Weatherby is an

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 ...

in Baker County,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, United States. It is about southeast of Durkee on Interstate 84/

U.S. Route 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...

, near the Burnt River. There was a post office named Express Ranch established in 1865 near what is now Durkee during the

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

boom in the county. C. W. Durkee was the first postmaster. It was so-named because it was a stopover for stagecoaches or "expresses", while the term "ranch" in this case probably came from the Spanish ''rancho'', a term for a place of lodging popular with the miners who had gone there from

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It had nothing to do with the pursuit of

ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...

ing. The name of the office was changed to Weatherby in 1879 and at the same time it was moved south on the Burnt River to the property of Andrew J. Weatherby, who was also the first postmaster. In 1884, the

Oregon Railway and Navigation Company The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, United States, to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. It operated from 1896 as a ...

established a Weatherby station on its line to Huntington. Weatherby post office closed in 1920. Meanwhile, an office was reestablished at the Express Ranch site in 1884 and named Express. The name of that office was changed to Durkee around 1902. Weatherby is the site of an

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Depar ...

rest area. There was formerly a state historic park north of Weatherby called Rattlesnake Springs that commemorated a stop along the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

. It was displaced by the construction of I-84. During the

August 21, 2017 solar eclipse The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by the media, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from the Pacific Ocean, Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic co ...

, an estimated 300 cars were parked at the Weatherby

rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway serv ...

on I-84 while visitors observed the event. The path of totality intersected with I-84 at Weatherby.

References

External links

Roadcam at Weatherby rest area on I-84
from

Images of historic markers at Weatherby rest area
from Flickr, including image of Rattlesnake Springs plaque
Images of Weatherby
from Flickr Unincorporated communities in Baker County, Oregon 1865 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1865 Unincorporated communities in Oregon {{BakerCountyOR-geo-stub