We live in a beautiful spot in the Inland Northwest.
Nez Perce County has the beautiful Clearwater River to the north and the rugged Salmon River to the south.
Asotin County has that pure and sweet drinking water of Asotin Creek. It drains about 300 square miles of Asotin and Garfield counties and was the source of drinking water for Asotin and Clarkston for about 70 years.
But wait, Asotin County has a river too. It starts its run to the Pacific Ocean from a small lake in Union County, Ore., high in the Blue Mountains.
It drains out of this lake and picks up small streams in its rush to the Snake River. It then flows smoothly through La Grande, Ore.
But it was an obstacle for the Oregon pioneers as they tried to get to the Willamette Valley before wintertime. It enters a beautiful 20-mile-long valley as it meanders from one side of the valley to the other. With Mount Emily and the Blue Mountains to the west and the high Wallowas to the east it flows serenely through the town of Elgin, Ore. Then it dives again into the Blues, where it picks up the Wallowa River that drains the north face of the Wallowas, including the Lostine and Minam rivers.
It becomes a much larger river as it plunges through the timbered mountains and picks up the Wenaha River at Troy and then enters Asotin County a few miles downstream. Like an old man, wanting to see his home again, it thrusts itself in a horseshoe bend back into Oregon for a few hundred yards. But Mother Nature and the ice age said no to its wanderings and it reunited itself with Asotin County again.
At this stage it is in the deep canyon and winding portion of its life, which is just as beautiful as its timbered path. It now has two bridges to flow under and ends its fantastic journey as it empties its water into the mighty Snake River.
It has drawn about every good fly fisherman in the nation and even a bait fisherman or two like me, and has been on television many times as a sports documentary.
You could write volumes of books about the history of this great river. But yes, it is the Grande Ronde. It must have been named by a French fur trapper or some early pioneer. No matter who named it, it is Asotin County's river and it's a winner.
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Deering is a retired Tribune printer and can be reached at city@lmtribune.com.
