The Boom-and-Bust Histories Behind 8 Oregon Ghost Towns
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The Boom-and-Bust Histories Behind 8 Oregon Ghost Towns
"On a narrow spit of sand on Tillamook Bay, this "Atlantic City of the West" rose in the early 1900s with a dance hall, 1,000-seat movie theater, bowling alley, bandstand for live music, and heated saltwater swimming pool with a wave generator. Began sliding into the sea by 1926. Final building swallowed up in 1971. Bridal Veil Columbia River mill town near falls of the same name."
"Timber logged on Larch Mountain and rough-cut in Palmer arrived at Bridal Veil's finishing mills via a 1.5-mile log flume. A cemetery remains, and a post office with a postmark that's popular for wedding invitations."
"Logging town in Wallowa County, run by a Missouri company and settled by Black and white families. Segregated baseball teams combined for regional tournaments. A recent archaeological dig turned up artifacts-a Levi Strauss rivet, glass beads-from the lost Black neighborhood. In Joseph, visit the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center."
"Sumpter This gold mining boomtown in the Elkhorns tallied more than 2,000 residents in the early 1900s, plus an opera house, brewery, and three (!) newspapers. Largely devastated by fire in 1917. Mining continued till the '50s; present-day visitors can tour a massive dredge."
Oregon contains more than 200 ghost towns across varied landscapes. A Tillamook Bay beachfront resort rose in the early 1900s with entertainment venues and a heated saltwater pool before sliding into the sea by 1926; its final building vanished in 1971. Bridal Veil was a Columbia River mill town served by a 1.5-mile log flume and retains a cemetery and a post office whose postmark remains popular. A Wallowa County logging town housed Black and white families and recent digs recovered artifacts from a lost Black neighborhood. Sumpter grew during a gold boom and still preserves a large dredge. Several towns declined from fires, rail competition, or water shortages, leaving small populations and historic remnants.
Read at Portland Monthly
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