Albert G. Tabor first struck gold just below the town of Granite on the Fourth of July, 1862, naming his claim Independence because the strike was made on Independence Day, and the town that sprang up around it was also called Independence. In 1876, the name was changed to Granite when residents applied for a post office and learned there was already an Independence, Oregon. Granite was a center for mining activity for more than 80 years. Jack Long also discovered gold in Granite while pulling his pack mule out of the mud, helping trigger one of the largest gold rushes in Oregon. At an elevation of 4,695 feet in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon along the Blue Mountains Scenic Byway, Granite now has little activity, with remains including massive piles of rock called the Chinese walls, hollow frames of empty mines, and about 40 registered mines in an area where the mines outnumber the town's approximately 24 residents.