Salt Creek is an unincorporated historic community in Polk 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 on

Oregon Route 22 Oregon Route 22 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the Oregon Coast community of Hebo, Oregon, Hebo, to a junction with U.S. Route 20 in Oregon, U.S. Route 20 near Santiam Pass in the Cascade Mountains. OR 22 traverses several hi ...

about six miles northwest of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. As an early

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

settlement of the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long Oregon boundary dispute, dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been demarcat ...

, the cemetery at Salt Creek has graves dating back to 1847. Salt Creek, a tributary of the

South Yamhill River The South Yamhill River is a tributary of the Yamhill River, approximately long, in northwest Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of the Northern Oregon Coast Range, as well as part of the Willamette Valley west of the Willamette Rive ...

, was named by early settlers for the

salt lick A mineral lick (also known as a salt lick) is a place where animals can go to lick essential mineral nutrients from a deposit of salts and other minerals. Mineral licks can be naturally occurring or artificial (such as blocks of salt that far ...

s found on its banks. The Salt Creek post office, named after the creek, was established in 1852 and closed in 1903. James B. Riggs, who arrived in Oregon via the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

and the Meek Cutoff in 1845, was the first postmaster. Riggs previously been the first postmaster of

Yoncalla Yoncalla is a city in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,047 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. History Settle ...

, followed by

Jesse Applegate Jesse Applegate (July 5, 1811 – April 22, 1888) was an American pioneer who led a large group of settlers along the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. He was an influential member of the early government of Oregon, and helped establish the ...

. Salt Creek is where Jesse, Lindsay, and

Charles Applegate Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

first settled after arriving in Oregon. James B. Riggs was their neighbor.

References

External links

Historic image of Salt Creek Baptist Church
from Salem Public Library
Historic image of James Berry Riggs House
from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

digital collections
Salt Creek Cemetery burial listing
from

Ancestry.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...

Unincorporated communities in Polk County, Oregon 1852 establishments in Oregon Territory Unincorporated communities in Oregon {{PolkCountyOR-geo-stub