Oregon Route 7 is an

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 ...

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

which runs from Interstate 84 at

Baker City Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward Dickinson Baker, Edward D. Baker, the only United States Senate, U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The p ...

U.S. Route 26 U.S. Route 26 (US 26) is an east–west United States highway that runs from Seaside, Oregon to Ogallala, Nebraska. When the U.S. highway system was first defined, it was limited to Nebraska and Wyoming; by the 1950s, it continued into Idaho and ...

at Austin Junction. OR 7 traverses several highways of the Oregon state highway system: Whitney Highway No. 71, part of the La Grande–Baker Highway No. 66, and part of the Baker–Copperfield Highway No 12. A short spur,

Oregon Route 410 Oregon Route 410 (OR 410) is an Oregon state highway running from Sumpter to OR 7 near Sumpter. OR 410 is known as the Sumpter Highway. It is long and runs east–west, entirely within Baker County. OR 410 was established in 2003 as p ...

, serves the city of Sumpter.

Route description

OR 7 has its southern terminus at a junction with

at the unincorporated locale of Austin Junction. From Austin Junction, it runs roughly northeast, passing near

Bates Bates may refer to: Places * Bates, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Bates, Illinois. an unincorporated community in Sangamon County * Bates, Michigan, a community in Grand Traverse County * Bates, New York, a hamlet in the town of Elli ...

and

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, and crossing the

Middle Fork John Day River The Middle Fork John Day River is a tributary of the North Fork John Day River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It originates in the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon in the Malheur National Forest near Austin and flows generally west to the North ...

. The route continues northeast through the

Malheur National Forest The Malheur National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. It contains more than in the Blue Mountains (Pacific Northwest), Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. The forest consists of Great Basin ...

until it crosses the

North Fork Burnt River The Burnt River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in eastern Oregon, United States. It enters the Snake near Huntington, Ore ...

and passes into the

Wallowa–Whitman National Forest The Wallowa–Whitman National Forest is a United States National Forest in the U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho. Formed upon the merger of the Wallowa and Whitman national forests in 1954, it is located in the northeastern corner of the state, in ...

. The road follows the river roughly eastward until it reaches the community of

Whitney Whitney may refer to: Film and television * ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta * ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston * ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that premiered i ...

, where it turns northeast again. South of Sumpter the route crosses the Powder River—in an area covered with

gold dredge A gold dredge is a placer mining machine that extracts gold from sand, gravel, and dirt using water and mechanical methods. The original gold dredges were large, multi-story machines built in the first half of the 1900s. Small suction machin ...

tailings—and forms a junction with

. OR 7 continues southeast along the Powder River and passes

Phillips Lake Phillips may refer to: Businesses Energy * Chevron Phillips Chemical, American petrochemical firm jointly owned by Chevron Corporation and Phillips 66. * ConocoPhillips, American energy company * Phillips 66, American energy company * Phil ...

, an impoundment of the river dating from 1968. At its junction with

Oregon Route 245 Oregon Route 245 (OR 245) is an Oregon state highway running from Salisbury to Unity. OR 245 is known as the Dooley Mountain Highway No. 415 (see Oregon highways and routes). It is long and runs north–south, entirely within Baker County ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, the route veers north as it continues to follow the river, terminating in

at an interchange with

I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...

History

The route of Oregon Route 7 once followed the current route of

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

, but it was changed in favor of the Sumpter routing.

Major intersections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oregon Route 007 007 Transportation in Baker County, Oregon Transportation in Grant County, Oregon