Willow Creek was an important Oregon Trail crossing where water and forage supported pioneers and their livestock, and many emigrants paused there to rest and repair equipment before continuing to The Dalles and deciding whether to raft down the Columbia River or take the Barlow Road around the south side of Mt. Hood to the Willamette Valley. The trail continued westward up the side canyon across Willow Creek from this point. Oregon emigrant John Murray camped there on September 16, 1853, about a mile up Willow Creek, and recorded good running water and excellent grass; the next day he wrote of a trading post below camp, a bottom one-quarter to one-half mile wide with rye, fine grass, greasewood, and alkali, high rolling hills, nearby Indian lodges, resting the cattle until 10 o'clock, filling up with water and taking wood for a dry camp, then traveling down the bottom and out of the valley, where he saw dead animals and noted 18 graves in Willow Creek bottom. Of those eighteen graves, three have been identified: Elizabeth Toney, who died in childbirth on September 9, 1852; Mary Moore, age 34, who died of mountain fever on September 12, 1852; and Katie Rice, who died of mountain fever on September 13, 1852. The next campsite on the trail was Fourmile Canyon, about seven miles west. Willow Creek Valley had long been used extensively by Native Americans as a travel route between the Columbia River and the Blue Mountains for hunting and gathering before Europeans entered the Pacific Northwest. The Cecil Store, three-quarters of a mile south, was built in 1862 and supplied travelers and local residents until 1974. Remnants of the Heppner Branch railroad line remain visible in the valley; completed in 1888 and discontinued in 1994, it was instrumental in the development of the valley and south Morrow County by transporting timber and agricultural products. Since pioneer times, the Cecil area has remained agriculturally active, with sheep, cattle, hay, and grain as its main commodities.