Carson is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Baker County

Baker County, Oregon

Baker County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. It is named for Edward Dickinson Baker, a senator from Oregon who was killed at Ball's Bluff, a battle of the Civil War in Virginia in 1861. It was split from the eastern part...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, on Oregon Route 413

Oregon Route 413

Oregon Route 413 is an Oregon state highway running from Cornucopia to Halfway. OR 413 is known as the Halfway-Cornucopia Highway No. 413...

 about five miles northwest of Halfway

Halfway, Oregon

Halfway is a city in Baker County, Oregon, United States. This town took its name from the location of its post office, on the Alexander Stalker ranch, half way between Pine and Cornucopia...

.

In 1870 Tom Corson settled in the area on a tributary of Pine Creek. His neighbors pronounced his name "Carson" and named the tributary and a sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 on the creek after him. When the post office was established in 1893, it was named "Carson" as well. The town was plat

Plat

A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

ted in 1900, the first in Pine Valley. The platted area was small even by northeastern standards: 12 blocks. Carson lost out as a rural service center to the nearby Langrell.

In 1940 Carson had a population of 90. The post office closed in 1952.