A 1.8-acre riverside property for sale in Oregon’s northeasternmost county includes a farmhouse, a cottage and a century-old former post office.
Broker Lee Daggett said the likely buyer of the property he listed July 31 is someone who wants to live close to nature and perhaps develop the partially renovated cottage into a short-term rental.
The asking price for 79010 Hat Point Road in Wallowa County’s Imnaha is $539,000.
Imnaha, the only settlement along the Imnaha River’s course, is a six-hour drive east of Portland. It’s accessible by Oregon Route 350 from Joseph, a scenic mountain city that is the ancestral home of the Joseph Band of the Nez Perce (nimiipuu).
The Imnaha, a Wild & Scenic river on the west side of the property, flows 77 miles, starting at the Eagle Cap Wilderness with high alpine lakes and meadows through the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. The river continues to the Snake River in Hells Canyon, forming the deepest river gorge in North America.
The Wallowa Mountains, sometimes known as the “Swiss Alps of Oregon,” attract hikers, kayakers, photographers and other nature enthusiasts.
The farmhouse’s 1,575-square-foot main level has wood floors, a rock fireplace and a sunroom to the back deck. A 300-square-foot bedroom space was created under skylights in the converted attic.
The 1,110-square-foot daylight basement has a bathroom, a wood-burning furnace and a newer forced-air furnace. The property has electricity, well water and a septic tank for household wastewater.
There is also a large shop with a roll-up door, a chicken coop and an irrigated fruit orchard, said Daggett, who shares the listing with real estate agent Emily Hetrick of Keller Williams Portland Central.
The annual property tax is $1,308.
Daggett told The Oregonian/OregonLive that his family moved to the canyon area in 1908 and he grew up fishing on the river. He said the almost two acres of land, not necessarily the post office, will motivate a buyer.
Early mail delivery 
A 1930 post office building 79010 Hat Point Road in Imnaha is for sale.Wallowa Mountain Properties
In 1930, when the post office for sale was built, the U.S. Census recorded 2,030 residents in Wallowa County. The area of 3,152 square miles remains sparsely populated. The most recent federal census recorded about 7,592 residents in the county.
The town of Imnaha, at 2,000 feet elevation, was laid out in 1902, but a post office was first established in 1885 inside a homesteader’s house, according to historians.
News that a mailbag arrived was passed up and down the canyon to homesteaders and ranchers, Daggett said.
“They would ride a horse or take a wagon to the homesteader’s house and pick their mail up,” Daggett said. “Most of them were awfully nice and if they had three or four other people living along their route home, they would drop off mail to them on their way home.”
The Imnaha Store & Tavern across Little Sheep Creek Highway from the historic post office was built around 1904. Some locals say a post office was inside the store until the building for sale was constructed. The current U.S. Post Office serving Imnaha is 7.5 miles south at 101 Hat Point Road.
Today, tourists, hunters and anglers visit the area year-round, said Daggett, who thinks a young family and retirees would like to live there, or someone may want a vacation home.
“For those who like to garden, the season is extended beyond what people in Joseph enjoy,” he said. “I don’t know who the buyer will be, but it is a unique property in a little town that is special unto itself. A lot of wonderful families have lived here for five or more generations.”
He acknowledges Imnaha’s remoteness with a joke. “I tell people, tongue-in-cheek, ‘This is the place where right after the good Lord created the earth, he came here to bury his dirty socks and then forgot where he put them.’”