Colton is an unincorporated

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...

 community located in Clackamas County

Clackamas County, Oregon

Clackamas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county was named after the Native Americans living in the area, the Clackamas Indians, who were part of the Chinookan people. As of 2010, the population was 375,992...

, 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 211. Colton is located between the cities of Estacada

Estacada, Oregon

Estacada is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, about 30 miles southeast of Portland. The population was 2,695 at the 2010 census. -History:The Estacada post office opened in February 1904 and the city was incorporated in May 1905...

 and Molalla

Molalla, Oregon

Molalla is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 5,647 at the 2000 census.-History:Molalla was named after the Molalla River, which in turn was named for the Molala, a Native American tribe that inhabited the area. William H. Vaughan took up a donation land claim in...

.

According to Oregon Geographic Names

Oregon Geographic Names

Oregon Geographic Names is an authoritative compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the U.S. state of Oregon. , the book is in its seventh edition and is compiled and edited by Lewis L. McArthur, who took over from his father, Lewis A. McArthur, as of the fourth edition...

, Colton was named about 1892 by two residents, Joshua Gorbett and a man named Cole, who each wanted to name the community after the other. The Post Office Department

United States Post Office Department

The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the Postmaster General....

 thought "Gorbett" would be confused with Corbett

Corbett, Oregon

Corbett is an unincorporated community on the Columbia River in eastern Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. It is located on the Historic Columbia River Highway between the Sandy River and Crown Point....

, so the community was named "Colton" instead. The Colton post office was established the same year. Its ZIP Code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 is 97017.

The community has historically had a large Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 population, and was once a significant logging town. Today the economy is dominated by horticulture

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

 and Christmas tree

Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...

 farming

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

.

Geography

Colton is located on Milk Creek, a tributary of the Molalla River

Molalla River

The Molalla River is a tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon.-Geography:Its headwaters are in Clackamas County, in the Table Rock Wilderness, near Table Rock, in the Cascade Range...

, in a broad canyon eroded in a plateau of volcanic basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

s and ash of the nearby Western Cascades

Western Cascades

Portions of this article include public domain text from the USFS .The Western Cascades is a region of Oregon, USA containing many shield volcanoes, cinder cones and lava flows. The region was volcanically active from approximately 5-0.5 million years ago...

. Canyon Creek, which drains Green Mountain's slopes to the South, joins Milk Creek just east of the community.

Education

Primary and secondary students in Colton are served by the Colton School District, which includes Colton Elementary School, Colton Middle School, and Colton High School

Colton High School (Oregon)

-Academics:In 2008, 92% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma. Of 53 students, 49 graduated, 3 dropped out, and 1 received a modified diploma....

.