Dufur, OR

Dufur is a small Wasco County city in Oregon’s wheat country, a farming place where wheat, tree fruit, and grapes share the high ground. The community began as Fifteenmile Crossing; the post office adopted Dufur in 1878 for French immigrant brothers A.J. and Enoch DuFour, who raised sheep and ran the Fifteenmile House. Dufur incorporated in 1893, and the 2020 census counted 632 residents. The hills once held the country’s largest dryland apple orchard, but dry conditions eventually sent the orchards away.

Today, Dufur is still a farm town with an unusually good memory for old work. The Dufur Historical Society restored a 1901 Schreiber log cabin as a living history museum, filling it with pioneer-era objects, textiles, photographs, and farm equipment. On the second full weekend of August, the Threshing Bee brings horse-drawn harvesting equipment and a steam tractor to town, turning agricultural history into a hands-on festival. The Great Southern Railroad once linked Dufur with The Dalles and the Columbia River; now the town’s wheat fields, tree fruit, grapes, museum, and harvest calendar hold the local map together. Dufur feels small because it is, but the farming story has plenty of room around it.