Crescent Lake Junction is an unincorporated community in Klamath County

Klamath County, Oregon

-National protected areas:* Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge* Crater Lake National Park * Deschutes National Forest * Fremont National Forest * Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge* Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge...

, 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...

. It is situated 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast of Crescent Lake

Crescent Lake (Oregon)

Crescent Lake is a lake found on the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains, in the northwest corner of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The unincorporated community of Crescent Lake Junction on Oregon Route 58 and Crescent Lake State Airport are located to the northeast of the lake. The...

 and 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Odell Lake

Odell Lake (Oregon)

Odell Lake is located near Willamette Pass in the northwest corner of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. It is one of several lakes in the Cascade Range in Central Oregon, and lies within the Deschutes National Forest. It was named for Oregon Surveyor General William Holman Odell by Byron J...

 on Oregon Route 58, and is next to Crescent Lake State Airport

Crescent Lake State Airport

Crescent Lake State Airport , is a public airport located two miles north of Crescent Lake in Klamath County, Oregon, USA. On-airport camping is allowed, and boat rentals are available nearby. The airport is closed November 1 through May 1 due to snow.-External links:**...

. The zip code 97425, which includes Crescent Lake Junction, had a total population of 122 people in the year 2000

History

The community was originally located along the Southern Pacific Railroad line, 2 miles (3.2 km) south by southwest of its current site, and was known as Crescent Lake, Oregon. The former site was built after the completion of a section of railroad in 1923 (opened in 1926) called the Natron Cutoff, in the Cascade Range

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...

. This section superseded the route through the Siskiyou Mountains

Siskiyou Mountains

The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal mountain range in the northern Klamath Mountains in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, California northeast along the north side of the Klamath River into...

 for trains traveling between the Willamette Valley

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...

 and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The community of Crescent Lake was built to service the steam trains that operated on the line until the 1950s and to maintain the track and signals over the adjacent section of the main line. Crescent Lake also served as a division meeting point where the operation of freight trains passed to fresh crews. Trains bound from Oregon to California were manned by crews from Eugene in the Willamette Valley up the "Hill" to Crescent Lake, where crews from Klamath Falls relieved them for the continuation of travel to Dunsmuir in northern California. Crews operating trains in the opposite direction were similarly relieved at Crescent Lake. Each of the relieved crews remained at Crescent Lake for a mandatory rest period, after which they relieved an arriving crew and returned to their respective home location. The site included a train depot, a roundhouse

Roundhouse

A roundhouse is a building used by railroads for servicing locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to turntables...

, a lodging facility for resting train crews which was known as the "Clubhouse", two general stores (one containing a tavern), a restaurant, a one-room schoolhouse, and a post office. The local railroad staff included a complete section gang (right-of-way maintainers), a signal maintainer, an electrician, a station agent and shift operators, a trainmaster, a yardmaster, and several other tradesmen. After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the community began moving to its present site along Oregon Route 58, which had been completed a few years earlier in 1940. In 1958, the roundhouse was decommissioned and soon torn down, and in 1970 a fire in the restaurant destroyed the remaining businesses on what is now known as Crescent Lake Hwy. A few dilapidated houses remained occupied along Crescent Lake Hwy as recently as the 1990's, however, the local fire department purposely destroyed the what remained of the ghost town during a training exercise. All that remains of the former site is a water tower and a parking lot for winter recreation. The local post office was located in the "Odell Sportsman" general store, however, it was destroyed in a fire on January 23, 2009 and now mail is delivered from the zip code 97733 in Crescent, OR.