Editing Burns, Oregon (section)

==History==

===Tribal===
Archeologists have found evidence of human habitation in the general vicinity of Burns that pushed the possibility of human habitation from the previous estimate of 10,000 to 18,000 years ago.{{sfn|Jenks|2013|pp=34–37}} <ref>{{cite web|title=Archaeologists find new evidence in Southern Oregon that pushed possibility of human habitation from 10,000 to 18,000 years ago|url=https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/15/archaeology-southern-oregon-human-habitation-18000-years-ago/|work=Oregon Public Broadcasting|year=2023|access-date=September 5, 2024}}</ref>
Members of the contemporary [[Burns Paiute Tribe]] of Harney County, descended mainly from the Wadatika band of Paiutes, were hunter-gatherers throughout central and southern Oregon. The Wadatikas were named after the wada seeds collected as food from near Malheur Lake.{{sfn|Jenks|2013|pp=34–37}} Their territory covered about {{convert|5300|mi2|km2}} from the [[Cascade Range]] to near [[Boise, Idaho|Boise]] and from the southern Blue Mountains to south of Steens Mountain.{{sfn|Jenks|2013|pp=34–37}} Scattered in the 19th&nbsp;century by clashes with white settlers and soldiers and through forced removal to distant reservations, some of the Paiutes eventually returned to Harney County.<ref>{{cite web|last=Allen|first=Cain|title=Malheur Indian Reservation|url=http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=63029619-9698-B33E-18180586E8AA762E|work=The Oregon History Project|publisher=Oregon Historical Society|year=2005|access-date=April 8, 2013|archive-date=November 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110221829/http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=63029619-9698-B33E-18180586E8AA762E|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1930s, the Burns Paiute Tribe began buying land near Burns and holding tribal elections.{{sfn|Jenks|2013|pp=34–37}} By the late 1960s, the [[Tribe (Native American)|tribe]] had adopted a constitution and tribal bylaws, and in 1972 the Burns Paiute formally became an independent tribe, eligible to enter into contracts with other governments and legal entities.{{sfn|Jenks|2013|pp=34–37}} The tribe owns the Burns Paiute Reservation, {{convert|770|acre|ha}} north of Burns, and individual members of the tribe own more than {{convert|11000|acre|ha}} of land elsewhere in the county.{{sfn|Jenks|2013|pp=34–37}} In 1991, the tribe had about 350 members, and about 200 lived on the reservation.<ref>{{cite web|author=Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project|title=Appendix 1–2: American Indian Background Information|page=19|publisher=U.S. Forest Service|year=1997|url=http://www.icbemp.gov/pdfs/deis/eastside/volume2/apx1-2.pdf|access-date=April 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309060321/http://www.icbemp.gov/pdfs/deis/eastside/volume2/apx1-2.pdf|archive-date=March 9, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Cities and ranches===
[[File:Truck load of ponderosa pine, Edward Hines Lumber Co, operations in Malheur National Forest, Grant County, Oregon, July 1942.jpg|thumb|1942: [[Pinus ponderosa|Ponderosa pine]] logs from the Hines tract in the [[Malheur National Forest]]]]

After the arrival of Euro-American settlers in the 19th&nbsp;century, Burns was established in the 1880s. It was formally incorporated after Harney County's creation in 1889 through the splitting of [[Grant County, Oregon|Grant County]] into two counties. Early settler, merchant, and county commissioner George McGowan named the city after the Scottish poet [[Robert Burns]]. By 1891, the community had stores, a post office, hotels, and other businesses. McGowan was the town's first postmaster.<ref name="Chamber history">{{cite web |title=Burns, Oregon |publisher=Harney County Chamber of Commerce |url=http://www.harneycounty.com/DowntownBurns/Burns.htm |access-date=October 30, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928072003/http://www.harneycounty.com/DowntownBurns/Burns.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the 1920s, timber cutting and milling brought many newcomers to the region. In 1928, the [[Edward Hines Lumber Company]] acquired from the [[U.S. Forest Service]] the rights to cut timber in the Blue Mountains near [[Seneca, Oregon|Seneca]], north of Burns.<ref>{{cite web|last=Powell|first=David C.|title=Early Timber Harvesting in the Blue Mountains|date=June 2008|page=5|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_015647.pdf|publisher=United States Forest Service|access-date=April 7, 2013|archive-date=August 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802080219/http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_015647.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>  After winning the timber contract, the Hines Company built the {{convert|52|mi|km|adj=on}} [[Oregon and Northwestern Railroad]] between Burns and Seneca.{{sfn|Culp|1978|p=99}} Edward Hines, the company owner, built a lumber mill and [[company town]], incorporated as the City of Hines in 1930.<ref name="Portrait">{{cite journal|last=Lewis|first=James G|title=Biographical Portrait: Edward Hines (1863–1931)|journal=Forest History Today|issue=Spring/Fall 2004|pages=64–65|publisher=The Forest History Society|url=http://www.foresthistory.org/publications/FHT/FHTSpringFall2004/2004BP_Hines.pdf|access-date=April 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235121/http://www.foresthistory.org/publications/FHT/FHTSpringFall2004/2004BP_Hines.pdf|archive-date=March 3, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Timber and logging remained important to the local economy until the 1990s, when the area's last lumber mill closed for lack of timber.<ref name="Chamber history"/>

Cattle ranching in the region began as early as the 1860s and expanded after passage of the [[Desert Land Act]] of 1877.<ref name="Chamber history"/> The act promoted development of arid and semi-arid public land in the western United States by making {{convert|320|acre|ha|adj=on}} plots available to individuals willing to "reclaim, irrigate, and cultivate" the land.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lands and Realty – General Land Policy|url=http://www.blm.gov/or/landsrealty/lopolicy.php|publisher=Bureau of Land Management|access-date=April 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905134313/http://www.blm.gov/or/landsrealty/lopolicy.php|archive-date=September 5, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of the Harney County ranches established in the 19th&nbsp;century still exist in the 21st.<ref name="Chamber history"/> Agricultural revenue for Harney County in 2011 totaled about $84&nbsp;million. Of this, about 65&nbsp;percent came from cattle sales, 29&nbsp;percent from the sale of [[alfalfa]] hay, and most of the rest from other crops and the sale of horses.{{sfn|Jenks|2013|p=88}}