unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Wasco County, Oregon
Wasco County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,213. Its county seat is The Dalles. The county is named for a local tribe of Native Americans, the Wasco, a Chinook tribe ...
John Day River
The John Day River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northeastern Oregon in the United States. It is known as the Mah-Hah River by the Cayuse people. Undammed along its entire length, the river is the fourth longest ...
.
History
The community was named after Andrew Clarno, an early settler. The Clarno post office was established in 1894 in what was then
Gilliam County
Gilliam County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,995, making it the third-least populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Condon. The county was established in 1885 and is ...
, from which
Wheeler County Wheeler County is the name of several counties in the United States:
* Wheeler County, Georgia
* Wheeler County, Nebraska
* Wheeler County, Oregon
Wheeler County is a county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the populatio ...
was later carved. After that, the post office was sometimes in Wheeler County, on the east side of the river, or in Wasco County, on the west side, depending on who was postmaster. The office closed in 1949.
Charles Clarno, Andrew's son, built a miniature steamboat, ''The John Day Queen'', used as a ferry and for pleasure trips. Propelled by steam from a wood-fired boiler, the craft plied the river from upstream of Clarno to about below. After a bridge was constructed at Clarno in 1897, the younger Clarno decided to float the boat down the John Day River to the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
and then down the Columbia to
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
*Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon
*Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine
*Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel
Portland may also r ...
.. The attempt ended in failure at Clarno Rapids, slightly beyond where the boat normally traveled. There ''The John Day Queen'' broke free from guide ropes held by Charles Clarno and his friends and smashed on the rocks downstream. The
spark arrestor
A spark arrester (sometimes spark arrestor) is any device which prevents the emission of flammable debris from combustion sources, such as internal combustion engines, fireplaces, and wood-burning stoves.
Spark arresters play a critical role i ...
from the boat was later rescued and donated to the city museum in
Fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
.
Parks and recreation
For
whitewater
Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...
enthusiasts, the long and complicated Clarno Rapids is rated at class 3 (difficult) on the International Scale of River Difficulty or class 4 (very difficult) in high water.