Weatherby 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 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. It is located about nine miles southeast of Durkee

Durkee, Oregon

Durkee is an unincorporated community in Baker County, Oregon, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office with the ZIP code of 97905. Durkee lies at the Vandercar Road exit of Interstate 84....

 on Interstate 84

Interstate 84 in Oregon

In the U.S. state of Oregon, Interstate 84 travels east–west, following the Columbia River and the rough path of the old Oregon Trail from Portland east to Idaho. For this reason, it is also known as most of the Columbia River Highway No. 2 and all of the Old Oregon Trail Highway No. 6 . It...

/U.S. Route 30, near the Burnt River

Burnt River (Oregon)

The Burnt River is a tributary of the Snake River in eastern Oregon, United States. It enters the Snake near Huntington, Oregon, at a point upstream of the Powder River and downstream of the Malheur River, slightly more than from the Snake's confluence with the Columbia River...

.

There was a post office named Express Ranch established in 1865 near what is now Durkee during the gold mining

Gold mining

Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...

 boom in the county. C. W. Durkee was the first postmaster. It was so-named because it was a stopover for stagecoach

Stagecoach

A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

es or "expresses", while the term "ranch" in this case probably came from the Spanish rancho, a term for a place of lodging popular with the miners who had come there from 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...

. It had nothing to do with the pursuit of ranch

Ranch

A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

ing. The name of the office was changed to Weatherby in 1879 and at the same time it was moved 10 miles south on the Burnt River to the property of Andrew J. Weatherby, who was also the first postmaster. In 1884, the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company established a Weatherby station on its line to Huntington

Huntington, Oregon

Huntington is a city in Baker County, on the eastern border of Oregon, United States. It is located on the Snake River and along Interstate 84 and U.S. Route 30. The population was 515 at the 2000 census.- History:...

. Weatherby post office closed in 1920. Meanwhile, an office was reestablished at the Express Ranch site in 1884 and named Express. The name of that office was changed to Durkee around 1902.

Weatherby is the site of an Oregon Department of Transportation

Oregon Department of Transportation

The Oregon Department of Transportation is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Department which, along with the Oregon State Highway...

 rest area. There was formerly a state historic park

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department , officially known as the State Parks and Recreation Department, is the government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon which operates its system of state parks...

 north of Weatherby called Rattlesnake Springs that commemorated a stop along the Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...

. It was displaced by the construction of I-84.

External links

• Roadcam at Weatherby rest area on I-84 from Oregon Department of Transportation
  Oregon Department of Transportation
  The Oregon Department of Transportation is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Department which, along with the Oregon State Highway...
  
  
• Images of historic markers at Weatherby rest area from Flickr, including image of Rattlesnake Springs plaque
• Images of Weatherby from Flickr

44.4984948°N 117.3713007°W