unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
along the
Umatilla River
The Umatilla River is an tributary of the Columbia River in northern Umatilla County, Oregon, Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. drainage basin, Draining a basin of , it enters the Columbia near the city of Umatilla, Oregon, Umatilla in the ...
in northwestern
Umatilla County
Umatilla County () is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. The population of 81,826 ranks it as the 14th largest in Oregon, and largest in Eastern Oregon. Hermiston is the largest city in Umatilla County, but Pendleton remain ...
,
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
, United States. It is south of
Hermiston
Hermiston () is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Its population of 20,322 makes it the largest city in Eastern Oregon. Hermiston is the largest and fastest-growing city in the Hermiston-Pendleton Micropolitan Statistical Area, t ...
U.S. Route 30
U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route of the United States Numbered Highway System, with the highway traveling across the Northern U.S. With a length of , it is the third-longest U.S. Highway, afte ...
and
Oregon Route 207
Oregon Route 207 is an Oregon state highway running from U.S. Route 26 in Oregon, U.S. Route 26 in Mitchell, Oregon, Mitchell to U.S. Route 730 (Oregon), U.S. Route 730 near Cold Springs, Oregon, Cold Springs Junction. OR 207 is long and runs ...
, within the
Pendleton–Hermiston Micropolitan Statistical Area
The Hermiston-Pendleton Micropolitan Statistical Area, as Micropolitan statistical area, defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in Oregon anchored by the cities of Hermiston, Oregon, Hermiston and Pendl ...
. It is the site of the
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
Hinkle was a railway junction where a cutoff to Boardman rejoined the main line of the
Oregon Railway & Navigation Company
The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a rail and steamboat transport company that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, United States, to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. ...
that ran from Umatilla to Huntington. When the cutoff was built in 1915, a station was needed at the junction with the main line, and Joseph T. Hinkle, a prominent local attorney, newspaper editor and politician, sold the railroad a small amount of land for that purpose. The station was named in his honor. According to the compilers of ''
Oregon Geographic Names
''Oregon Geographic Names'' is a compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the U.S. state of Oregon, published by the Oregon Historical Society. The book was originally published in 1928. It was compiled and edited by Lewis A. McArt ...
'', the community of Hinkle "languished in obscurity for a third of a century", until 1951, when the completion of the
McNary Dam
McNary Dam is a 1.4-mile (2.2-km) long concrete gravity run-of-the-river dam which spans the Columbia River. It joins Umatilla County, Oregon with Benton County, Washington, 292 miles (470 km) upriver from the mouth of the Columbia. It is ope ...
flooded the former route of the UP's line. When the tracks were relocated, UP built a major
yard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British imperial units, imperial and US United States customary units, customary systems of measurement equalling 3 foot (unit), feet or 36 inches. Sinc ...
at the junction, expanding it beginning in 1976.
From 1977 until 1997, Hinkle was a passenger stop on
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's ''
Pioneer
Pioneer commonly refers to a person who is among the first at something that is new to a community.
A pioneer as a settler is among the first settling at a place that is new to the settler community. A historic example are American pioneers, perso ...
'' route; the station code was HIK. Hinkle was previously a stop on the UP's '' City of Portland'' route, with connections to
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...