Editing Wallowa County, Oregon (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2010}}In 1871, the first white settlers came to the area, crossing the mountains in search of livestock feed in the Wallowa Valley. The county was established on February 11, 1887,<ref name="main" /> from the eastern portion of [[Union County, Oregon|Union County]]. Boundary changes occurred with Union County in 1890, 1900, and 1915.

[[File:Chief Joseph-3 weeks after surrender-Oct.1877.jpg|thumb|left|140px|[[Chief Joseph]], 1877]]
In 1877, the younger [[Chief Joseph]] of the [[Nez Perce people|Nez Perce]], incensed at the government's attempt to remove his people from the Wallowa Valley, refused to relocate to the reservation in [[North Central Idaho|north central Idaho]]. Several regiments of [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] cavalry troops were dispatched to force them onto the reservation. After numerous battles and a journey of almost {{convert|2,000|mi|km|spell=in}}, the Nez Perce fought their last battle at Bear Paw, just shy of the Canadian border, when Joseph and the other chiefs decided to stop fighting. He and some of the surviving Nez Perce were held in prison camps in Kansas and [[Oklahoma]], and those who survived that were relocated to [[Colville Indian Reservation|Colville Reservation]] in northeast [[Washington (state)|Washington]].<ref>{{Cite web |year=2010 |title=Chief Joseph |url=http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3813.html |access-date=March 5, 2010 |publisher=Online Highways LLC}}</ref> Approximately half of the survivors moved to the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph last visited Wallowa County in 1902,<ref name="main">{{Cite book |last=Bailey |first=Barbara Ruth |title=Main Street: Northeastern Oregon |publisher=[[Oregon Historical Society]] |year=1982 |isbn=0-87595-073-6 |pages=5, 28}}</ref> and died two years later.

Wallowa County was the scene of perhaps the worst incident of violence against [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese]] in Oregon, when in May 1887 a gang of [[cattle rustler|rustlers]] massacred 10-34 Chinese gold miners in [[Hells Canyon]]. Of the seven rustlers and schoolboys believed to have been responsible, only three were brought to trial in Enterprise, where a jury found them not guilty on September 1, 1888. A proposal to commemorate this event on official maps as [[Chinese Massacre Cove]] was approved in 2005 and encompasses a five-acre site.<ref>Nokes, R. Gregory. 2009. Massacred for Gold. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press.</ref>

In 1896, the [[Joseph, Oregon|Joseph]] town bank was robbed and there was a shootout in the streets. The town has occasionally had re-enactments of that event.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Taste of Joseph |url=http://www.wallowa.com/life/20140605/taste-of-joseph-to-spotlight-busy-town |access-date=February 15, 2018 |publisher=Wallowa County Chieftain}}</ref>

[[Wallowa County Courthouse]] was built in 1909–1910, using locally quarried Bowlby stone, a type of volcanic [[tuff]]. It is a [[Romanesque Revival architecture|Romanesque Revival]]-style building with [[Queen Anne style architecture in the United States|Queen Anne]] architectural elements in some exterior features. The courthouse was listed on [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2000. Today, it still houses Wallowa County government offices and faces west toward South River Street and is surrounded by ''Courthouse Square'' which encompasses one city block, approximately {{convert|1.3|acres|0|abbr=on}}. The square is landscaped with [[oak]], [[pine]], [[maple]], [[Tilia|linden]], [[juniper]], and [[Malus|flowering crab apple]] trees. There are [[rose]]s planted on the north, west, and south sides of the courthouse. The square also has several veteran memorials along with a {{convert|20|by|24|ft|adj=on}} wood-framed [[gazebo]] in the northeast corner of the square.<ref>[http://heritagedata.prd.state.or.us/historic/index.cfm?do=main.loadFile&load=NR_Noms/00000805.pdf. Wallowa County Courthouse], National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., May 18, 2000.</ref><ref>[http://www.co.wallowa.or.us/administration/courthouse/history.html Historic Wallowa County Courthouse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029201554/http://www.co.wallowa.or.us/administration/courthouse/history.html |date=October 29, 2013 }}, Wallowa County, ''www.co.wallowa.or.us'', Enterprise, Oregon, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.enterpriseoregon.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6:the-wallowa-county-courthouse&catid=14:historic-landmarks&Itemid=3 The Wallowa County Courthouse], City of Enterprise, ''enterpriseoregon.org'', Enterprise Oregon, July 29, 2012.</ref>
[[File:Wallowa mts lake.jpg|thumb|Wallowa mountains and lake]]
[[United States Supreme Court]] [[Associate Justice]] [[William O. Douglas]] was one famous summer visitor to Wallowa County, building a vacation cabin on Lostine River Road in 1939.

In December 2003, a developer announced a proposal to buy a {{convert|62|acre|km2|adj=on}} property near [[Wallowa Lake]], and build 11 homes on it. This property is adjacent to the property that is home to the grave of [[Old Chief Joseph]], father of the younger Chief Joseph. This proposal drew opposition from a local group, as well as from the Nez Perce, [[Colville (tribe)|Colville]], and [[Umatilla (tribe)|Umatilla]] tribes. Prior offers by the [[National Park Service]] and the [[Trust for Public Land]] to buy the land were rejected. The County commissioners gave conditional approval for the developers to complete a final [[plat]] of the land on February 13, 2004, but the attorney for the Nez Perce said the tribe would appeal the decision to the [[Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals]]. As of 2016, the controversy was still active.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kriegers won't sell land to government |url=http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/localstate/4037956-151/kriegers-wont-sell-land-to-government |access-date=February 15, 2018 |publisher=La Grande observer}}</ref>