Diamond is an

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 Harney County,

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 ...

, United States. Diamond is west of Oregon Route 205 and south of

Malheur Lake Malheur Lake ( ) is one of the lakes in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, Harney County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located about southeast of Burns, Oregon, Burns, the lake is marsh fed by the Donner und Blitzen ...

, south-southeast of

Burns Burns may refer to: Astronomy * 2708 Burns, an asteroid * Burns (crater), on Mercury People * Burns (surname), list of people and characters named Burns ** Burns (musician), Scottish record producer Places in the United States * Burns, ...

by highway. Its

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

is assigned ZIP code 97722.

History

Settled in 1874–75, the community got its name from a diamond-shaped

branding iron A branding iron is used for livestock branding, branding, pressing a heated metal shape against an object or livestock with the intention of leaving an identifying mark. History The history of branding is very much tied to the history of using ...

used by a local

cattle rancher Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

on the Diamond Ranch. Diamond Craters, the Diamond post office, and other features in the vicinity took their name from the ranch, established in the area by the pioneer

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 ...

Mace McCoy. A post office was established at Diamond in 1887. Another early settler, Minerva J. (Dolly) Kiger, is credited with applying the name of the ranch to the community in 1874. She also named Kiger Creek, which originates on

Steens Mountain Steens Mountain is a large fault-block mountain in the northwest United States, located in Harney County, Oregon. Stretching some north to south, on its east side it rises from the Alvord Desert at an elevation of about to at the summit. Ste ...

and enters Swamp Creek near Diamond, and she named two other nearby steams, Cucamonga Creek and McCoy Creek.

Geography

Diamond lies along Swamp Creek at the head of Diamond Valley, northwest of Steens Mountain in southeastern Oregon. Swamp Creek flows into Diamond Swamp, a short distance down the valley. The swamp is part of the

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located roughly south of the city of Burns, Oregon, Burns in Oregon's Harney Basin. Administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the refuge area is roughly T-shap ...

. Diamond Lane, which runs generally east–west, links the community to Route 205 between Frenchglen to the south and Burns to the north. Adjacent to the swamp on the east is Diamond Craters, about northwest of Diamond. This area of diverse

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic features is protected as an

Outstanding Natural Area An Outstanding Natural Area is a protected area designation in the United States. The designations are managed by the Bureau of Land Management within the National Conservation Lands, National Landscape Conservation System. Three ONAs have been d ...

, overseen by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

Climate

According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Diamond has a

semi-arid 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 se ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

Education

The zoned

K-8 school K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * K8 telephone box, designed by Bruce M ...

is Diamond Elementary School. High school students are zoned to

Crane Union High School Crane Union High School is a public high school in Crane, Oregon, United States. It is a boarding school that serves students from a large geographic area. Its district is known as the Harney County Union High School District 1J, and covers much ...

, of Harney County Union High School District 1J.
Text list
/ref> Harney County is not in a community college district but has a "contract out of district" (COD) with

Treasure Valley Community College Treasure Valley Community College is a Public college, public community college in Ontario, Oregon, at the western edge of the Treasure Valley. Its service area is sections of Malheur County, Oregon, Malheur and Baker County, Oregon, Baker co ...

. TVCC operates the Burns Outreach Center in Burns.

Healthcare

In 1989, Nellie Nix of '' The Bulletin'' described the catchment area of Harney District Hospital in Burns as being Harney County. In 2005 Matthew Preusch of ''The Oregonian'', citing the lack of doctors and long distances between the southern part of the county and the hospital, described the southern part of Harney County, which includes Diamond, as "the most medically underserved area of all."

References

Unincorporated communities in Harney County, Oregon Unincorporated communities in Oregon {{HarneyCountyOR-geo-stub