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KIRO Newsradio historian Feliks Banel delivers his All Over The Map feature Friday mornings on Seattle's Morning News

All Over The Map

Watermelons grown in and around Hermiston, Oregon have been jointly marketed for decades; this ad dates to around 1970. (Hermiston Watermelon Association)

The Umatilla County Fairgrounds, as seen in this circa 1948 photo, are located in Hermiston, Ore.; the 2023 edition of the fair runs through Sunday, August 13. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society)

Hermiston, Ore. is now the most populated city in the eastern half of the Beaver State, with more residents than the Umatilla county seat of Pendleton; both communities are depicted on this detail from a 1953 U.S. Geological Survey map. (USGS Archives)

The name "Hermiston" had only been in use for a few years when the town was included on this detail from a 1908 U.S. Geological Survey map; the name comes from a town in Scotland featured in the name of a Robert Louis Stevenson novel. (USGS Archives)

In search of sweet, ripe watermelons and Hermiston, Ore.