Nolin is an unincorporated community in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Nolin is about 8 mi southeast of Echo, next to the Umatilla River. At one time the area was known as "Happy Canyon". Adam "Ad" W. Nye, a settler of the 1860s, named the Nolin area Happy Canyon, for the spirit of the people who lived there. The name was later adopted by Pendleton Round-Up for its indoor show in commemoration of this time. Nye was County Sheriff in 1872–74. The nearby community of Nye was named for him. At one time Nolin had a post office, a store, and a school. Nolin also has a cemetery. An Oregon Railway and Navigation Company (now Union Pacific) railroad line was built through Nolin, crossing the Umatilla River on a steel bridge constructed in 1907. The Cunningham Sheep Ranch, founded in the 1880s by Charles Cunningham, is based in Nolin. It was once one of the largest sheep-raising operations in the United States. Today it raises rambouillet sheep.