are supposed to be the last vestiges of that ancient sea which once covered this inter-montane region, around whose shores and in whose sands are found the fossil remains of prehistoric fauna and flora. Their modern history is closely connected with campaigns against the marauding tribes of Northern Nevada, whom General Crook finally vanquished.
Harney Valley contains about two hundred thousand acres of excellent land, of which forty thousand is a natural meadow, which is dotted over with numberless cattle and horses. The entrance to this valley is a surprise, after the ruggedness of the Blue Mountains. It is oval in shape, and lies encircled by ranges, some near, some distant, which enclose it like the rim of a bowl. The population is eighteen hundred and fifty, of whom about two hundred are Indians and Chinese.
Harney City, on the north side, near the site of old Camp Harney, was formerly the county-seat. This has been removed to Burns, fourteen miles south, on Silvie’s River, near the crossing of the Oregon Pacific, a new and growing town of five hundred inhabitants, and the most promising at present of any in this region. Saddle Butte and Silver City are two other embryo towns, with little to support them at present.
East of Harney is Malheur County, which is in the same category as to Isolation,—only a wagon-road connecting it with Grant or Harney. It is about one hundred and forty-four by sixty miles in extent, with but a small portion populated, in the fork of the Malheur and Snake Rivers. It is watered in the southern part by the Owyhee River, and has Snake River on its eastern boundary.
The Oregon Short Line (Union Pacific) through Idaho crosses the Snake River near the northern boundary, and thus affords a means of transportation for this end of the county. The Oregon Pacific follows the course of the Malheur River to or near its mouth, where it crosses into Idaho, and when completed will run to Boise City. The county was named from the river, which received its name (meaning unfortunate) from the early French explorers, who met with disaster of some kind upon its banks. The surface of the country is high, and the soil dry, but it is a good grazing region. The largest horse-farm in the United States is located at Ontario, on the Snake River, one company
