Blalock, Oregon

Blalock, Oregon
Blalock, Oregon
Former community
	Blalock Location within the state of Oregon Blalock Blalock (the United States)
	Coordinates: 45°41′39″N 120°22′24″W / 45.69417°N 120.37333°W
Country	United States
State	Oregon
County	Gilliam
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (Pacific)
GNIS feature ID	1164926

Blalock was an unincorporated community located in the Columbia River Gorge in Gilliam County, Oregon, United States.^[2] The town displaced a Native American settlement originally named Táwash.^[3] Blalock was located about 7 miles (11 km) west of Arlington on Interstate 84/U.S. Route 30 at the mouth of Blalock Canyon.^[4]^[5] Blalock is still the name of a station on the Union Pacific Railroad (originally the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, or OR&N).^[5]^[6]

History

The community was named for the farm of Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, a Civil War veteran who had pioneered in the Walla Walla area.^[5]^[7] He established an agricultural operation of several thousand acres on the flat land here along the Columbia River.^[5]^[7] The area was first settled in 1879, and Blalock post office was established in 1881.^[5]^[6] The town was platted in 1881 by the Blalock Wheat Growing Company.^[7] The first two buildings, a railroad station and a warehouse, were built by A. J. McLellan, OR&N superintendent of the construction of bridges and buildings.^[7] By 1884, the community was shipping wheat and there were daily stagecoaches to Heppner; the population was 50.^[6] People and businesses listed in the Polk Directory at that time included two clergymen, a saloon, a wagonmaker, a ferryman, a hotel, a general store, a lawyer, and a dealer in lumber, coal, and feed.^[6] In 1904, the town handled about 750,000 bushels of wheat.^[7] By 1905, the town had two grain warehouses, a hotel, a general store, a livery and stage stable, a real estate office and an agricultural implement factory.^[7] In 1940, Blalock had a population of 19.^[8] The post office closed in 1959.^[5] In 1968, the community was inundated by the backwaters from the John Day Dam.^[5]