Pendleton

The board calls George Hunt Pendleton a U.S. senator from Ohio. When the county commissioners named the new county seat for him in 1868 he was not one. He was a former congressman, the Democrats' candidate for vice president in 1864 on the ticket that lost to Lincoln, and in 1868 a contender for his party's presidential nomination. He reached the Senate in 1879, and in 1883 gave his name to the Pendleton Act, which began the federal civil service. The town grew on two and a half acres Moses Goodwin deeded to the county for its buildings.

What the plaque says

Historic Trail Pendleton This location marks a travel corridor for Plateau Tribes moving seasonally from the Columbia River to the Blue Mountains. In 1811, members of the Astor Party under the leadership of Wilson Price Hunt camped here on their way west. They traded with the Cayuse people for horses. The Imatalam Wana (Umatilla River) abounded with beaver and salmon then. Oregon Trail migrations began passing this way in 1841. In 1868, the emerging town of Pendleton was named for George Hunt Pendleton, U.S. Senator from Ohio.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pendleton Woolen Mills — 0.8 mi
  A mill that has woven blankets for the tribes of the Plateau since 1909, whose oldest customers folded its blankets into their own ceremonies.
• Tamástslikt Cultural Institute — 4.6 mi
  The only tribally owned museum on the Oregon Trail, where the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla tell the wagon migration from the side of the people it rolled through.

More markers nearby

• Triple Nickles - Pendleton — 1.5 mi
• Umatilla County — 3.5 mi
• Emigrant Springs State Park — 17 mi
• Meacham — 20 mi