Oregon Secretary of State

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Whitney

Shape of the State of Oregon with a marker in the eastern area indicating the location of the town of Whitney.
A logging town near the Burnt River in gold mine country, Whitney was founded and platted in 1900. The community thrived along the narrow gauge Sumpter Valley Railway, which reached the area in 1901. The Oregon Lumber Company built the first sawmill in the area but it was devastated by a fire in 1918 and never fully rebuilt by the time the industry declined in the 1940s. At one time the town was home to over 150 people, but after the railway was abandoned in 1947, it has dwindled to a few residents.


A wagon hitched to horses sits in front of a post office. Men stand around and some sit on horses or the wagon.

A wagon sits in front of the Whitney Post Office in the early 1900s. (Courtesy of Baker County Library District) Enlarge Image

A run-down, falling down, plank building with a stove pipe coming out of the roof.

A cow skull hangs over the entrance to a house in Whitney. (Oregon State Archives, 2019) Enlarge Image

A one-room, one-story wood plank building in a field. The wood is pealing and weather worn.

Old buildings in Whitney. (Oregon State Archives, 2019) Enlarge Image

A wood barn with a metal roof in a field surrounded by a wooden fence.

A barn in Whitney. (Oregon State Archives, 2019) Enlarge Image