Gilliam County, Oregon

Gilliam County is located in the of. The was established in  and  for, who commanded the forces of the provisional government of Oregon after the. In, the population was 1,915. The of the county is.

Economy
Gilliam County is in the heart of the Columbia Plateau -growing region. The economy is based on agriculture, and wheat, and  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 s. 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 and, cross the area east-to-west, as does. State highway 19 connects the county's major cities north-to-south and provides access to the John Day Valley.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 3,167 (1,223 ). 3,119 km² (1,204 sq mi) of it is land and 49 km² (19 sq mi) of it (1.53%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * - west
 * - southwest
 * - south
 * - east
 * - north

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 1,915 people, 819 households, and 543 families residing in the county. The was 1/km² (2/sq mi). There were 1,043 housing units at an average density of 0/km² (1/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 96.76%, 0.16% or , 0.84% , 0.16% , 1.15% from , and 0.94% from two or more races. 1.83% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 819 households out of which 27.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.90% were living together, 5.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.60% were non-families. 29.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.85.

In the county, the population was spread out with 23.20% under the age of 18, 5.40% from 18 to 24, 25.60% from 25 to 44, 26.70% from 45 to 64, and 19.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 102.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,611, and the median income for a family was $41,477. Males had a median income of $30,915 versus $20,852 for females. The for the county was $17,659. About 6.70% of families and 9.10% of the population were below the, including 11.00% of those under age 18 and 6.60% of those age 65 or over.

History
For many years, s had traversed the county on well-worn trails to reach fishing, hunting, foraging, and trading areas. Many of these trails are still visible in the rangeland. The first non-native people in the area were Americans following the to the. In the late 19th century, settlers arrived from the midwestern and eastern United States and Europe to stay and build farms and communities. Many settlers were also part of a larger reverse migration of people who had originally settled in the Willamette Valley.

The created Gilliam County on, , from the eastern third of  after residents complained that they were too far from the county seat in. The first county seat was at Alkali, now. 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, 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.