Wedderburn 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...

 coastal community in Curry County

Curry County, Oregon

Curry County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 2010, its population was 22,364. The county is named for George Law Curry, a governor of the Oregon Territory. The seat of the county is Gold Beach.-Economy:...

, 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 located across the mouth of Rogue River

Rogue River (Oregon)

The Rogue River in southwestern Oregon in the United States flows about in a generally westward direction from the Cascade Range to the Pacific Ocean. Known for its salmon runs, whitewater rafting, and rugged scenery, it was one of the original eight rivers named in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act...

 from Gold Beach

Gold Beach, Oregon

Gold Beach is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, Oregon, United States, on the Oregon Coast. The population was 1,897 at the 2000 census.-History:...

, on U.S. Route 101

U.S. Route 101 in Oregon

In the U.S. state of Oregon, U.S. Route 101, a major north–south U.S. Highway, runs through the state along the coastline near the Pacific Ocean. In Oregon, it runs from the Oregon–California border, south of Brookings, to the Oregon–Washington border on the Columbia River, between Astoria,...

. The Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge

Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge

The Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge, also known as the Rogue River Bridge and the Isaac Lee Patterson Memorial Bridge, is a concrete arch bridge that spans the Rogue River in Curry County, Oregon. The bridge carries U.S...

 connects Wedderburn with Gold Beach.

Wedderburn was founded by R. D. Hume

Robert Deniston Hume

Robert Deniston Hume was a cannery owner, pioneer hatchery operator, politician, author, and self-described "pygmy monopolist" who controlled salmon fishing for 32 years on the lower Rogue River in U.S. state of Oregon...

, a prominent local businessman in the fishing industry

Fishing industry

The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products....

, who named the community after the home of his ancestors, Wedderburn Castle

Wedderburn Castle

Wedderburn Castle, near Duns, Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, is an 18th century country house. It is the historic family seat of the Home of Wedderburn family, cadets of the Home family .-History:...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Wedderburn post office was established in 1895.

Wedderburn was originally a company town

Company town

A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...

 for Hume's salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

 fishing monopoly, and besides his fishing fleet, he ran Wedderburn's cannery

Canning

Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years, although under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product, such as canned, dried lentils, can last as...

, store, race track and cold storage plant. Hume had settled at the mouth of the Rogue in 1876, and he eventually owned all the land on both banks of the river from the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 to the head of the tidewater.

Further reading

• Dodds, Gordon B. The Salmon King of Oregon: R. D. Hume and the Pacific Fisheries
• Douthit, Nathan. A Guide to Oregon South Coast History: Traveling the Jedediah Smith Trail
• LaPlante, Margaret. The Town That Floated into Place: Wedderburn, Oregon

External links

• Article on R. D. Hume from The Oregon Encyclopedia
  The Oregon Encyclopedia
  The Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture is a collaborative encyclopedia, under development, focused on the history of the U.S. state of Oregon. The encyclopedia is a project of Portland State University's History Department and the Oregon Historical Society...