Austin, Oregon | |
|---|---|
  Austin, Oregon | |
| Coordinates: 44°36′10″N118°29′48″W / 44.602656°N 118.49661°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Grant County |
| Founded | late 1800s |
Austin is an unincorporated community, considered a ghost town, [1] [2] 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.
Austin was named for Minot and Linda Austin, early settlers of the area. [3] [4] The Austins operated a small store and hotel, Austin House. Austin House was started as a hotel and stagecoach station by a Mr. Newton. [2] Austin post office was established in 1888 and closed in 1950. [3]
The tracks of the Sumpter Valley Railway reached Austin in 1905. [4] The railway was built by Oregon Lumber Company and Austin became an important railroad logging community. [5] Austin was the hub of the area until Bates, a company town of the Oregon Lumber Company, [4] was built 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west. [5] Austin was also a supply depot for local mining towns, including Susanville and Galena. Austin sawmills supplied lumber for places such as Greenhorn and the Bonanza Mine, higher up in the Blue Mountains. [2] At its height, the population was about 500 (some estimates say it was high as 5,000) [2] and the community had three sawmills. [1] [2] The town also had a substantial jail and the offices of several doctors, lawyers and real estate operators. [2] As the neighboring mining towns disappeared, however, Austin also went into decline. [2]
By 1997, a newer business called Austin House was the only business remaining in the Austin area, at Austin Junction where Oregon Route 7 meets U.S. Route 26. Built in 1959, [6] the business is about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from the original site of Austin and serves as a combination tavern, grocery store, restaurant and gas station. [3] As of 2002, fewer than 35 people lived within a 5-mile (8.0 km) radius of Austin. [5]
| Climate data for Austin, Oregon, 1991–2020 normals, 1912-2020 extremes: 4213ft (1284m) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 58 (14) | 65 (18) | 75 (24) | 90 (32) | 95 (35) | 103 (39) | 108 (42) | 103 (39) | 99 (37) | 89 (32) | 73 (23) | 60 (16) | 108 (42) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 49.2 (9.6) | 53.4 (11.9) | 61.9 (16.6) | 73.5 (23.1) | 83.5 (28.6) | 89.0 (31.7) | 95.5 (35.3) | 94.4 (34.7) | 89.4 (31.9) | 76.9 (24.9) | 60.2 (15.7) | 47.8 (8.8) | 95.8 (35.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 34.4 (1.3) | 39.4 (4.1) | 46.1 (7.8) | 52.9 (11.6) | 62.0 (16.7) | 71.3 (21.8) | 83.4 (28.6) | 82.7 (28.2) | 73.3 (22.9) | 58.5 (14.7) | 42.0 (5.6) | 33.5 (0.8) | 56.6 (13.7) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 24.8 (−4.0) | 29.0 (−1.7) | 34.7 (1.5) | 40.4 (4.7) | 47.9 (8.8) | 54.9 (12.7) | 63.3 (17.4) | 62.4 (16.9) | 54.1 (12.3) | 43.3 (6.3) | 32.1 (0.1) | 24.8 (−4.0) | 42.6 (5.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 15.2 (−9.3) | 18.5 (−7.5) | 23.2 (−4.9) | 27.8 (−2.3) | 33.8 (1.0) | 38.5 (3.6) | 43.2 (6.2) | 42.0 (5.6) | 34.8 (1.6) | 28.2 (−2.1) | 22.2 (−5.4) | 16.0 (−8.9) | 28.6 (−1.9) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −7.7 (−22.1) | −6.3 (−21.3) | 6.1 (−14.4) | 15.9 (−8.9) | 21.4 (−5.9) | 27.3 (−2.6) | 31.3 (−0.4) | 29.3 (−1.5) | 21.4 (−5.9) | 12.6 (−10.8) | 2.5 (−16.4) | −8.5 (−22.5) | −16.3 (−26.8) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −52 (−47) | −47 (−44) | −25 (−32) | −1 (−18) | 7 (−14) | 13 (−11) | 15 (−9) | 17 (−8) | 10 (−12) | −6 (−21) | −29 (−34) | −41 (−41) | −52 (−47) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 2.56 (65) | 1.74 (44) | 1.92 (49) | 1.66 (42) | 1.84 (47) | 1.62 (41) | 0.69 (18) | 0.71 (18) | 0.79 (20) | 1.25 (32) | 2.66 (68) | 3.32 (84) | 20.76 (528) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 22.3 (57) | 11.3 (29) | 7.1 (18) | 2.8 (7.1) | 0.4 (1.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.1 (0.25) | 0.8 (2.0) | 11.1 (28) | 26.8 (68) | 82.7 (210.35) |
| Average extreme snow depth inches (cm) | 20.7 (53) | 21.6 (55) | 14.7 (37) | 3.3 (8.4) | 0.6 (1.5) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.7 (1.8) | 7.5 (19) | 16.0 (41) | 26.2 (67) |
| Source 1: NOAA (1981-2010 snowfall) [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: XMACIS2 (records, 1981-2010 monthly max/mins & snow depth) [9] | |||||||||||||
Prairie City is a city in Grant County, Oregon, United States. The population was 909 at the 2010 census. The community was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 23, 1891.
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The Sumpter Valley Railway, or Sumpter Valley Railroad, is a 3 ft narrow gauge heritage railroad located in Baker County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. Built on a right-of-way used by the original railway of the same name, it carries excursion trains on a roughly 5-mile (8.0 km) route between McEwen and Sumpter. The railroad has two steam locomotives and several other pieces of rolling stock. Passenger excursion trains operate on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through the end of September.
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Austin Junction is an unincorporated community in Grant County, Oregon, United States. It is at the intersection of U.S. Route 26 and Oregon Route 7, about 2.5 miles south of Austin in the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest. The Austin House, a combination café, grocery store, gas station and tavern at this location is named after an early business in nearby Austin. The business is located on Forest Service land and operates with a special-use permit. Austin Junction has a Bates, Oregon mailing address. The elevation is 4,236 feet.
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The Oregon and Northwestern Railroad (O&NW) is a defunct railroad in eastern Oregon in the United States. It ran 50.2 miles (80.8 km) from Hines north to Seneca, which is on the edge of the Malheur National Forest, over a total of 19 trestles.
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44°36′10″N118°29′48″W / 44.602656°N 118.496611°W
Municipalities and communities of Grant County, Oregon, United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cities |  | |
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |