Blue River, Oregon

Blue River
Unincorporated community

Post office in Blue River
Blue River
Blue River

Location within the state of Oregon

Coordinates: 44°9′17″N 122°20′24″W / 44.15472°N 122.34000°W / 44.15472; -122.34000Coordinates: 44°9′17″N 122°20′24″W / 44.15472°N 122.34000°W / 44.15472; -122.34000
Country United States
State Oregon
County Lane
Time zone Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
  Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP code 97413
Area code(s) 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 is named after the Blue River, which is 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]

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]

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.[5]

References

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.