alt=Map of Harney County|thumb|Map of Harney County
Harney County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,495, making it the sixth-least populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Burns. Established in 1889, the county is named in honor of William S. Harney, a military officer of the period, who was involved in the Pig War and popular in the Pacific Northwest.
Harney County is a rural county in southeastern Oregon. It is a five-hour drive from Portland, Oregon About 10 percent of Harney County's area is part of the Ochoco National Forest and Malheur National Forest.
Harney County has a "high desert" topography, with low levels of precipitation. Burns has a separate police department but, as of 2008, did not employ enough officers to provide "24-hour" coverage.
History
The Native Americans living in this region at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were the Northern Paiute, who fought with the Tenino and Wasco peoples. Peter Skene Ogden was the first known European to explore this area in 1826 when he led a fur brigade for the Hudson's Bay Company.
In September 3, 1855 Brigadier General Harney led the U.S. Army and surrounded and ambushed a Lakota village killing 86 people and taking many others as prisoners. This site, located in Nebraska, is now known as the Blue Water Massacre or the Battle of Ash Hollow.
Harney County was carved out of the southern two-thirds of Grant County on February 25, 1889. A fierce political battle, with armed "night riders" who spirited county records from Harney to Burns, ended with Burns as the county seat in 1890.
The Malheur River Indian Reservation was created by executive order on March 14, 1871, and the Northern Paiute within the Oregon state boundaries were settled there. The federal government "discontinued" the reservation after the Bannock War of 1878. Descendants of these people form a federally recognized tribal entity, the Burns Paiute Tribe, which had 341 members in 2008. Fewer than 35.5% of the tribal members live on the Burns Paiute Indian Colony near Burns.
2016 militia occupation
On January 2, 2016, the headquarters building of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was seized by armed protesters related to the Bundy standoff. The group protested the prison sentences of two ranchers convicted of arson in wildfires set in 2001 and 2006, which the ranchers claimed spread from their land into the wildlife reserve. Militia leaders, including Ammon Bundy and Jon Ritzheimer, were arrested on January 26, 2016, in an event that included the shooting death of militant LaVoy Finicum by law enforcement at a highway blockade between Burns and John Day. The following day, only four militants remained, and they surrendered on February 11, 2016.
Geography
thumb|Sign welcoming drivers to Harney County
thumb|right|upright|Harney County has a population of less than 8,000 occupying a land area about two-thirds the size of [[Denmark, shown in this overlay.]]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.9%) is water. It is the largest county in Oregon by area and the tenth-largest county in the United States (excluding boroughs and census areas in Alaska).
Steens Mountain is the county's most prominent geographical feature, rising to above sea level and spanning many miles across a region that is otherwise fairly flat. To its southeast is the Alvord Desert—the driest place in Oregon—and the Trout Creek Mountains, which extend south into Nevada. South of Steens Mountain, the Pueblo Mountains are another remote range in Oregon and Nevada. North of Steens Mountain lies the Harney Basin, which contains Malheur Lake and Harney Lake.
Adjacent counties
- Crook County - northwest
- Grant County - north
- Malheur County - east/Mountain Time Border
- Humboldt County, Nevada - south
- Washoe County, Nevada - southwest
- Lake County - west
- Deschutes County - northwest
Time Zones
Although the county is officially in the Pacific Time Zone, unincorporated Drewsey, just west of the Malheur County line unofficially observes the Mountain Time Zone.
National protected areas
- Malheur National Forest (part)
- Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
- Ochoco National Forest (part)