Blue River, Oregon

Last updated

Blue River, Oregon
Unincorporated community
Blue River post office - Blue River Oregon.jpg
Post office in Blue River
USA Oregon location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Blue River
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Blue River
Coordinates: 44°9′17″N122°20′24″W / 44.15472°N 122.34000°W / 44.15472; -122.34000
Country United States
State Oregon
County Lane
Time zone UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code
97413
Area codes 458 and 541

Blue River is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located on Oregon Route 126 along the McKenzie River, between the communities of Finn Rock and Rainbow. It is in the Willamette National Forest, where the Blue River empties into the McKenzie. The community was named after the Blue River, which was named for the striking blue color that apparently comes from its rocky bed. [1] Five miles northeast of the community, a dam on the Blue River forms the Blue River Reservoir. [2]

Contents

History

The area was first settled in the late 19th century by the Sparks family. [3] Gold was discovered in the Blue River area in 1863, but by 1912, most gold mining activity had ended. [3] The ore was low grade and the local stamp mills have not operated in many years. [1] Records show, however, that the Lucky Boy Mine had extracted more than $1 million from the Blue River Mining District during the brief gold rush. [3] Samuel Sparks and his sons laid out the town of Blue River in 1900 as part of 320 acres (1.3 km2) they had acquired. [3] Blue River post office was established in 1886. [1]

The community's volunteer Frances O'Brien Memorial Library was founded in 1928. The library has no running water, does not set due dates on loans, and was originally left unlocked 24 hours a day. [4]

The structures in Blue River were destroyed by the Holiday Farm Fire on September 8, 2020. [5] The Frances O’Brien Memorial Library will temporarily operate out of the Upper McKenzie Community Center in Rainbow, Oregon.

Climate

This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Blue River has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. [6]

Related Research Articles

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

Cottage Grove is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Its population was 10,643 at the 2020 census. It is the third largest city in Lane County. It is on Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99, and the main Willamette Valley line of the CORP railroad.

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

Oakridge is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The population was 3,205 as of the 2010 census. It is located east of Westfir on Oregon Route 58, about 40 miles (64 km) east of Eugene and 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Portland. Surrounded by the Willamette National Forest and the Cascade Range, Oakridge is popular with outdoor enthusiasts for its hiking, mountain biking, wildflowers, fly fishing, birding, watersports, and the nearby Willamette Pass Resort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McKenzie River (Oregon)</span> Mckenzie Blue River

The McKenzie River is a 90-mile (145 km) tributary of the Willamette River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the Cascade Range east of Eugene and flows westward into the southernmost end of the Willamette Valley. It is named for Donald McKenzie, a Scottish Canadian fur trader who explored parts of the Pacific Northwest for the Pacific Fur Company in the early 19th century. As of the 21st century, six large dams have been built on the McKenzie and its tributaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Tom River</span> River in Oregon, United States

The Long Tom River is a 57-mile (92 km) tributary of the Willamette River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains an area at the south end of the Willamette Valley between Eugene and Corvallis.

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

Noti is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States, located in the foothills of the Central Oregon Coast Range between Eugene and Florence. Per the 2000 census, Noti had a total population of 699.

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

McKenzie Bridge is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States, on the McKenzie River and within Willamette National Forest. It is along Oregon Route 126, about 53 miles (85 km) east of Eugene, between Rainbow and Belknap Springs. The McKenzie Bridge State Airport is about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the community.

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

Finn Rock is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located on Oregon Route 126 and the McKenzie River, between the communities of Nimrod and Blue River, in the Willamette National Forest.

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

Dorena is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located southeast of Cottage Grove on the Row River, a tributary of the Coast Fork Willamette River.

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

Walterville is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located six miles (9.7 km) east of Springfield on Oregon Route 126 near the McKenzie River.

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

Leaburg is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States located on the McKenzie River and Oregon Route 126 east of Walterville and west of Vida.

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

Marion Forks is an unincorporated community on the North Santiam Highway, 15 miles (24 km) south of the city of Detroit, in Linn County, Oregon, United States.

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

Rainbow is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It lies off Oregon Route 126, northeast of Eugene. Rainbow's elevation is 1,211 feet (369 m). A post office was established on July 1, 1924, and closed August 31, 1937. The post office got its name from the rainbow trout that swim in the McKenzie River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue River (Oregon)</span> Tributary of the McKenzie River in Linn and Lane counties in the U.S. state of Oregon

Blue River is a tributary of the McKenzie River in Linn and Lane counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. From its source at the confluence of Mann and Wolf creeks in the Cascade Range, it flows generally southwest to join the McKenzie near the community of Blue River. Saddle Dam and Blue River Dam block the river about 2 miles (3 km) from its mouth to form Blue River Reservoir, a multipurpose impoundment built in 1968 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cougar Reservoir</span> Reservoir in Lane County, Oregon

Cougar Reservoir is a reservoir on the South Fork McKenzie River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is in Lane County, 46 miles (74 km) east of Eugene and about 3 miles (5 km) south of the community of Rainbow in the Willamette National Forest. In 1963 the United States Army Corps of Engineers built Cougar Dam on the river primarily to generate hydroelectricity and control flooding, and the reservoir formed behind the dam.

London Springs is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It lies 11.33 miles (18.23 km) south-southwest of Cottage Grove at an elevation of 896 feet (273 m). London Springs is near the Coast Fork Willamette River, south of Cottage Grove Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue River Reservoir</span> Reservoir in about miles , east of Springfield

Blue River Reservoir is an artificial impoundment, about 6 miles (10 km) long, of the Blue River in Lane County in the U.S. state of Oregon. The reservoir is about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Oregon Route 126 in the Willamette National Forest about 45 miles (72 km) east of Eugene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willamette Valley</span> Valley in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States

The Willamette Valley is a 150-mile (240 km) long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, the Oregon Coast Range to the west, and the Calapooya Mountains to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hills Creek Reservoir</span> Reservoir, mesotrophic in Lane County, Oregon

Hills Creek Reservoir, also known as Hills Creek Lake, is an artificial impoundment behind Hills Creek Dam on the Middle Fork Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. The lake is near Oakridge in Lane County about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Eugene, at the confluence of Hills Creek with the Middle Fork. The reservoir and its watershed lie within the Willamette National Forest.

Hills Creek is a tributary, about 16 miles (26 km) long, of the Middle Fork Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. From its headwaters on Juniper Ridge in the Cascade Range, the creek flows northwest through Lane County and the Willamette National Forest for its entire course.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horse Creek (McKenzie River tributary)</span> River on the Columbian Plateau in western Oregon, US

Horse Creek is a tributary of the McKenzie River in near the unincorporated community of McKenzie Bridge in Lane County in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins in the Cascade Range in the Three Sisters Wilderness of the Willamette National Forest. Its headwaters are near the Deschutes County border and the Pacific Crest Trail. It flows generally northwest to meet the river about 65 miles (105 km) upstream of the McKenzie's confluence with the Willamette River.

References

  1. 1 2 3 McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 93. ISBN   0-87595-277-1.
  2. ↑ "Blue River Reservoir". Willamette National Forest. United States Forest Service . Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Nimrod to Blue River". mckenzie.orenews.com. Visitor Guides. McKenzie River Reflections. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  4. ↑ Keefer, Bob (January 12, 2003). "Check it out". The Register Guard . Eugene, Oregon . Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Vida and Blue River communities 'total loss'". Eugene Weekly. KEZI News. September 8, 2020. Archived from the original on September 11, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Climate summary for Blue River, Oregon". WeatherBase.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.