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 ...
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. Oxbow is along
Oregon Route 86
Oregon Route 86 is an Oregon state highway running from Interstate 84 at Baker City to the Idaho state line at Oxbow (near the former site of Copperfield). OR 86 comprises most of the Baker-Copperfield Highway No. 12 (see Oregon highways and ro ...
next to the
Snake River
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...
near the
Oxbow Dam
Oxbow Dam is a Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric run-of-the-river hydroelectricity, run-of-the-river rockfill dam in the Western United States, western United States, on the Snake River in Hells Canyon (river mile 273) along the Idaho-Oregon border. ...
on the Oregon-
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
border, about northeast of
Halfway
Halfway or Half Way may refer to:
Places Canada
*Halfway, New Brunswick, a community in Durham Parish
* Halfway, Ontario, a community in Madawaska Valley
Ireland
*Halfway, County Cork, a village in the Republic of Ireland
United Kingdom
* Halfwa ...
. Oxbow is just south of the site of the former mining town of Copperfield. Oxbow has a post office with a ZIP code 97840.
There was once a station named Oxbow on a portion of the
Oregon Short Line Railroad
The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon in the United States. The line was organized as the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railway. The Union Pacific int ...
now inundated by
Oxbow Reservoir __NOTOC__
An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or bullock. A bow pin holds it in place.
The term "oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meander in a river, ...
. It was named for The Oxbow, a U-shaped bend in the Snake River named for the
agricultural implement
Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...
. The present-day community of Oxbow was established in the early 1960s near the former site of Copperfield during the building of the Oxbow Dam by the
Idaho Power Company
Idaho Power Company (IPC) is a regulated electrical power utility. Its business involves the purchase, sale, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. It is a subsidiary of IDACORP, Inc. The c ...
. Oxbow post office was established on May 1, 1965, after moving the office from
Homestead
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
*Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres
*Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...
six miles to the north. At one time, Oxbow had a school.
Climate
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22 °C). According to the
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system, Oxbow has a
warm-summer Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...