Island City: The Town on the Grande Ronde Island

Island City sits on a natural island, roughly eight miles long and up to a mile wide, formed by the Grande Ronde River and an encircling slough. That geography gave the town its name and, for a time, a commercial rivalry with nearby La Grande. When John Caviness built a grist mill here in eighteen seventy-two, Island City became a genuine competitor for the valley's agricultural trade.

The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company arrived in eighteen eighty-four, and for a brief period it seemed Island City might become the dominant commercial center of the Grande Ronde Valley. La Grande ultimately won that contest, partly because of its better rail position, and Island City settled into a quiet residential character. Today it is a small city of about one thousand people, though the slough that gave it its name was later diverted.