Olene, Oregon
Encyclopedia
Olene is an unincorporated
community in Klamath County
, Oregon
, United States. It is located 10 miles southeast of Klamath Falls
on Oregon Route 140. Olene has a store and at one time it had a school. In 1940 Olene had a population of 62 and was considered a suburb of Klamath Falls. Olene was the center of a prosperous dairy and potato farming district.
According to William Gladstone Steel
, Olene is a Klamath word meaning "eddy place" or "place of drift." O. C. Applegate
adopted the word for the site in 1884 when the post office was established. The original Olene post office was up the Lost River
from the current townsite. When the post office closed in 1966, it was near The Gap, a restriction in the Lost River. This gap is also known as Olene Gap, and the Olene Hot Springs are nearby.
The community was located on a rail line operated jointly by Southern Pacific and Burlington Northern
. Today the OC&E Woods Line State Trail
, a rails to trails
conversion, passes through Olene. Originally built by the Oregon California and Eastern Railroad, the railroad line reached Olene in 1918.
42.1718141°N 121.6308324°W
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 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. It is located 10 miles southeast of Klamath Falls
Klamath Falls, Oregon
Klamath Falls is a city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. Originally called Linkville when George Nurse founded the town in 1867, after the Link River on whose falls this city sat, although no falls currently exist; the name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1892...
on Oregon Route 140. Olene has a store and at one time it had a school. In 1940 Olene had a population of 62 and was considered a suburb of Klamath Falls. Olene was the center of a prosperous dairy and potato farming district.
According to William Gladstone Steel
William Gladstone Steel
William Gladstone Steel , called the "father of Crater Lake", referring to the creation of Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, United States. A native of Ohio, he worked in the newspaper business before becoming a mail carrier...
, Olene is a Klamath word meaning "eddy place" or "place of drift." O. C. Applegate
Oliver Cromwell Applegate
Captain Oliver Cromwell Applegate was an American politician and Indian agent in the state of Oregon. A member of the Applegate family that helped open the Applegate Trail, he was raised in Southern Oregon where he later was in charge of the Klamath Indian Reservation...
adopted the word for the site in 1884 when the post office was established. The original Olene post office was up the Lost River
Lost River (California)
Lost River begins and ends in a closed basin in northern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. The river, long, flows in an arc from Clear Lake Reservoir in Modoc County, California, through Klamath County, Oregon to Tule Lake in Siskiyou County...
from the current townsite. When the post office closed in 1966, it was near The Gap, a restriction in the Lost River. This gap is also known as Olene Gap, and the Olene Hot Springs are nearby.
The community was located on a rail line operated jointly by Southern Pacific and Burlington Northern
Burlington Northern Railroad
The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996....
. Today the OC&E Woods Line State Trail
OC&E Woods Line State Trail
The OC&E Woods Line State Trail is a rail trail in Klamath and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is Oregon's longest state park. The trail follows the old OC&E and Weyerhaeuser railroads from Klamath Falls to Thompson Reservoir...
, a rails to trails
Rail trail
A rail trail is the conversion of a disused railway easement into a multi-use path, typically for walking, cycling and sometimes horse riding. The characteristics of former tracks—flat, long, frequently running through historical areas—are appealing for various development. The term sometimes also...
conversion, passes through Olene. Originally built by the Oregon California and Eastern Railroad, the railroad line reached Olene in 1918.
External links
- Historic image of Olene Store from FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
- Image of Olene Store from Pbase
42.1718141°N 121.6308324°W