Auburn, Oregon

Former unincorporated community in Oregon, United States

44°41′58″N 117°56′43″W / 44.69944°N 117.94528°W / 44.69944; -117.94528CountryUnited StatesStateOregonCountyBakerElevation

4,213 ft (1,284 m)Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)Area codes458 and 541GNIS feature ID1136017^[1]

Auburn was an unincorporated community in rural Baker County, Oregon, United States, now considered a ghost town.^[2]^[3] Auburn lies off Oregon Route 7 southwest of Baker City and east of McEwen on the edge of the Blue Mountains.

Auburn is deserted today, but the former gold mining boomtown was once the largest community in Eastern Oregon.^[4] Auburn only had one or two buildings until 1861, when gold was discovered in the area.^[4] By September 1862, Auburn had grown into a full-fledged town with over 20 stores and 1000 homes to serve the mining industry.^[4]^[5] In that month the Oregon Legislative Assembly made Auburn the first county seat of Baker County, but by the 1870s Auburn was largely deserted,^[4] with a population of 200 people in 1873.^[5]

The post office, the first in northeast Oregon, closed in 1903.^[5] It had opened on November 1, 1862, with William F. McCrary as the first postmaster.^[6]

References

^ "Auburn". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
^ Miller, Donald C. (1977). Ghost Towns of Washington and Oregon. Boulder, Colorado: Pruett Publishing Company. p. 69. ISBN 0-87108-500-3.
^ Florin, Lambert (1970). Oregon Ghost Towns. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company. p. 11. OCLC 2713643.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Allen, Cain (2005). "Auburn, Oregon, c.1861". Oregon Historical Society. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bailey, Barbara Ruth (1982). Main Street: Northeastern Oregon. Oregon Historical Society. p. 43. ISBN 0-87595-073-6.
^ McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-0875952772.