Putting Down Roots

Putting Down Roots. Settlement Brings Change. By the 1870s, the Wallowa Valley was changing. Settlers from the eastern U.S. slowly moved in, drawn to good farmland and the ideal grazing land for cattle and horses that the valley offered. , The settlers brought with them a different way of looking at the world, and a different approached to the land. They built toll roads, homes, stores. They established ranches and planted crops. They staked their future on a way of life the valley had never seen. Within a few decades - imperceptibly at first - what had been foreign became the norm. , A different kind of Harvest , Before refrigeration, how could you have an ice cold drink on a hot summer day? By getting last year's ice from the ice house. , Knight's Pond just over the hill from here, was perfect for harvesting ice. First, you shovel the snow off. Then, you score the surface, make a grid in the ice and start cutting with an ice saw. , The ice gets hauled to and ice house, packed with hay or sawdust, and by the following July, it's part of your lemonade. A lot of work! , "They were... filled with the indomitable spirit... Ahead was a great adventure. Across the canyon of the Wallowa was the promised land, the land of opportunity." -- H.R. Findley, describing his parents' first trip into the Wallowa Valley in 1872