Heppner, OR

Heppner is Morrow County’s seat on Willow Creek, between the Columbia River and the Blue Mountains. The city’s history turns on two big developments: the railroad spur that arrived in 1888 and the flash flood that tore through town in 1903. The flood killed 247 people and destroyed much of the residential and business district; the Willow Creek Dam, completed in 1983, now sits above town as part of the community’s flood-control story. Heppner also keeps a lighter thread going with its A Wee Bit O’Ireland celebration and the Blue Mountain Century Bikeway, a 108-mile ride that starts and ends here. The courthouse and Morrow County Museum round out that mix of memory and present-day gathering points.