Union Creek is a long tributary of the Rogue River 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 ...

. Beginning west of

Union Peak Union Peak is a heavily eroded shield volcano in the Cascade Range of central Oregon, located along the Cascade Crest less than southwest of the rim of Crater Lake. Ice age glaciers eroded away most of the flanks of the volcano, leaving nume ...

in the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

, it flows through the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest to meet the Rogue at Union Creek and the

Union Creek Historic District Union Creek Historic District near the upper Rogue River in Union Creek, Oregon, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places for rustic structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. The site lies along ...

. The creek begins near Rocktop Butte and flows north through Jackson County, roughly parallel to the nearby border of

Crater Lake National Park Crater Lake National Park is an American national park located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake is the fifth-oldest national park in the United States and the only national park in Oregon. The park encompasses the caldera of ...

and the Jackson–

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 * ...

county line, which is on the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

. At about

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle road ...

10 or river kilometer (RK) 16, the creek curves to the west. The relevant map quadrangles are Union Creek, Thousand Springs, and Red Blanket Mountain, Oregon. After Grouse and Crawford creeks enter from the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

, Union Creek passes over Union Creek Falls, a slide, before reaching the unincorporated community of Union Creek. There the stream passes under Oregon Route 62 (Crater Lake Highway), flows through a picnic area and campground, and enters the Rogue River just below Rogue Gorge, about from the Rogue's mouth on the Pacific Ocean. Union Creek supports

brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

, coastal cutthroat, rainbow, and

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

trout. Forest roads parallel the creek for much of its course, and a hiking trail runs along the lower reaches for several miles.

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

campgrounds in the vicinity include Farewell Bend, Natural Bridge, and Union Creek. In 1865, a new wagon road was cleared in an effort to link Fort Klamath with Jacksonville via the valleys of the

Wood River Wood River may refer to: Rivers In Canada * Wood River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Columbia River via Kinbasket Lake * Wood River (Saskatchewan), a river in south-west Saskatchewan In Ireland * Wood River (County Clare), Kilru ...

, Union Creek, and the Rogue River. The road was constructed by about twenty men led by Captain

Franklin B. Sprague Franklin Burnet Sprague (July 16, 1825 – February 7, 1895) was an American military officer, businessman, and judge. He joined the Union Army during the Civil War, serving on the Oregon frontier. During his military service, Sprague explored mu ...

. On August 1 two men from the party, Francis M. Smith and John M. Corbell, rediscovered Crater Lake—the deepest lake in the United States and one of the clearest in the world—while hunting. (It had been discovered previously by John Wesley Hillman in 1853, but its location was never effectively recorded.) After visiting it several times, Sprague and several other men became the first

European American European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent Eu ...

s to reach the lake's shore on August 24.

References

Works cited

* * *

External links

Rogue River – Siskiyou National ForestUnion Peak and Union Creek
in ''The Oregon Encyclopedia'' {{authority control Rivers of Oregon Rogue River (Oregon) Rivers of Jackson County, Oregon

See also

References

Works cited

External links