YW 19 Entering Dorena Aug 1971xRP - Flickr - drewj1946

Row River National Recreation Trail is a

rails to trails A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

conversion in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. It follows the

Row River The Row River is a river, approximately long, in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It rises in the Cascade Range and flows into the Coast Fork Willamette River near Cottage Grove. The stream was originally known as the "East Fork Coast Fork", ...

for between Cottage Grove and Culp Creek, passing by

Dorena Lake Dorena Reservoir (also Dorena Lake) is a reservoir on the Row River in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located east of Cottage Grove. The Dorena Dam in front of the reservoir was completed in 1949 as one of the 13 dams of the United S ...

, and provides access to many forest trails of

Umpqua National Forest Umpqua National Forest, in southern Oregon's Cascade Range, covers an area of in Douglas County, Oregon, Douglas, Lane County, Oregon, Lane, and Jackson County, Oregon, Jackson counties, and borders Crater Lake National Park. The four ranger di ...

. The rail line was built to serve the gold and silver mining of the Bohemia mining district well up the Row River. The mines were closing by the time the rail line was complete, but the region's old-growth timber attracted many logging operations and communities that kept the rail line busy. The Oregon Pacific & Eastern Railway abandoned the line in 1994. A timber sale default resulted in the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

taking the rail corridor in exchange for payment. There are three historic covered bridges near the trail: the

Mosby Creek Bridge The Mosby Creek Bridge, also called the Layng Bridge, is a historic Howe truss covered bridge located near Cottage Grove, Oregon, United States. The bridge crosses Mosby Creek and was constructed in 1920, making it the oldest covered bridge in ...

of 1920,

Currin Bridge The Currin Bridge is a Howe truss covered bridge near Cottage Grove, Oregon, United States. It crosses the Row River. The Currin Bridge was built in 1925 to replace another bridge built in 1883. The lowest bid received by Lane County for constr ...

of 1925, and the

Dorena Bridge The Dorena Bridge is a covered bridge near Dorena, Oregon, Dorena in Lane County, Oregon, Lane County, Oregon in the United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structure crosses the Row River near the upper end o ...

of 1949. Several movies have been filmed along the route, including 1926's ''The General'' with Buster Keaton, 1974's ''Emperor of the North (Pole)'' with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine, and 1986's ''Stand by Me'' with Keifer Sutherland and River Phoenix.

References

{{coord, 43, 47, 52, N, 123, 03, 26, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-OR Transportation in Lane County, Oregon Rail trails in Oregon Protected areas established in 1998 1998 establishments in Oregon National Recreation Trails in Oregon