Click image to enlarge Irrigon Marine Park, Irrigon, Oregon. Image taken September 24, 2005.
Irrigon, Oregon, is located at Columbia River Mile (RM) 282, between Boardman and Umatilla. The Blalock Islands are located downstream, as well as the location of the old Paterson Ferry. Surrounding Irrigon is the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge. Lewis and Clark passed through this area on October 19, 1805, and camped just upstream of today's town. On their return the men camped across the river near Plymouth, Washington.
Lewis and Clark's passed by the Irrigon area on October 19, 1805 and camped just upstream of today's Irrigon.
Lewis and Clark's campsite of October 19, 1805, was located in today's Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge, near Irrigon, Oregon. The campsite is depicted on Lewis and Clark's route map (Moulton, vol.1, map#75) just upsteam of an Indian Village. While this area has changed due to the flooding behind the John Day Dam, plotting against a modern map puts this location just upstream today's town of Irrigon.
Lewis and Clark's previous campsite was located at Spring Gulch Creek and their camp of October 20, 1805, was near Roosevelt, Washington.
Click image to enlarge Columbia River looking upstream from Irrigon, Oregon. Plymouth, Washington, is just visible in the distance, left. Image taken September 24, 2005.
Irrigon is located near the site of the "Grande Ronde Landing", a former rival of Umatilla, Oregon. Later, the place was called "Stokes". The Stokes Post Office was in operation from May 1897 until April 1899. The Irrigon Post Office was established in November 1903.
"... Addison Bennett made up the name of the place from the words Oregon and Irrigation. Irrigon was the scene of a promising irrigation enterprise, hence Bennett's style of name. He was editor of the first newpaper in the place, called the Oregon Irrigation, later the Irrigon Irrigator. ..."
During the heyday of the Oregon Trail, both Umatilla and Irrigon had portions of the Oregon Trail turning north and reaching the Columbia River.
None of these trails were static or fixed in finite locations. Emigrants were always seeking alternative routes for reasons to suit their own purposes. Such was the case with the Oregon Trail. The main route generally followed the Snake River across much of southern Idaho. At the place called Farewell Bend, near Ontario, Oregon, the pioneers veered away from the Snake River, bidding it farewell as the name implies, and struck out overland across the Blue Mountains. Arriving at what is now the City of Echo, Oregon, the trail took several branches. The main trail proceeded westward through a stage stop called Well Springs and then onward to the Columbia River near The Dalles.
Another branch of the trail followed the Umatilla River from Echo down to its confluence with the Columbia River at what is now the City of Umatilla. A third branch traversed down through present-day Umatilla Army Depot and joined with a Columbia River shoreline trail here at Irrigon. This trail segment intersects almost exactly at the campsite of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery, thus the city logo “Where Lewis and Clark & the Oregon Trail meet”.
According to a Historic Resource Assessment published by the Bureau of Land Management in October, 2000, the Irrigon spur of the Oregon Trail was mapped by the General Land Office in 1861. Use of this alternate route enabled emigrants to gain access much sooner to the banks of the Columbia River where at one time a steamboat landing was situated near Irrigon.
Irrigon became a railroad siding in the 1880s. Completion of the first transcontinental railroad in May of 1869 obviated much of the need for pioneers to migrate west via covered wagon, but [a] BLM report indicates that the Irrigon spur of the Oregon Trail continued to be used as a local connecting road until it was closed off by construction of the Umatilla Army Depot.
Today all that can be seen of his old segment of the Oregon Trail is a couple of faint depressions, or swales, in the sand and sagebrush along Highway 730 on the eastern outskirts of the city."
Source: City of Irrigon website, 2014, "Irrigon History".
"... IRRIGON, 8 m. (297 alt., 65 pop.), on the site of old Grande Ronde Landing, a former stopping place for travelers, derives its name and sustenance from the irrigation district of which it is the center. An experiment farm nearby demonstrates the agricultural possibilities of the rich soil.
At 11.2 m. is a junction with a side road.
Right on this road to PATTERSON FERRY, 1 m. (toll for cars and five persons, $1; round trip, $1.50) connecting with US 410 at Prosser, Washington.
On a slight knoll (R) at 19.7 m. is a mounted specimen of Indian picture writing. The engraved boulder was found on the bank of the Columbia River a few miles east of its present location...."
The 1908 U.S. Geological Survey's Topographic Map "Umatilla" (1:125,000) shows the community of Irrigon, plus the ferry line across the Columbia connecting Irrigon, Oregon, to Coolidge, Washington. This ferry line is at the approximate location of today's Irrigon park and boat ramp. Coolidge, a community no longer in existence, was located approximately 7 miles downstream of Plymouth, Washington.
"Four ferries cross the Columbia River above The Dalles as follows: Biggs-Merryhill, 16 statute miles; Arlington-Roosevelt, 50 statute miles; Boulder-Alderdale, 65 statute miles; and Irrigon-Coolidge, 88 statute miles."
Click image to enlarge Blalock Islands toward Grain Elevator, downstream of Irrigon, Oregon. Image taken May 24, 2005.
Click image to enlarge Grain Elevator and the Columbia River, downstream of Irrigon, Oregon. View from end of Paterson Ferry Road. Image taken September 24, 2005.
Click image to enlarge Grain Elevator, downstream of Irrigon, Oregon. View from end of Paterson Ferry Road. Image taken September 24, 2005.
Click image to enlarge Boat Dock, Irrigon, Oregon. View from Irrigon Marine Park. Image taken September 24, 2005.
The end of Oregon's Paterson Ferry Road reaches the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 278.5, three miles downstream of Irrigon, Oregon (RM 282). The Paterson Ferry Road was once the Oregon side of the Paterson Ferry to Paterson, Washington. This privately-owned ferry went out of business in 1955 with the construction of the Interstate 82/395 Bridge located 13 miles upstream. The Interstate 82/395 bridge connects Umatilla, Oregon to Plymouth, Washington. Today the Paterson Ferry Road ends upstream the prominent grain elevator (RM 278). Across the Columbia are views of the Paterson Unit of the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge.
South of Irrigon and east of Boardman and bordering Interstate 84 lies the 17,000-acre Potlatch Plantation.
Click image to enlarge Old and new growth, Hybrid Poplars, Potlatch Plantation, Oregon. View from driving Interstate 84 near Irrigon, Oregon. Image taken September 25, 2005.
Irrigon, Oregon, is surrounded by units of the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge was established in 1969 for wildlife habitat lost to flooding caused by the construction of the John Day Dam. It is located along both sides of the Columbia River from Boardman, Oregon, upstream to Umatilla, Oregon.
Click image to enlarge Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon,: McCormack Slough, Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge, McCormack Unit, near Irrigon, Oregon. Image taken September 24, 2005.