Sprague River is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

in Klamath County,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

, United States. It is about northeast of

Klamath Falls Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city wa ...

near the Sprague River, northwest of

Oregon Route 140 Oregon Route 140 (OR 140) is a state highway in southern Oregon, United States. It is the longest state highway in Oregon, running from the community of White City, Oregon (just north of Medford), through Klamath Falls and on to Lakeview. ...

Demographics

History

The Sprague River was named for Captain

Franklin B. Sprague Franklin Burnet Sprague (July 16, 1825 – February 7, 1895) was an American military officer, businessman, and judge. He joined the Union Army during the Civil War, serving on the Oregon frontier. During his military service, Sprague explored mu ...

, who participated in the

Snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

and

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pa ...

Indian wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...

, and was in command of

Fort Klamath Fort Klamath was a military outpost near the western end of the Oregon Trail, between Crater Lake National Park and Upper Klamath Lake in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The Fort Klamath Site, about a mile southeast of the present commu ...

in 1866. His name was applied to the river by 1864, and perhaps earlier. The

Klamath Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups * Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon **Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon * Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States ...

name for the stream was ''Plai'' or ''Plaikni Koke''. ''Koke'' was the generic word for "river" and ''plai'' meant the river came from upper or higher country. Sprague River post office, named after the stream, was established September 14, 1923, with Benjamin E. Wolford as the first

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

. There was an earlier post office named Sprague River farther east and upstream of the current community, at the site of the current town of Bly, Oregon Sprague River had a station on the Oregon, California and Eastern Railway, which by 1927 reached from

to Bly. A 1941 timetable lists Sprague River as the 12th stop east of Klamath Falls between East Switch Back and Beatty. After 1990, the rail line near Sprague River became part of a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on 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 right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetca ...

, the OC&E Woods Line State Trail, managed by the

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), officially known (in state law) as the State Parks and Recreation Department, is the government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon which operates its system of state parks. In addition, it has pro ...

. At one time there was a sawmill in Sprague River, which shut down in 1943. There was also a box factory.

Climate

Sprague River has a

warm-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(Csb) according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system.

References

External links

Sprague River Online
(community Website) {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Klamath County, Oregon 1923 establishments in Oregon Unincorporated communities in Oregon