Blalock, Oregon | |
---|---|
Former community | |
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] |
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]
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]