Chemult is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Klamath County,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, United States, on

U.S. Route 97 U.S. Route 97 (US 97) is a major north–south route of the United States Numbered Highway System in the Pacific Northwest region. It runs for approximately through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, primarily serving in ...

near the drainage divide between the Klamath and Columbia Rivers. Chemult has a population of about 300 people. Chemult's elevation is . The locale was originally established in 1924 as a station on the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

Cascade Line named "Knott" during construction. The station's name was changed to Chemult when the line opened in 1926 and a post office was established the same year. The name Chemult comes from a

Klamath Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon **Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon *Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States * ...

chief who was one of the 26 who signed the Klamath Lake Treaty of October 14, 1864.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's format ...

stops in Chemult daily at the Chemult Amtrak station, and Pacific Crest Bus Lines stops daily at the station on its route from

Klamath Falls Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city was ...

to Bend. There is also a

Winema National Forest Toby "Winema" Riddle (1848–1920) was a Modoc woman who served as an interpreter in negotiations between the Native American Modoc tribe and the United States Army during the Modoc War (also called the Lava Beds War). She warned the peace ...

ranger station within the community. The area around Chemult is commonly used for hiking, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, dog sled racing, fishing, and hunting. Chemult also offers the annual Sled Dog Races where mushers come to race their

sled dog A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in harness, most commonly a sled over snow. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transportation in Arctic areas ...

s and compete for cash prizes.

Demographics

Climate

Chemult has the typical

continental Mediterranean climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dsb'') of the more humid parts of the Intermountain West, featuring dry summers with large diurnal temperature swings and cold winters with cycles of heavy snowfall and dry spells. Owing to being closer to the Sierra-Cascade crest, however, Chemult is one of the snowiest inhabited places in the contiguous US, with a thirty-year average of , which is comparable to Flagstaff,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, and it also has among the highest frequency of nights below , with an average of 255 nights each year falling below this temperature between 1971 and 2000, including 11.7 in the summer months of July and August when days can skyrocket to or higher. Typically eighteen days will fail to hit and ten nights fall below , whilst in December and January only three days exceed . Since records began in 1937 the wettest calendar year has been 1996 with at least (several days were missing) whilst the driest has been 2013 with , though between July 1976 and June 1977 only fell. The wettest month has been December 1996 with , whilst the highest monthly snowfall has been in January 1954 and the highest for a season from July 1955 to June 1956. The median snow cover reaches in February and has been as high as on January 4, 1966 after fell the previous December.NOWData - NOAA Online Weather Data
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References

External links

Chemult Community Action Team Webpage
{{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Klamath County, Oregon 1924 establishments in Oregon Unincorporated communities in Oregon Populated places established in 1924