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 ...
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
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", ...
. It lies on Row River Road between Dorena and Disston.
Geography
Culp Creek is located above sea level in the foothills of the
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...
. The community is located where the Row River receives the stream that shares its name with the community. Hawley Butte lies just north of Culp Creek and stands tall.
History
Culp Creek
Culp Creek is a stream in Lane County, Oregon, in the United States. It was named for John Culp, a pioneer who settled near this stream. The creek flows northeast into the Row River.
See also
* Culp Creek, Oregon, an unincorporated community
*L ...
is a tributary stream of the Row River, and was named for
settler
A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...
John Culp just before 1900. A
logging camp
A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...
was established in the area and named Culp Creek Camp, so when a new post office was set up in 1925, it was named Culp Creek after the camp.
The community's economy was long driven by the
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksBohemia, Inc.
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
that ran from 1959 until about 1990, just across the river. Bohemia was headquartered in Culp Creek until it was bought by Willamette Industries in 1991. At one time, there were over 20 mills along the Row River. The
Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway
The Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway is an Oregon-based short line railroad that began near Eugene as the Oregon and Southeastern Railroad (O&SE) in 1904. O&SE's line ran along the Row River between the towns of Cottage Grove and Disston ...
(OP&E) line was built through Culp Creek in the early 1900s to ship ore, timber, supplies and passengers. Today the former OP&E line has been converted into a
rail trail
A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, 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 rail corr ...
that opened in 1997, the
Row River National Recreation Trail
Row River National Recreation Trail is a rails to trails conversion in the U.S. state of Oregon. It follows the Row River for between Cottage Grove and Culp Creek, passing by Dorena Lake, and provides access to many forest trails of Umpqua ...
, which ends just past Culp Creek. Culp Creek's only store closed shortly after the closure of the mill.
In 1926,
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...
filmed the climax of the silent film ''The General'' on the OP&E line near Culp Creek. Keaton spent $40,000 to build a temporary trestle over the Row River. During the scene, the bridge was set on fire and collapsed just as a locomotive passed over it. The remains of the bridge and locomotive were left in the river for 15 years, until they were removed in 1941 for scrap metal.
Culp Creek post office closed in 2009; the community's mail is now addressed to Dorena.
Education
The area is served by the South Lane School District, which includes the Childs Way Charter School located in Culp Creek. Childs Way is a public
charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
serving 35 students in grades six through twelve. Culp Creek Elementary School was consolidated with a school in Dorena in 1989 and closed, with the buildings becoming home to the charter school in 1994.