- 1805 Lewis and Clark
Expedition in future Morrow County
- 1843 Oregon Trail
migrations begin
- 1848 Col. Cornelius
Gilliam sent by Gov. Abernethy to arrest Cayuse
Indians responsible for Whitman Massacre; Gilliam
died at Well Springs, Morrow County.
- 1858 Interior Oregon
opened for settlement by General Harney
- 1859 Jordan homestead
established in Morrow County.
- 1862 Passage of Homestead
Act; Ayers, Breeden [Breeding], Clark & Cecil
homesteads established; gold discovered in John Day
Valley.
- 1867 Cecil Post Office
established.
- 1868-1870 First major
cattlemen to area.
- 1868-1873 First sheep
camps established.
- 1869 Stansbury purchased
Estes Claim, established Stansbury Flat.
- 1872 Henry Heppner and
Jackson Morrow open first store; town named for
Henry Heppner; Van Armen lumber mill established at
the headwaters of Butter Creek; Willow Forks and
Vinson Post Offices established.
- 1873 First school, post
office and saloon in Heppner; Lena Post Office
established; Joseph Glidden obtains patent on barbed
wire.
- 1874 First timber survey
by State of Oregon in Morrow County; Midway Post
Office established.
- 1875 First hotel, livery and Well
Fargo Express office established in Heppner.
- 1876 Gleason's Mill became
Parker's Mill.
- 1878 Bannock-Paiute
Wars-Fort Heppner built; coal strike on Johnson
Creek; first church [Baptist] established in
Heppner.
- 1879 Hardman school
established; first hardware businesses in Heppner.
- 1880 First wheat, other
cereal and hay [Blackhorse] crops; first wheat crop
claimed west of Hardman.
- 1881 Hardman Post Office
established; first flour mill established in
Heppner.
- 1882 Ella Post Office
established.
- 1883 Heppner Gazette
established; first shoe shop and wagon shop
established in Heppner; Eightmile, Atwood, Castle
Rock, Gooseberry & Salineville Post Offices
established.
- 1884 Adamsville, Alpine
and Ione Post Offices established.
- 1885 Morrow County
established; Heppner designated temporary county
seat; Lexington named for Mrs. Wm. Penland's
Kentucky home; Lexington Post Office established;
courthouse dedicated in Heppner; Ione school built;
passage of Jackson Morrow's "Legal Fence" bill by
legislature legalized barbed wire; National Bank of
Heppner established.
- 1886 County seat legally
established at Heppner after bitter election with
Lexington.
- 1887 Heppner incorporated;
12' sidewalks built on Heppner Main Street; streets
graded; Heppner Flouring Mill rebuilt and
modernized.
- 1888 Henry Blackman
elected to legislature; got $10K appropriation to
build bridge across the North Fork of the John Day
River at Monument allowing shipment of John Day
Valley wool to Heppner for forwarding;Cyclone hit
Lexington causing fatalities; railroad heads in at
Heppner.
- 1889 Gold and silver taken
from Willow Creek Mines; Opal found on "Peters
Butte;" Fair Building constructed in Heppner.
- 1890 First steam driven
commercial threshing machine in county; Mallory Mill
established in Burton Valley.
- 1891 Palace Hotel opened
in Heppner; Morrow County Record begins publication;
Heppner school burns, new school built on east hill;
Joseph Woolery became merchant in Ione.
- 1893 Heppner Light and
Water Company begins operation.
- 1893-1895 Bank
failures-bad crops-worse prices.
- 1897 Heppner Times
established; National Bank of Heppner closed.
- 1898 Ione Herald and Ione
Post established; Hardman Homestead has brief
publishing life.
- 1900ca Coal found at the
headwaters of Willow Creek.
- 1902 Morrow County
Courthouse built.
- 1903 First 4-year high
school graduates, Heppner School; Heppner Flood-250+
victims; Sam Boardman homestead established.
- 1905ca. Herren's Mill
established on the headwaters of Willow Creek.
- 1907 D.B. Sheller takes
over Blue Mountain Forest Preserve (Dept. of
Interior); regulation of sheep and cattle grazing.
- 1908 Local Option vote for
Prohibition in Heppner.
- 1910 Local Option vote
against Prohibition in Heppner.
- 1912 First gas engine
powered harvest equipment in Morrow County; Heppner
Gazette and Heppner Times consolidated.
- 1913 New Heppner High
School built.
- 1914 War in Europe-wheat
and horse prices rise.
- 1916 Individual
horse-drawn combines drive out commercial outfits;
Oregon goes dry-moonshiners prosper.
- 1917 West Extension
Irrigation District added to original district.
- 1918 First County Agent
assigned; north half of Heppner burns (May 27);
south half of Heppner burns, including Palace Hotel
(July 4).
- 1919 Willow Creek Road,
Heppner-Cecil, graded; Sam Boardman named first
Oregon State Parks Superintendent.
- 1921 First North Morrow
County Fair
- 1922 First official
Heppner Rodeo.
- 1930 Reed's Mill
established on Chapin Creek; Heppner City Well
drilled.
- 1932 1st National, Heppner
Farmers' Elevator, Farmers & Stockmen's' banks
fold.
- 1933 Scritzmeyer Mill
established on the headwaters of Rhea Creek; Heppner
issues paper and sheepskin scrip.
- 1934 1st National Bank
re-opens.
- 1936 Taylor Grazing Act
passed; CCC Camp established in Heppner.
- 1937 First use of
strip-cropping in county.
- 1939 Morrow County forms
first Soil Conservation District in the nation.
- 1940ca Heppner Lumber Co.
established.
- 1940 Morrow County Grain
Growers established; Columbia Basin Electric Power
Co. incorporated to buy power from BPA; Boardman
Bombing Range established.
- 1940s First use of spray
weedkillers and nitrogen fertilizers.
- 1949 Morrow County Grain
Growers Heppner plant burns.
- 1952 Pioneer Memorial
Hospital built in Heppner.
- 1953 New grade school in
Heppner; new Ione school.
- 1954 Heppner mill sold to
Dant & Russell and Maurice Hitchcock.
- 1959 Final consolidation
of all county schools into one district; Heppner
mill sold to Kinzua Corporation.
- 1960ca John Day dam
constructed-City of Boardman moved.
- 1961 New high school in
Heppner.
- 1970ca Proliferation of
center-pivot irrigation, Port of Morrow established.
- 1983 Willow Creek Dam
completed.
- 1986 Conservation Reserve
Program established
- 1994 Heppner mill sold to
Pioneer Resources; Union Pacific abandons line into
Heppner.
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