Four Lines a Day

In the 1930s, 15-year old Mary Marks moved to a rural community along the Imnaha River in northeast Oregon's Wallowa County. There, in country so remote that electricity didn't arrive until the 1960s, she married and built a life of hard work and deep friendships with family and neighboring ranchers.

Through it all, she kept a diary, four lines a day for sixty years. This is the story of Mary's life, revealed by those diaries and conversations with her long-time friend, Janie Tippett. As much as anything, this is a story of friendship between two women, a friendship built on a common love for ranching and for the wild, rugged country of the Imnaha.