Robinette is a former

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 Baker 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. Robinette was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted around 1898, along a Northwest Railway Company line that never developed. In 1909, a railroad station and

townsite A townsite is a legal subdivision of land for the development of a town or community. In the historical development of the United States, Canada, and other former British colonial nations, the filing of a townsite plat (United States) or plan ( ...

at this locale were named for James E. Robinette, a native of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Robinette came to what was then Union County in 1884 and settled on the west bank of the Snake River near the mouth of the Powder River in 1887. Robinette post office was also established in 1909. By 1940, when Robinette had a population of 46, it was the northern terminus of a branch line of the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

( Oregon Short Line) that ran along the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...

from Huntington, and served the Pine Valley and Eagle Valley agricultural areas to the north. The line had previously extended further north to Homestead, but that section, which was used to haul ore from the

Cornucopia In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (; ), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, or nuts. In Greek, it was called the " horn of ...

area mines, was later abandoned and the railroad grade was converted into a highway. The Robinette railhead of the Union Pacific branch line "probably generated most of the freight hauled by the railroad." The townsite is now under the water of the Brownlee Reservoir, which was created by the damming of the Snake River by the Brownlee Dam in 1958. Before the flooding, the Robinette Store was moved to Richland, where it still stands today. Richland, the closest city to Robinette, was formerly accessible by a road along the Powder River that has since been flooded by the reservoir. The post office was closed in 1957. As of 2010, the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

still classified Robinette as a

populated place In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community of people living in a particular place. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to t ...

. Robinette was home to the Stil-Van Lumber Company from 1949 until just prior to the town being flooded. Marion Dale Stillwell sold the company, including timber rights, to Ellingson Lumber Company from Baker City. Stillwell also received compensation when the Robinette facility flooded.

References

External links

Historic image of Robinette, circa 1950
from Baker County Library (20 more photos available by searching on keyword "Robinette")-->
Biography of James E. Robinette
from ''The Centennial History of Oregon''
1956 article
about Smithsonian Institution finding 1000-year-old artifacts at Robinette {{authority control Former populated places in Baker County, Oregon Former populated places in Oregon Populated places established in 1898 1898 establishments in Oregon Submerged places in the United States