2020 marks the 158th year since the ancestors of Dwight Loring Perkins first arrived in Baker County, Oregon and the 175th year since settling Albany, Oregon.
Hardin and Edmond Perkins first traveled via the Old Emigrant Trail to Baker County in 1862, returned to Missouri the following year, and led the Perkins Wagon Train to Pocahontas in 1864. Family members were among the first to establish churches, file some of the earliest water rights, serve as county commissioners, and settle communities like Pocahontas, Grass Valley, and Cottage Grove. Documents
(including a year’s worth of letters), unique photographs, and firsthand accounts of early life in Baker County are included on the pages of Acorns and Wagon Wheels, showcasing some of the smallest communities in Baker County. Three of those are ghost towns—Rye Valley, Auburn, and Pocahontas.