Adel 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 hav ...

in southeastern Lake County, in the U.S. state of

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 Idah ...

. The community is in an arid, sparsely populated part of the state, along Oregon Route 140, about east of Lakeview. The Warner Valley surrounding Adel contains many marshes and shallow lakes, most of them intermittent. Frequented by Native Americans for many thousands of years, the valley became a region of sheep grazing and cattle ranching by the late 19th century. Adel's infrastructure includes a combined store/restaurant/bar, a post office (serving Zip Code 97620), an elementary school, and a church. Hot springs and related geological features have made one of the nearby ranches a potential site for a geothermal power station.

History

People have lived in the Warner Valley for more than 10,000 years. Evidence of Native American occupation includes

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s, hunting blinds, flakes from obsidian tools, and other material artifacts. By historic times, the Kidütökadö band of Northern Paiute frequented the valley and the uplands of Hart Mountain, the

fault block Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by rela ...

ridge to the east. The Euro-American

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settl ...

community of Adel developed in the late 19th century around sheep grazing and small cattle ranches.

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

found work here as shepherds; their surnames and their churches are part of the regional heritage. A

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

line connected early Adel to Fort Bidwell in northern California and offered transportation three times a week. J. J. Monroe owned the Adel store. The Adel

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was established in 1896 and was either named for a former sweetheart of the owner of the land on which it was established or for a local cow, Leda, but with the spelling reversed. Mail service at that time was limited to three days a week. Crump Lake, immediately north of Adel, is named after Thomas Crump (1854–1939), who settled here in the 1890s.''Oregon Geographic Names'', p. 257 The lake, toward the southern end of a north–south chain of marshes and mainly intermittent lakes, covers about with a shoreline of about . In 1959, two days after the Nevada Thermal Power Company drilled a well on the Crump family property, a continuous

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only ...

of steam and hot water began shooting into the air. However, during the 1960s the Crump Geyser became plugged with rocks, though it continued to emit steam. In the 21st century, the site's geoelectric potential makes it a candidate for a

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

. The state's first geothermal plant began operation at the Oregon Institute of Technology in

Klamath Falls Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city wa ...

in 2010. Another went online near Vale in 2012 and another, near Paisley, in 2014.

Geography

Adel lies along Oregon Route 140 about east of Lakeview in south-central Oregon. From its intersection with the main highway, Plush–Adel Road runs north along the western shore of Crump and Hart lakes in the Warner Valley while Twentymile Road runs south from Adel to northern California just west of that state's border with Nevada. Deep Creek, flowing east from the Warner Mountains, passes through Adel into marshlands and Pelican Lake before entering Crump Lake. Adel is above sea level. To the northeast, the Hart Mountain ridge rises to . The region is moderately geologically active with a retired geyser and several hot springs. Geothermal exploration at the Crump Geyser site in 2010 found hot springs with temperatures as high as , two shallow wells with temperatures to , and a parent source of up to .

Climate

This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. 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, nota ...

system, Adel has a

steppe climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. Total annual precipitation in Adel averages about . The warmest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of . The coldest months are December and January, when the average lows are about .

Education

Adel School District 21 is one of five school districts comprising the Lake County Education Service District. Adel School, grades 4–8, shares students with

Plush Plush (from French ) is a textile having a cut nap or pile the same as fustian or velvet. Its softness of feel gave rise to the adjective "plush" to describe something soft or luxurious, which was extended to describe luxury accommodation, or ...

School District 18, grades K–3. The two schools combined have about a dozen students. For grades 9–12, the students generally attend Lakeview High School or

Paisley School Paisley School is a public charter school in Paisley, Oregon, United States. It serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). It is the only school in the Paisley School District 11C, and contains a boarding facility, which house ...

. The portion of the county the community is in is not in any community college district, but the county has a "contract-out-of-district" (COD) with

Klamath Community College Klamath Community College (KCC) is a public community college in Klamath Falls, Oregon. KCC's primary service area is Klamath County and Lake County in South Central Oregon. The majority of Klamath County is its official service area, while KC ...

References

External links