Gilliam County, Oregon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gilliam County
U.S. county
Gilliam County Courthouse in Condon
Location within the U.S. state of Oregon
Oregon's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Oregon
Founded	February 25, 1885
Seat	Condon
Largest city	Condon
Area
• Total	1,223 sq mi (3,170 km2)
• Land	1,205 sq mi (3,120 km2)
• Water	18 sq mi (50 km2)  1.5%%
Population  (2020)
• Total	1,995
• Estimate  (2021)	2,005
• Density	1.6/sq mi (0.6/km2)
Congressional district	2nd

Gilliam County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,995, making it the third-least populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Condon. The county was established in 1885 and is named for Cornelius Gilliam, who commanded the forces of the provisional government of Oregon after the Whitman Massacre.

History

Old grain elevator in Gwendolen, in Gilliam County.

The Oregon Legislative Assembly created Gilliam County on February 25, 1885, from the eastern third of Wasco County after residents complained that they were too far from their county seat in The Dalles. The first Gilliam county seat was at Alkali, now Arlington. The question of a permanent county seat was placed on general election ballots in 1886, 1888, and again in 1890, when voters chose to move the county seat to Condon, known to early settlers as "Summit Springs." Once the question of the location of the county seat was settled, voters in Gilliam County proved reluctant to provide a courthouse in Condon. The county government operated out of a two-room house until 1903, when the county court appropriated money to construct a courthouse. This courthouse burned down in 1954 and was replaced the following year with the current courthouse.

Thereafter, apparently nothing much happened until the Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, an 845 megawatt (MW) wind farm, began construction in Eastern Oregon, in both Gilliam and Morrow counties, near Arlington. Approved in 2008 by state regulators, groundbreaking came in 2009. The wind farm was being built by Caithness Energy using General Electric (GE) 2.5 MW wind turbines, and it will supply electricity to Southern California Edison. In April, 2011, Google announced they had invested $100 million in the project. The wind farm was estimated to have an economic impact of $16 million annually for Oregon.

Geography

Sunrise in Gilliam County

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,223 square miles (3,170 km²), of which 1,205 square miles (3,120 km²) is land and 18 square miles (47 km²) (1.5%) is water.

Adjacent counties

• Sherman County - west
• Wasco County - southwest
• Wheeler County - south
• Morrow County - east
• Klickitat County, Washington - north

Demographics

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 1,871 people, 864 households, and 508 families living in the county. The population density was 1.6 inhabitants per square mile (0.62/km²). There were 1,156 housing units at an average density of 1.0 per square mile (0.39/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.2% white, 1.0% American Indian, 0.7% Pacific islander, 0.2% Asian, 0.2% black or African American, 1.4% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.7% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 28.4% were German, 18.5% were English, 15.5% were Irish, and 8.3% were American.

Of the 864 households, 22.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were married couples living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 41.2% were non-families, and 35.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.74. The median age was 49.7 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,148 and the median income for a family was $52,885. Males had a median income of $34,340 versus $35,962 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,559. About 9.8% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

• Arlington
• Condon (county seat)
• Lonerock

Unincorporated communities

Economy

The view westward of a wheat field off Highway 19.

Gilliam County is in the heart of the Columbia River Plateau wheat-growing region. The economy is based on agriculture, and wheat, barley and beef cattle are the principal products. Properties are large, with an average farm size of about 4,200 acres (17 km²).

The largest individual employers in the county are two subsidiaries of Waste Management Inc., Chemical Waste Management of the Northwest and Oregon Waste Systems, Inc., who run two regional waste disposal landfills. By levying a fee of $1 a ton, Gilliam County receives enough money to pay the first $500 of the property tax bills of its inhabitants, an amount that covers the full tax bill for almost half of the county inhabitants, as well as funding other county projects.

Hunting, fishing and tourism are secondary industries. Transportation also contributes to the local economy; two major rivers, the John Day and Columbia, cross the area east-to-west, as does Interstate 84. Oregon Route 19 connects the county's major cities north-to-south and provides access to the John Day Valley.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Gilliam para niños