Harney County, Oregon


Harney County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,495, making it the sixth-least populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Burns. Established in 1889, the county is named in honor of William S. Harney, a military officer of the period, who was involved in the Pig War and popular in the Pacific Northwest.
Harney County is a rural county in southeastern Oregon. It is a five-hour drive from Portland, Oregon and a three-hour drive from Boise, Idaho. The county is bordered by Grant County, Malheur County ; Washoe County, Nevada and Humboldt County, Nevada ; and Lake, Deschutes, and Crook counties.
At in size, the county is the largest in Oregon, and one of the largest in the United States; it is larger in area than six U.S. states. The county is the most sparsely populated in Oregon, with a population density of. The county has just two incorporated cities: Burns, the county seat and the larger city, with 40% of the population, and Hines, with 20% of the county's population. About 75% of the county's area is federal land, variously managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service. About 10 percent of Harney County's area is part of the Ochoco National Forest and Malheur National Forest. The county also contains the Burns Paiute Indian Reservation within and immediately north of the City of Burns; this 760-acre reservation of the Burns Paiute Tribe is a remnant of the former Malheur Indian Reservation.
Harney County has a "high desert" topography, with low levels of precipitation. About 500 ranches and farms producing cattle, dairy products and hay operate within the county; in the county, cattle outnumber people 14-to-1. Besides ranching and farming, forestry evolves important industries in the county.
The county is of ecological as well as recreational importance. Along with neighboring Grant County, Harney County has the nation's largest Ponderosa pine forest. The county was also a focus of recent efforts to conserve the sage grouse; in 2014, Harney County ranchers signed 30-year agreements with the federal government to protect the sage grouse. Visitors are attracted to the county for its hunting, fishing, and camping activities.
According to the website of the Harney County Sheriff's Office, the sheriff has a staff of six law enforcement officers. Burns has a separate police department but, as of 2008, did not employ enough officers to provide "24-hour" coverage.

History

The Native Americans living in this region at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were the Northern Paiute, who fought with the Tenino and Wasco peoples. Peter Skene Ogden was the first known European to explore this area in 1826 when he led a fur brigade for the Hudson's Bay Company.
In September 3, 1855 Brigadier General Harney led the U.S. Army and surrounded and ambushed a Lakota village killing 86 people and taking many others as prisoners. This site, located in Nebraska, is now known as the Blue Water Massacre or the Battle of Ash Hollow.
Harney County was carved out of the southern two-thirds of Grant County on February 25, 1889. A fierce political battle, with armed "night riders" who spirited county records from Harney to Burns, ended with Burns as the county seat in 1890.
The Malheur River Indian Reservation was created by executive order on March 14, 1871, and the Northern Paiute within the Oregon state boundaries were settled there. The federal government "discontinued" the reservation after the Bannock War of 1878. Descendants of these people form a federally recognized tribal entity, the Burns Paiute Tribe, which had 341 members in 2008. Fewer than 35.5% of the tribal members live on the Burns Paiute Indian Colony near Burns. The tribe formerly earned revenue from a small casino, the Old Camp Casino, before its closure in 2012, and renting out communal tribal lands for grazing rights to local ranchers.
The first white people to arrive through Harney County were French explorers, circa 1750ː Narceese Charbonneau, LaValle and a priest named Joseph Nadeau. The men came aboard a Spanish supply ship and left from San Diego on a transcontinental tour to Quebec. Instead of reaching Canada, the men arrived at southern Harney County and continued towards Idaho. In the late 1820s, Peter Skene Ogden made a description of the natural features and Indian culture from Klamath County to Harney County, following the Sylvaille River, and turning up afterwards towards Walla Walla leading a fur brigade for Hudson's Bay Company.

2016 militia occupation

On January 2, 2016, the headquarters building of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was seized by armed protesters related to the Bundy standoff. The group protested the prison sentences of two ranchers convicted of arson in wildfires set in 2001 and 2006, which the ranchers claimed spread from their land into the wildlife reserve. Militia leaders, including Ammon Bundy and Jon Ritzheimer, were arrested on January 26, 2016, in an event that included the shooting death of militant LaVoy Finicum by law enforcement at a highway blockade between Burns and John Day. The following day, only four militants remained, and they surrendered on February 11, 2016.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. It is the largest county in Oregon by area and the tenth-largest county in the United States.
Steens Mountain is the county's most prominent geographical feature, rising to above sea level and spanning many miles across a region that is otherwise fairly flat. To its southeast is the Alvord Desert—the driest place in Oregon—and the Trout Creek Mountains, which extend south into Nevada. South of Steens Mountain, the Pueblo Mountains are another remote range in Oregon and Nevada. North of Steens Mountain lies the Harney Basin, which contains Malheur Lake and Harney Lake.

Adjacent counties

Although the county is officially in the Pacific Time Zone, unincorporated Drewsey, just west of the Malheur County line unofficially observes the Mountain Time Zone.

National protected areas

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 7,495. Of the residents, 22.1% were under the age of 18 and 24.8% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 44.9 years. For every 100 females there were 102.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 98.7 males. 55.6% of residents lived in urban areas and 44.4% lived in rural areas.
Race / Ethnicity Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020
White alone 7,7676,5446,8236,6486,43593.42%92.69%89.67%89.57%85.86%
Black or African American alone 4291650.05%0.03%0.12%0.22%0.07%
Native American or Alaska Native alone 2202522762272192.65%3.57%3.63%3.06%2.92%
Asian alone 40393934360.48%0.55%0.51%0.46%0.48%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone xx410xx0.05%0.01%0.00%
Other race alone 27256210.32%0.03%0.07%0.08%0.28%
Mixed race or Multiracial xx137196385xx1.80%2.64%5.14%
Hispanic or Latino 2562213162943943.08%3.13%4.15%3.96%5.26%
Total8,3147,0607,6097,4227,495 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%

The racial makeup of the county was 87.6% White, 0.1% Black or African American, 3.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 1.5% from some other race, and 7.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 5.3% of the population.
There were 3,174 households in the county, of which 26.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 23.9% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 3,694 housing units, of which 14.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 67.6% were owner-occupied and 32.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.6%.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 7,422 people, 3,205 households, and 2,069 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 3,835 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 91.9% white, 3.1% American Indian, 0.5% Asian, 0.3% black or African American, 1.3% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.0% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 28.7% were German, 18.6% were English, 15.0% were Irish, 6.7% were Scottish, 5.1% were Dutch, and 4.5% were American.
Of the 3,205 households, 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.4% were non-families, and 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.81. The median age was 45.2 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $39,036 and the median income for a family was $46,626. Males had a median income of $40,218 versus $31,046 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,849. About 14.1% of families and 18.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.5% of those under age 18 and 9.2% of those age 65 or over.