Paisley was once the site of a seasonal Native American settlement. Northern Paiute and Klamath Indians came to the Chewaucan Marsh and River to harvest local resources, most notably the wapato, Silgittaria cuneata, a plant with arrowhead-shaped leaves and an edible tuber - called "chewa" in the Klamath language, it is the plant for which the Chewaucan area is named.
M.M. Gillespie brought cattle to the area in 1871 and started the valley's first ranch. Ranching and logging quickly became the primary source of income for early residents. Logs were harvested from nearby mountain ridges and brought here for milling.
Despite the many ups and downs of the timber industry, logging continues to be important to the area's economy.
Irrigated crops, fed by water diverted from the Chewaucan River or pumped from aquifers, provided grass, hay, grains, and supplemental income to area residents. Due to the abundance of surface water in this area, local farmers were able to avoid many of the hardships encountered by the dryland farmers elsewhere in Oregon's Outback.
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