A16
REGIONAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Creating buzz about moving Oregon’s border
By DICK MASON
The Observer
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Grant Darrow, a retired chimney sweep and Cove resident, poses for a photo outside his home on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022.
Darrow has been leading local eff orts in the campaign to change the Oregon-Idaho border and allow Eastern Oregon to become
part of Greater Idaho.
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COVE — Grant Darrow
is a man of letters.
The Cove resident has
penned so many letters to
newspapers over the past
four decades about pressing
issues that he has lost count.
One stands out, how-
ever, with the grandeur of
12,662-foot Borah Peak in
Central Idaho. It is a letter
clipped from The Observer
and kept in a black note-
book. The letter is fading
slightly, unlike the move-
ment it helped ignite. Dar-
row, in his 391-word piece,
published in The Observer
on June 29, 2015, pushed
for a sea change — the mov-
ing of Idaho’s border west so
that it could include Eastern
Oregon and other rural por-
tions of the state.
“Imagine for a moment
Idaho’s western border
stretching to the Pacifi c,”
Darrow wrote at the end of
the letter.
Almost seven years later,
many Oregonians are imag-
ining just as he hoped they
would, which means the
Greater Idaho movement is
gaining momentum.
“We are gaining sup-
port,” Darrow said. “This is
an exciting time.”
Those who have taken
note include The Atlantic
magazine, which refers to
Greater Idaho as “Modern
America’s Most Successful
Secessionist Movement” in
a story that appeared in its
Dec. 23, 2021, edition.
Darrow is not surprised
by the growing momen-
tum, especially when he
refl ects on the response his
letter received in the days
and weeks after it was fi rst
published. He said about 40
other rural Oregon newspa-
pers printed the letter after
he sent it to them.
“Some newspapers even
called me up and requested
a copy so they could run it,”
he said.
Today, the letter, which
stated that Eastern Ore-
gon should be part of Idaho
because its people are
ignored by Oregon’s west-
side leaders, is viewed as so
integral to the Greater Idaho
movement that a copy is
reprinted on the website of
a leading group pushing for
Greater Idaho — Move Ore-
gon’s Border, whose leader
is Mike McCarter, of La
Pine.
Darrow credits McCar-
ter with doing much of the
heavy lifting, which has
given Greater Idaho the
momentum it now has.
“I put into words what
people are feeling, and Mike
puts legs under it,” he said.
“Even though this has
been talked about for 100
years, Grant’s letter piqued
the interest of a lot of peo-
ple in Eastern and Southern
Oregon,” McCarter said.
McCarter credits Dar-
row’s letter with leading to
the initial meetings in La
Pine of what is today Move
Oregon’s Border.
“Grant is an integral part
of this,” McCarter said.
Union County
provides a boost
Darrow said McCarter
played an instrumental role
in getting Measure 31-101
on the Union County ballot
in 2020. The measure, which
voters approved with a little
more than 52% of the vote,
requires the county commis-
sioners to meet three times
each year to discuss pro-
moting Union County inter-
ests relating to the county
becoming part of Idaho.
A total of 7,401 cast bal-
lots in support of the Union
County measure. Darrow
believes that everyone who
voted for Measure 31-101
are supporters of Greater
Idaho. He said Union County
is not alone in its support of
Greater Idaho. Darrow noted
that Malheur, Baker, Grant,
Harney, Sherman, Lake and
Jeff erson counties have all
passed similar measures. He
also said Klamath, Douglas
and Josephine counties will
likely vote on comparable
measures in May.
He said the measures are
See Border, Page A17