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]
Blalock, Oregon | |
|---|---|
Former community | |
  Blalock Location within the state of Oregon  Blalock Blalock (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 45°41′39″N 120°22′24″W / 45.69417°N 120.37333°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Gilliam |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (Pacific) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1164926[1] |
History
editThe 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
editReferences
edit- ^ "Blalock Post Office (historical)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. August 1, 1994. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Blalock". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. May 22, 1986. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2008. p. 72. ISBN 0-89933-347-8.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d Oregon, Washington and Idaho Gazetteer and Business Directory, Volume 1. R. L. Polk & Co. 1884. p. 324.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
External links
edit- Historic image of the Blalock Diner from Salem Public Library
- Historic image of a grain elevator in Blalock from University of Oregon digital archives
- Images of Blalock from Flickr
- Blalock Canyon from Lewis & Clark's Columbia River
- Blalock, Nelson Gales from NCpedia