Galena is an unincorporated community in Grant County, Oregon, United States, about 20 miles (32 km) from Austin Junction in the Blue Mountains.[1] It is on the Middle Fork John Day River in the Malheur national forest. The former gold mining camp is considered a ghost town.[2]

The locale was settled in 1865 as a mining community on the Middle Fork John Day River near its confluence with Elk Creek.[3] The town was named Susanville after one of the earliest inhabitants, Susan Ward.[3]

Galena post office was established in 1901 when a group of miners were able to get the Susanville post office moved from the current site of Galena two miles up Elk Creek to their mine.[3] The new post office was named for a body of galena ore in the area, and the town was renamed as well.[3] The mines were worked extensively in the 1860s and were still active in 1940.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Galena". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  2. ^ Friedman, Ralph (1993) [1972]. Oregon for the Curious (3rd ed.). Portland, Oregon: Pars Publishing Company. p. 212. ISBN 0-87004-222-X.
  3. ^ a b c d McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 390, 925–926. ISBN 978-0875952772.
  4. ^ 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. OCLC 4874569.

External links

44°42′38″N 118°48′59″W / 44.710434°N 118.816348°W / 44.710434; -118.816348


Municipalities and communities of Grant County, Oregon, United States
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