Harney County, Oregon

Harney County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, the population was 7,422, making it the fifth-least populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Burns. Established in 1889, the county is named in honor of William S. Harney, a military officer of the period, who was involved in the Pig War and popular in the Pacific Northwest.

Harney County is a rural county in southeastern Oregon. It is a five hours' drive from Portland, Oregon. The county is bordered by Grant County (to the north), Malheur County (to the east); the State of Nevada (to the south); and Lake, Deschutes, and Crook counties (to the west).

At 10,228 square miles (26,490 km²) in size, the county is the largest in Oregon, and one of the largest in the United States. The county is sparsely populated, with a population of about 7,700. The county has just two incorporated cities: Burns, the county seat and larger city, with 40 percent of the population, and Hines, with 20 percent of the county's population. About 75 percent of the county's area is federal land, variously managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service. About 10 percent of Harney County's area is part of the Ochoco National Forest and Malheur National Forest. The county also contains the Burns Paiute Indian Reservation within and immediately north of the City of Burns; this 760-acres reservation of the Burns Paiute Tribe is a remnant of the former Malheur Indian Reservation, a 1.5-million-acre federal trust land that was encroached upon by white settlement in the 19th century.