Wheat! The harvest is ripe! What a surprise to climb out of the Columbia River Gorge and see miles and miles of amber waves of grain! I never knew nor expected it was here. There are always surprises on my journey.
I can attest that it is very windy here, and wind farms take advantage of that resource to produce power.
But Moro and Sherman County hasn't always been about wheat, and I learned a lot about its diverse history from the excellent exhibits at the Sherman County Historical Museum in Moro.
The playground wall outside the museum depicts some of that history.
A Centennial Quilt on display inside also depicts the historical events.
As does this mural.
The area involved is known as "the land between the rivers," referring to the John Day river on the east, the Deschutes River on the west, and the Columbia River on the north. This diagram is about the earliest inhabitants...the native Americans.
I liked how the arrowhead artifacts were arranged in the shape of a bow and arrow.
Many pictographs have been found in the river canyons.
Then came the explorations of Lewis and Clark.
Followed by settlers by way of the Oregon Trails. One cut-off to Willamette Valley traversed what is now Sherman County.
Oregon Trail exhibit.
Bunchgrass is what grew here then. Travelers on the Oregon Trail did not stop to settle here, but some "bounced" back to settle and raise cattle and plant wheat.
This exhibit describes those early towns and settlers.
Early barbed wire. Hay was harvested by hand with scythes.
A circa 1910 farm.
Early Moro
Snow in winter.
The development of roads...
And the building of railroads...
Hauling wheat to Moro along Lone Rock Road in 1910. (The County campground where I was staying is located on Lone Rock Road.)
North of Moro, the town of Wasco was once in contention for the county seat. T
The original Wasco Depot is still standing and houses a museum today.
But Moro won out to become the County Seat, and the County Courthouse was built in 1899. Note the cupola on top.
Another view of the Courthouse.
This is the same Courthouse today, minus the cupola.
Back at the museum...there are several life-size dioramas depicting early life in Moro. Something in the kitchen caught my eye.
Not growing up in wheat country, I had no idea what "Hard Wheat" might be.
That question was answered in the museum, and also by the volunteer here. I found out there are several types of wheat, and "hard wheat" isn't grown here in Sherman County.
Sherman County grows "Soft White" wheat, which has different uses than "Hard Wheat."
This display describes the types of wheat, their uses, and where they are grown.
The soft white wheat is used to make ramen noodles, tortillas, etc.
The top buyers for the soft white wheat grown here are Pakistan, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, and other Pacific Rim countries.
The earliest wheat growers harvested the wheat by hand using scythes, sickles, and rakes.
The next displays showed the development of wheat growing and harvesting equipment. The best part of these displays were the photographs of the equipment being used in the fields.
There was a video here showing the progress of wheat farming through the years.
At first wheat was stored in burlap sacks until shipped to buyers.
The burlap sacks were transported by wagon to Biggs on the Columbia River where they were stored awaiting shipment to buyers.
In the early 1940s, wheat sacking was discontinued. When WWII began, manpower and burlap were needed for the war effort. Grain was handled in bulk from then on, which led to the building of grain elevators to store the wheat. The Moro wheat elevator was built in 1949.
These pictures show events during harvesting. Women cooked for the harvest crews in mobile kitchens which were pulled from field to field.
Water for animals and crews was similarly hauled from field to field during harvest.
A harvest crew all lined up and ready to move to a new site.
Some of the old harvesting equipment is on display along with photos of them being used in the fields.
The horse-powered thresher...
The horse-power that operated the thresher.
The "horse-power" is on display too, but there was only room for one of its arms.
This picture shows a thresher sacking wheat.
Another building displays the development of gas powered equipment, also with photos showing its use.
A photo of Main Street Moro after the arrival of automobiles. Note the service station. There is no longer a gas station in Moro. In fact if you come here, be sure to fill up in Biggs.
This truck was used to haul wheat from the fields.
The next two photos show the truck being filled in the fields.
After visiting the museum, I ate lunch at a local cafe. There were two murals on the building across the street. This one shows the Moro train depot, which I think no longer exists.
And this one depicts early Main Street, although not chronologically correct since it shows the 1949 grain elevator in the same picture with the 1910 boardwalks. I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't visited the museum.
The County RV Park is next to the Fairgrounds, just outside of town.
The sites are a little close together, but all pull-through, full-hookups, and the Cable TV and good Wifi are included in the price. Nice clean laundry facilities too.
I enjoyed a quiet week here.
There were plenty of dog-walking areas around the fairgrounds.
View of Mt. Hood from the fairgrounds.
Windy afternoons brought interesting cloud formations.
Evening glow on Mt. Adams.
Pink sunset reflections on Mt. Hood.
And Mt. Adams
I just liked this photo of the bird and the barbed wire and the wheat...
Sunset from outside my door.
