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Oregon County
Gilliam County, Oregon
Gilliam County's Columbia Plateau wheat country and the Rajneeshee Antelope connection - from the Rajneeshee takeover of Antelope (the town of Antelope in Wasco County just south of Gilliam County was taken over by followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the early 1980s when thousands of orange-clad disciples settled the commune at Rajneeshpuram - briefly renaming Antelope "Rajneesh" and overwhelming the tiny town's population and government - the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country brought global attention to the extraordinary episode) and Gilliam County's Columbia Plateau dryland wheat farming (the rolling wheat fields of the Columbia Plateau produce exceptional hard red winter wheat in one of the Pacific Northwest's most productive grain regions).
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Office: Gilliam County Emergency Management – 221 S. Oregon Street (mail: PO Box 685), Condon, OR 97823 | (541) 384-2851 | Fax: (541) 384-2878; housed within the Sheriff’s Office (Sheriff serves as Director); Coordinator Christina Fitzsimmons, [email protected]; recently updating the county’s Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan for wildfire, winter storm, and drought risk.
911/Dispatch: Frontier Regional 911 – 135 S Main Street, Condon, OR 97823 | Non-emergency: (541) 384-2080; a regional dispatch center covering Gilliam, Jefferson, Sherman, and Wheeler counties; accepts Text-to-911.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: OR-19 and OR-206 serve Condon, the county seat, in north-central Oregon roughly 70 miles southeast of The Dalles.
Notes: Gilliam County, established February 25, 1885 from the eastern third of Wasco County, is the third-least-populous county in Oregon; it is named for Colonel Cornelius Gilliam, who commanded provisional-government forces after the Whitman Massacre.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Gilliam County Planning – (541) 351-9342.
Notes: Condon carries a genuine, if indirect, connection to Oregon’s pioneering fossil-hunting history: the town was named for lawyer Harvey C. Condon, nephew of Thomas Condon – Oregon’s first State Geologist (appointed 1872) and the man whose 1865 fossil excavations in the nearby John Day Basin helped establish the region’s global paleontological significance; the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (a short drive from Condon) is named in his honor. Downtown Condon’s Commercial Historic District is NRHP-listed (1998), and the Gilliam County economy today includes a genuine, substantial wind-power-generation sector alongside its traditional wheat, barley, and cattle agriculture.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Gilliam County Veterans Services – Condon, OR 97823 | (541) 705-0051; confirm current hours via gilliamcountyor.gov/services/veterans.php.
Federal: Portland VA Medical Center.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Condon: Gilliam County Library – (541) 351-9510; confirm current address/hours via gilliamcountyor.gov.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Cottonwood Canyon State Park, the Gilliam County Historical Museum Complex (adjacent to Burns Park in Condon – featuring an 1884 homestead, 1905 railroad depot, 1900s schoolhouse and barbershop, and the old Condon City Hall/Jail), and the ghost town of Lonerock are the county’s signature attractions.
Notes: The genuine Thomas Condon fossil-hunting legacy tied to the town’s namesake, plus the well-preserved historic museum complex, are distinctive local facts.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Gilliam County Assessor – Courthouse, 221 S Oregon St., Condon, OR 97823 | (541) 351-9490 (County Clerk).
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
County: Gilliam County Sheriff’s Office handles animal control alongside law enforcement and emergency management duties; confirm current phone via gilliamcountyor.gov.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Gilliam County – the county’s economy includes waste management and waste-disposal landfill operations; confirm current contact via gilliamcountyor.gov.
NOTES: Gilliam County is the fourth county in the Oregon v2 redo’s second batch (Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River). The genuine Thomas Condon fossil-hunting legacy tied to the county seat’s namesake is a distinctive local fact. This is a small, rural county (population under 2,000) – several service categories above have limited public information available and should be confirmed directly. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Gilliam County
Gilliam County is Oregon’s Columbia Plateau wheat heartland – the rolling dryland wheat fields and the John Day River canyon define a remote north-central Oregon community whose neighbors include the sites of the Rajneeshee commune that spawned America’s first bioterrorism attack and the Wild Wild Country documentary.
Condon (the county seat, population ~700) is one of Oregon’s most remote county seats, serving Gilliam County’s wheat farming and ranching communities on the Columbia Plateau.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Gilliam County Assessor at 221 S. Oregon Street, Condon, OR 97823, phone 541-384-3571. OR Measure 50 limits assessed value increases.
Courts & Legal
Gilliam County Circuit Court at 221 S. Oregon Street, Condon, OR 97823, phone 541-384-2711, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
221 South Oregon St, Condon, OR 97823
(541) 384-2311
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Gilliam County Court, Condon (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Gilliam County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Gilliam County Court 221 South Oregon Street, Condon, OR 97823 (541) 384-3572
Gilliam County is in north-central Oregon along the Columbia River, seated in Condon – one of Oregon’s least populous counties. IMPORTANT: Gilliam is one of six eastern Oregon counties where probate jurisdiction is vested in the COUNTY COURT rather than the Circuit Court – an exception to Oregon’s usual probate structure.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Oregon has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code, maintaining its own independent probate code under ORS Chapters 111 through 117. In most counties, probate is handled in the probate department of the Circuit Court, but Gilliam County is one of six eastern Oregon counties (along with Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman, and Wheeler) where the COUNTY COURT holds probate jurisdiction instead. Oregon does not offer a separate unsupervised/informal probate track – its “simple estate” process and formal administration are the two paths.
Simple Estate Affidavit (ORS 114.505–114.560) – available when the total fair market value of the estate is $275,000 or less, made up of no more than $75,000 in personal property and no more than $200,000 in real property. The affidavit (“Affidavit of Claiming Successor”) cannot be filed until at least 30 days after death and must be filed with the clerk of the probate court. It requires a detailed asset description, a list of known creditors, and notice that claims are barred unless presented within 4 months of filing.
Full Probate Administration – required for estates that exceed the simple estate limits or don’t otherwise qualify. A personal representative is appointed by the court and administers the estate under ongoing court oversight.
Step 2: filing for administration
A petition for probate is filed in the County Court in Gilliam County (or, for simple estates, an Affidavit of Claiming Successor is filed with the probate clerk at least 30 days after death).
If a will exists, it’s filed with the petition or affidavit.
For full administration, the court appoints a personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Notice is given to heirs, devisees, and creditors; claims against the estate must generally be presented within the statutory period.
The personal representative (or affiant, for simple estates) inventories assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what remains according to the will or Oregon’s intestacy laws.
Full administration closes once a final account is filed and approved by the court; simple estates close once assets are distributed and any required notices are filed.
What it costs
Filing fees vary; check with Gilliam County directly for current fees.
Oregon imposes a state estate tax on estates exceeding approximately $1,000,000, with rates ranging from 10% to 16%. No state inheritance tax.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
221 South Oregon St, Condon, OR 97823
(541) 384-2851
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
221 South Oregon St, Condon, OR 97823
(541) 384-2311
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
221 South Oregon St, Condon, OR 97823
(541) 384-2181
Department of Human Services
221 South Oregon St, Condon, OR 97823
(541) 384-2311
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Gilliam County Health Department – confirm current contact via gilliamcountyor.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Condon
Population: 1,900
Established: 1885
Tier: 3
Public Records
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