Sumpter Gold Post store’s new owner happy to be living in the woods

Published 10:22 am Tuesday, September 1, 2026

SUMPTER — Sarah Ward had pined for years to live in the woods, and she picked a place where ponderosas greatly outnumber people.

But then she would much rather watch trees than traffic.

“This small town is exactly what we wanted,” Ward said of Sumpter, the historic gold-mining town in the mountains about 28 miles west of Baker City.

Ward, 43, and her husband, Gared, bought The Gold Post store, 150 N. Mill St. in Sumpter, this summer. She’s been running the business, which has groceries and much else besides, since July 1.

Ward, who grew up in Hermiston and had lived near Portland for the past 13 years, said on Monday, Aug. 31, that she relishes Sumpter’s slower pace.

“I feel more relaxed,” she said. “I feel like I can breathe again.”

Which isn’t to say that her first summer in Sumpter has been tranquil.

On Monday afternoon, a smoke plume rose to the north as the McCully Fire, which started Aug. 22, continued to burn.

A few blocks away at the Sumpter fairgrounds, about 850 firefighters and support staff have set up a temporary city that swells the town’s population about fourfold.

This is the second time fire crews have congregated there, following the Olive Butte Fire near Granite in July.

Although the fire camp is a self-contained operation, with a catering crew that’s been serving about 3,000 meals daily, Ward said The Gold Post has benefited from the influx of firefighters.

“My shelves are pretty bare,” she said on Monday. “I get herds (of firefighters) in the morning and again in the evening when they come back. They’re so grateful to have a store here.”

From a corporate job in the city to a store in the mountains

Ward said she was eager to dramatically change not only her home, but also her work.

During her years in the Portland area she managed Sportsman’s Warehouse stores in Hillsboro and in Kelso and Vancouver in Washington.

Although the work gave her a strong background in retail, Ward said she also chafed at times under the restrictions of a corporate job.

“They tell you what to do,” she said. “Here I can do what I want to do, based off the customers’ needs.”

To that end, Ward plans to open a coffee bar by the end of this week.

She said she lowered prices and added new merchandise, including in the store’s outdoors section, which includes hunting, fishing and gold panning gear.

“I just want to be a one-stop shop, and to grow the business,” Ward said.

The Gold Post is also Sumpter’s state-licensed liquor store — the only one between Baker City and Prairie City. Ward said she supplies liquor to Sumpter’s two bars.

The Gold Post also has a cooler to store big game animals. Ward had to interrupt an interview Monday afternoon to open the cooler so a couple of archery hunters to hang their mule deer bucks.

“I have had one elk, and a bear last week,” Ward said.

Although her husband, who is a heavy equipment operator and welder, had visited Sumpter many times during family hunting trips, Ward didn’t know much about the area.

Her aunt and uncle retired in Granite, about 15 miles northwest of Sumpter, and they told her in June that The Gold Post was for sale.

Less than a month later she was running the cash register and stocking the shelves, along with her three employees.

“It was a fast transition,” Ward said with a smile.

Her affinity for Sumpter grew just as rapidly.

“I got the vibe of the town and the people, and they were so welcoming,” Ward said. “That’s what I want to be part of.”

Ward said she’s renting a home in Sumpter until she and her husband sell their home near Portland. He is living in that home for the time being.

Ward said she’s eager for the first snowfall. She hopes this winter is much different from last, when Sumpter, which is renowned for its roof-high drifts, suffered through a paltry snowpack along with the rest of Oregon.

In the meantime, she’s happy to be in Sumpter.

“It’s been great,” she said between ringing up customers at the front counter. “The community supports me; they want to see me be successful. I just want to be a huge asset to this community.”