In this area, there were a number of gold & silver mines in the late 1800s and early 1900s including the Flagstaff, Virtue, and Friday mines. The Virtue mine reached 1000 feet deep and a length of 10,000 feet. The total production from the mine is estimated at $2,189,000. In the year 1897 the yield of gold from 313 gold mines and claims in the area, in all stages of development, was estimated at $3,000,000. [Western Mining History]

“As early as 1871, James William Virtue—one-time sheriff of Baker County—was recognized nationally for his expertise as a miner when President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him U.S. centennial commissioner. His charge was to help plan “an international exhibition of arts, manufactures, and products of the soil and mine,” to be held in Philadelphia in 1876 as part of the centennial celebration of American independence.At one time, Virtue was considered the richest man in eastern Oregon, but he suffered financial disaster when his bank failed during the Panic of 1893.” [Oregon Encyclopedia]

The Wallowa Mountains are known as the “Alps of Oregon”. They are composed of metamorphic rock and granitic rocks of the Wallowa Batholith. The Batholith formed when huge blobs of magma were injected into the rocks of the exotic terranes about 130 million years ago. Because the magma was injected many miles below the surface, the molten rock cooled slowly, allowing the characteristic coarse salt and pepper crystal texture of granite to form. However, the hills around the valleys surrounding the high-Wallowas are made up of Columbia River Basalt. [Cycle Oregon]

Keating and the Keating Valley are home to productive farms and ranches today. The “town” is named for “Uncle Tom” Keating, a former British sailor and early settler and investor in land. A post office opened December 1880 and remained active until January 1975. In 1870 there was an attempt to alter the course of the Oregon Trail by leaving the traditional route near Durkee and cutting across the hills to the Lower Powder River valley (near Keating) and thence to Pondosa and Telocaset. (If you have know of more historical information, please drop us a note.) [Wikipedia]

The Widman Access Area is a cooperative program between a private landowner and the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. The goal is to maintain public hunting access on private lands and increase access to public land. The lands provide habitat for deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, Hungarian partridge, chukar, and quail. The ranch has also been active in habitat improvement projects aimed at treating invasive annual grass and re-establishing perennial grass. [on-site kiosk]

Walter S. Love’s sons homesteaded land between Kelley Creek and Ritter Creek. He built the Love Reservoir around 1900 to furnish irrigation water for this land. This reservoir was fed by ditches that brought water from Love, and Ritter Creeks. When full, it covered 120 acres, but now with the higher dam, it covers 160 acres. [Baker County Oregon Geneology and History]