Black Butte was an

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

community in Lane County,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, United States. It was located near Black Butte, a dark-colored mountain at the headwaters of the

Coast Fork Willamette River The Coast Fork Willamette River is one of two forks that unite to form the Willamette River in western Oregon in the United States. It is about long, draining an area of the mountains at the south end of the Willamette Valley south of Eugene. Co ...

, about 20 miles south of Cottage Grove, at the confluence of

Garoutte Creek Garoutte Creek is a tributary of the Little River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Rising along the Calapooya Divide near the border between Lane and Douglas counties, it flows generally northeast to meet the larger stream near Black Butte. The butte ...

and the

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River *Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Hawk ...

. The Black Butte Mine, which operated from the 1890s to the 1960s, was one of the largest

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

mines in the state. Mercury contamination from abandoned

mine tailings In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlie ...

continues to be a health concern in the area, including mercury-contaminated runoff from Furnace Creek that has made its way to

Cottage Grove Lake Cottage Grove Lake is a reservoir on the Coast Fork Willamette River in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The lake is about long. Cottage Grove Dam, which impounds the lake, is long and high. It was completed in 1942 as one of the 13 dams b ...

. The post office at Black Butte was originally named Harris, after William Harris, the first postmaster. Harris post office was established in 1898, and the name changed to Blackbutte in 1901. The office ran until 1957. At one time there was a Black Butte School; in 1932 the Black Butte School District was consolidated with the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

School District.

References

External links

Historic images of Black Butte
from

Lane County Historical Museum Lane County History Museum, located on the county fairgrounds in Lane County in Eugene, Oregon, United States, has ongoing exhibits on the Oregon Trail, the county courthouse, historic vehicles, selections of artifacts from across the county, an ...

Historic images of Black Butte
from Salem Public Library

including Black Butte School, from Oregon Genealogy Trails
Historic image of Black Butte School
from the University of Oregon Libraries
Black Butte Mine Superfund Site Education Partnership
collaboration between Oregon State University, the EPA, and London School
The Black Butte Mine in Cottage Grove, OR
(video) from The Superfund Research Program at Oregon State University Mercury mines in the United States Superfund sites in Oregon Unincorporated communities in Oregon Unincorporated communities in Lane County, Oregon {{LaneCountyOR-geo-stub

See also

References

External links