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Blalock, Oregon

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Blalock, Oregon
Former community destroyed by flood
CountryUnited States
StateOregon
CountyGilliam
Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (Pacific)
GNIS feature ID1128512[1]

Blalock was an unincorporated community located in the Columbia River Gorge in Gilliam County, Oregon, United States.[2] The town displaced a Native American settlement originally named Táwash.[3] Blalock was located about 7 miles (11 km) west of Arlington on Interstate 84/U.S. Route 30 at the mouth of Blalock Canyon.[4][5] Blalock is still the name of a station on the Union Pacific Railroad (originally the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, or OR&N).[5][6]

History

The community was named for the farm of Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, a Civil War veteran who had pioneered in the Walla Walla area.[5][7] He established an agricultural operation of several thousand acres on the flat land here along the Columbia River.[5][7] The area was first settled in 1879, and Blalock post office was established in 1881.[5][6] The town was platted in 1881 by the Blalock Wheat Growing Company.[7] The first two buildings, a railroad station and a warehouse, were built by A. J. McLellan, OR&N superintendent of the construction of bridges and buildings.[7] By 1884, the community was shipping wheat and there were daily stagecoaches to Heppner; the population was 50.[6] People and businesses listed in the Polk Directory at that time included two clergymen, a saloon, a wagonmaker, a ferryman, a hotel, a general store, a lawyer, and a dealer in lumber, coal, and feed.[6] In 1904, the town handled about 750,000 bushels of wheat.[7] By 1905, the town had two grain warehouses, a hotel, a general store, a livery and stage stable, a real estate office and an agricultural implement factory.[7] In 1940, Blalock had a population of 19.[8] The post office closed in 1959.[5] In 1968, the community was inundated by the backwaters from the John Day Dam.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Blalock Post Office (historical)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. August 1, 1994. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  2. ^ "Blalock". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. May 22, 1986. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  3. ^ Hunn, Eugene S. (Winter 2007). "Sk'in – The Other Side of the River" (PDF). Oregon Historical Quarterly. 108 (4). Oregon Historical Society: 618. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  4. ^ Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2008. p. 72. ISBN 0-89933-347-8.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-0875952772.
  6. ^ a b c d Oregon, Washington and Idaho Gazetteer and Business Directory, Volume 1. R. L. Polk & Co. 1884. p. 324.
  7. ^ a b c d e f An Illustrated History of Central Oregon: Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam, Wheeler, Crook, Lake and Klamath Counties. Western Historical Publishing Company. 1905. p. 573.
  8. ^ Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Oregon (1940). Oregon: End of the Trail. American Guide Series. Portland, Oregon: Binfords & Mort. p. 265. OCLC 4874569.
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