretaker of the "Magic Garden" and a newcomer to Wallowa County, also interested in the history of Imnaha.

Imnaha, 30 miles east, is much different country than where we live in Joseph...The elevation drops from over 4000 feet to under 2000 feet and the topography changes drastically...We left the fertile, valleys and towering mountains of Joseph and soon wound our way down, making a brief stop at Janie's cabin at the confluence of Little Sheep and Big Sheep Cricks, where her cabin is surrounded by rimrocks with small open spaces along the rivers called "bottoms".

   
            Janie's Cabin (spring of 2012)

                                                                                           Rimrock View

Janie kept up a running commentary as she drove and occasionally stopped at places along the way such as "Devils Gulch and Bear Gulch"...We explored Camp Crick and Midway Road (Duckett Road). Before the Imnaha Highway was built this was the road to Joseph via the Zumwalt Prairie...In the horse and buggy days it was a two day trip, hence the name Midway was given to an overnight stop as the road topped out on the Prairie, midway between Imnaha and Joseph.

Back on the main highway we stopped at the Imnaha Post Office that was opened in 1885 and the town of Imnaha platted in 1902...The Imnaha Store and Tavern sits across the street and the Imnaha Motel about one quarter of a mile away...Mail arrives at the postoffice Monday, Wednesday and Friday of every week...Mail is also delivered up river to individual mail boxes on a rural route...The Store and Tavern is a town meeting place where locals gather for food and drink and socialization.

Imnaha Post Office

Imnaha Store and Tavern

Imnaha Motel

In the early 1900's the Imnaha Store and Tavern was originally the Imnaha Mercantile...A store where the early settlers not only came to buy staples such as flour, sugar and coffee they were also able to purchase canning jars and kettles to preserve the abundance of fruits and vegetables growing on their homesteads...Preserved food was a must to feed their families through the winter...The early settlers were a hardy bunch. Making a living off of and proving up their homestead was not an easy task in country as rugged as the Imnaha Canyons...Small cabins and a cellar were built and they eked out a living by farming the "bottom's" along the Imnaha River and "benches" just under the rimrocks...Later a barn would be built on the property with neighbors coming together for a barn raising...The family cow grazed the rimrocks in summer and wintered on hay grown on the bottoms...Chickens provided eggs and meat and a steer and pigs were also raised for meat...The early homesteaders were Marks, Warnocks and Fisks...Only the Fisks no longer reside in the Canyon....To be continued...Hugs To All...OWAV:)