Granite is a city located in Grant County, Oregon.
Photo by Daren H. Spencer
Annual Granite Days Celebration
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A. G. Tabor, the only merchant in town, became the first postmaster. Information follows from Oregon's Golden Years by Miles F. Potter. Granite is located in the northeast corner of Grant County, about fifteen miles west of Sumpter. The first man to arrive there was Harvey Robbins, on July 4, 1862, with a wagon pulled by eight head of oxen. As we travel the broad highway leading to this old mining town today, we wonder how anyone could traverse the steep canyons on foot or horseback, let alone with oxen pulling a wagon. No wonder Robbins is referred as the father of Granite! Gold was discovered the year of Robbins' arrival. A marker is located at the foot of the hill. The town was called Independence until 1878, when an application was made for a post office. Since Oregon already had a town called Independence, it was left to the governor to select a name; his choice was Granite. The town was incorporated in 1899, with Grant Thornburg as mayor. Granite grew like a mushroom after new mining methods and new equipment made hard-rock mining profitable. The town soon had a fine thirty-room hotel and an annex with twenty rooms, plus several smaller hotels and boardinghouses. There were also a church, a public school, a fine city water system, telephone service to the mines and to the outside world, and a covey of dance-hall girls, mining promoters, and card sharks. Four lively saloons made good business at times for the little, wooden jail. Also in sight, at the foot of the hill, was Granite's Chinatown. Granite boomed for a number of years, but at last the mines began to slow down and the population drifted away. The stores, however, continued to do a good business for a number of years, from the mines that continued to operate and from hundreds of sheep outfits summering in the area, using Granite as headquarters. For a short time gold dredges furnished a good payroll, and new equipment made it possible to recover much of gold from the abandoned mine dumps. The depression years brought on a re-evaluation of gold and for a short time furnished employment for a number of men who were out of work. But the gradual slowdown caused buildings to be vacated, and Granite has now joined the ranks of full-fledged ghost towns. The first settlement was located about one and a half miles below Granite's present site. This location, not being ideal, was short lived and soon all business moved to a new site. It is an historic area known for the Cougar-Independence and Granite features several well-preserved buildings from the mining period, If you would like to Contribute Information to this history page, 
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