Auburn, Oregon

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Auburn, Oregon
Former unincorporated community
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Auburn, Oregon
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Auburn, Oregon
Coordinates: 44°41′58″N117°56′43″W / 44.69944°N 117.94528°W / 44.69944; -117.94528
Country United States
State Oregon
County Baker
Elevation
4,213 ft (1,284 m)
Time zone UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-7 (PDT)
Area codes 458 and 541
GNIS feature ID1136017 [1]

Auburn was an unincorporated community in rural Baker County, Oregon, United States, now considered a ghost town. [2] [3] Auburn lies off Oregon Route 7 southwest of Baker City and east of McEwen on the edge of the Blue Mountains.

Contents

Auburn is deserted today, but the former gold mining boomtown was once the largest community in Eastern Oregon. [4] Auburn only had one or two buildings until 1861, when gold was discovered in the area. [4] By September 1862, Auburn had grown into a full-fledged town with over 20 stores and 1000 homes to serve the mining industry. [4] [5] In that month the Oregon Legislative Assembly made Auburn the first county seat of Baker County, but by the 1870s Auburn was largely deserted, [4] with a population of 200 people in 1873. [5]

The post office, the first in northeast Oregon, closed in 1903. [5] It had opened on November 1, 1862, with William F. McCrary as the first postmaster. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baker County, Oregon</span> County in Oregon, United States

Baker County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,668. The county seat and largest city is Baker City. The county was organized on September 22, 1862, when a portion of Wasco County was partitioned off. The new county's area was reduced in 1864 when Union County was partitioned off, and again in 1887 when Malheur County was partitioned off. The county's lines were last adjusted in 1901 when a parcel was added to the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumpter, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Sumpter is a city in Baker County, Oregon, United States. The population was 204 at the 2010 census. Sumpter is named after Fort Sumter by its founders. The name was inspired by a rock as smooth and round as a cannonball, which reminded a local resident of the American Civil War and Fort Sumter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granite, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Granite is a city in Grant County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. The city had a population of 38 in 2010, up from 24 in 2000. In 2010, it was the fourth-smallest incorporated city by population in Oregon. The smaller cities were Shaniko, Lonerock (21), and nearby Greenhorn (0).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenhorn, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Greenhorn is a nearly non-populated city in Baker and Grant counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. It straddles the Blue Mountain ridge, so that it is located in both Grant County and Baker County. As most of the city is situated in Baker County, and the early residents considered Baker City to be more convenient, for administrative purposes it is considered to be in Baker County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitney, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Whitney is an unincorporated community, also considered a ghost town, in Baker County, Oregon, United States, on Oregon Route 7 southwest of Sumpter. It is on the North Fork Burnt River, near the Blue Mountains and Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashwood, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in Oregon, United States

Ashwood is a ghost town in Jefferson County, Oregon, United States, 32 miles (51 km) northeast of Madras.

Austin is an unincorporated community, considered a ghost town, in Grant County, Oregon, United States. It is located north of Oregon Route 7, near the Middle Fork John Day River in the Malheur National Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis A. McArthur</span> American historian

Lewis Ankeny McArthur, known as "Tam" McArthur, was an executive for Pacific Power and Light Company. He was also the secretary for the Oregon Geographic Board for many years and the author of Oregon Geographic Names. His book, now in its seventh edition, is a comprehensive source of information on the origins and history of Oregon place names. It is a standard reference book in libraries throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Tam McArthur Rim in the Cascade Mountains is named in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Packwood</span> American politician

William Henderson Packwood was an American politician who served at the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857. A United States Army veteran from the state of Illinois, he was also a school superintendent and acquaintance of President Abraham Lincoln. He was an early resident of Baker City in Eastern Oregon.

Pocahontas is a historic former community in Baker County, Oregon, United States. It lies northwest of Baker City along Pocahontas Road near the Elkhorn Mountains.

The Grande Ronde Valley is a valley in Union County in northeastern Oregon, United States. It is surrounded by the Blue Mountains, and is drained by the Grande Ronde River. La Grande is its largest community. The valley is 35 miles (56 km) long, north to south, from Pumpkin Ridge to Pyles Canyon, and 15 miles (24 km) wide, east to west, from Cove to the Grande Ronde River's canyon. Its name, fittingly, means, "great circle."

Copper is a former community in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. Copper was located about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the Oregon–California border, near the mouth of Carberry Creek. Copper was named for the copper mining in the region, including at the Blue Ledge mine just over the state line in California. The town had a post office from 1924 until 1932. The elevation of Copper is 1,949 feet.

Orodell, also known as Oro Dell, is an unincorporated historic community in Union County, Oregon, United States, on the Grande Ronde River at the northwest edge of La Grande. It is considered a ghost town. Either Charles Fox or Stephen Coffin started the first sawmill in the Grande Ronde Valley there in the summer of 1862, after a joint-stock company between Coffin and other local settlers failed to materialize in 1861.

Sparta is an unincorporated community in Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named for Sparta, Illinois, by William H. Packwood, a prominent Oregon pioneer who visited the gold diggings at the Powder River there in 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bourne, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Bourne is a ghost town in Baker County, Oregon, United States about 7 miles (11 km) north of Sumpter in the Blue Mountains. It lies on Cracker Creek and is within the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest. Platted in 1902, the former gold mining boomtown is considered a ghost town today.

Galena is an unincorporated community in Grant County, Oregon, United States, about 20 miles (32 km) from Austin Junction in the Blue Mountains. It is on the Middle Fork John Day River in the Malheur national forest. The former gold mining camp is considered a ghost town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susanville, Oregon</span>

Susanville is an unincorporated community in Grant County, Oregon, United States, in the Blue Mountains about two miles up Elk Creek from Galena. The place was started as a gold mining camp in 1862 or 1864 and is now considered a ghost town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancaster, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Lancaster is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located about two miles south of Harrisburg and two miles north of Junction City, on Oregon Route 99E near the Willamette River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of Oregon history</span>

For a useful starting point goto Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture (2022). Not yet in print format; it is online here with 2000 articles.

References

  1. ↑ "Auburn". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  2. ↑ Miller, Donald C. (1977). Ghost Towns of Washington and Oregon. Boulder, Colorado: Pruett Publishing Company. p. 69. ISBN   0-87108-500-3.
  3. ↑ Florin, Lambert (1970). Oregon Ghost Towns. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company. p. 11. OCLC   2713643.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Allen, Cain (2005). "Auburn, Oregon, c.1861". Oregon Historical Society . Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 Bailey, Barbara Ruth (1982). Main Street: Northeastern Oregon. Oregon Historical Society. p. 43. ISBN   0-87595-073-6.
  6. ↑ McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 37–38. ISBN   978-0875952772.

Further reading


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