Page 117 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Pacific Northwest

OREGON  115

other artifacts depict the horse
culture, seasonal migrations,
forced resettlements, and
current success of the Cayuse,
Umatilla, and Walla Walla
tribes, who have lived on the
Columbia River plateau for
more than 10,000 years.
P Pendleton Woolen Mills
1307 SE Court Pl. Tel (541) 276-6911.
Salesroom: Open 8am–6pm Mon–Sat,
9am–5pm Sun. Closed Jan 1,
The magnificent Painted Hills at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument Thanksgiving, Dec 25. 8 9am,
11am, 1:30pm, 3pm Mon–Fri. =
the most recent ice age. The however, that these more ∑ pendleton-usa.com
monument comprises three colorful days belong to the E Pendleton Round-Up
units: Sheep Rock, Painted Hills, past. Pendleton Woolen Mills and Happy Canyon Hall of
and Clarno. At all three, trails (see p80), known for its warm Fame Museum
provide opportunities for close- clothing and blankets, 1205 SW Court Ave. Tel (541) 276-2553.
up observation of the fossil particularly its “legendary” Open 10am–4pm Sat. Closed major
beds. Painted Hills blankets whose designs hols. ∑ pendletonroundup.com
presents the are a tribute to Native 8 Pendleton Underground Tours
most dramatic American tribes, is now 37 SW Emigrant Ave. Tel (541)
landscapes: the big business in town. 276-0730. Open 10am–4pm Mon &
volcanic rock The mill wove its first Wed–Sat. Closed major hols. &
formations are Indian trade blanket = ∑ pendletonunderground
vivid hues of red, in 1895. Native tours.org
pink, bronze, tan, Americans used these E Tamástslikt Cultural Institute
and black. Clarno blankets not only as 47106 Wildhorse Blvd. Tel (541) 966-
contains some standard clothing items 9748. Open 10am–5pm Mon–Sat.
of the oldest but also in ceremonies and Closed Jan 1, Thanksgiving, Dec 25.
formations, dating trade among each other, where & - = 7 ∑ tamastslikt.org
back 54 million years the blankets were used as a
and including some measure of value and credit. Environs
of the finest fossil Cowboy lore continues The town of La Grande, 52 miles
plant remains on earth. to come alive during the (84 km) southeast of Pendleton,
At Sheep Rock, where Pendleton Round-Up each is best known as the jumping-
formations date from Entelodont skull and September, when off point for trips into the scenic
16 million to 6 million forelimb fossils rodeo performers wilds of the Blue and Wallowa
years ago, the visitors’ and some 50,000 Mountains and Hells Canyon
center displays many spectators crowd into town. (see pp116–19).
important finds from the beds. Previous rodeos are honored In downtown La Grande,
The fossil beds are named in in the photographs and other charming turn-of-the-19th-
honor of John Day, a fur trader memorabilia at the Pendleton century buildings now house
from Virginia who arrived in Round-Up and Happy Canyon shops and cafés.
Oregon in 1812 and for whom Hall of Fame Museum.
the John Day River is named, The Pendleton Underground
though Day himself apparently Tours reveal much about the
never actually set foot near town’s notoriety. The tours
the beds. begin in an underground
labyrinth of opium dens,
gaming rooms, and Prohibition-
c Pendleton era drinking establishments
and include stops at the
Road map 1 C3. * 17,300.
n 501 S Main St, (541) 276-7411. Cozy Room bordello and the
∑ travelpendleton.com cramped 19th-century living
quarters of Chinese laborers.
Pendleton is the largest town Another chapter of local
in eastern Oregon, and it has an history is commemorated at the
outsized reputation for raucous Tamástslikt Cultural Institute.
cowboys and lawless cattle Re-creations of historic
rustlers to match. Visitors may structures and handsome A tule mat lodge at the Tamástslikt
be disappointed to learn, exhibits of war bonnets and Cultural Institute

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