Established: Feb. 25, 1889

Elev. at Moro: 1,807'

Area: 831 sq. mi.

Average Temp.: January 30.7° 

July 67.9°

Assessed Value: $575,420,343

Real Market Value: $1,687,539,444

(includes the value of non-taxed properties)

Annual Precipitation: 9.15"

Economy: Tourism, wind energy, wheat, barley and cattle

Sherman County was created in 1889 from the northeast corner of Wasco County and named for General William Tecumseh Sherman. It was separated from Wasco County as much for its unique geological setting as for the settlers’ desire to have their own political process. The rolling hills are bordered by the deep canyons of the John Day River to the east, the Columbia River to the north, and the Deschutes River and Buck Hollow to the west and south.

The county was settled in the 1870s by stockmen. By 1881, the homesteaders arrived, permanently changing the area by plowing and fencing the land. Since then, the county has been a wheat-growing area with miles of waving grain on rolling hills of wind-blown glacial silt. The total absence of timber in the county exemplifies the true meaning of the “wide open spaces of the West.” Its pastoral landscape has spectacular views of canyons and rivers with mountains silhouetted in the distance. Recreation abounds on the rivers, from the famous and scenic fly-fishing and whitewater rafting stream of the Deschutes to water-skiing, wind-surfing, boating, fishing and rafting on the John Day and Columbia Rivers. Sherman County is one of Oregon’s leaders in soil and water conservation.