Rye Valley, Oregon

Rye Valley is an unincorporated community in Baker County, in the U.S. state of Oregon.[1] It lies along Dixie Creek, a tributary of the Burnt River, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Baker City.[2] It is slightly west of Interstate 84 near Weatherby and Dixie.[3]

Rye Valley, Oregon
Unincorporated community
Rye Valley, Oregon Rye Valley, Oregon
Coordinates: 44°27′50″N 117°28′39″W
Country	United States
State	Oregon
County	Baker
Elevation	3,189 ft (972 m)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
Area code(s)	458 and 541
GNIS feature ID	1131852[1]

The community is named for a native grass used as forage for pack animals important to the region's immigrants and miners in the 1860s. A Rye Valley post office opened on September 27, 1869, and operated intermittently between then and September 14, 1935. Nayson S. Whitcomb was the first postmaster.[2]

On July 24, 2014, a wildfire started by lightning happened in Rye Valley. The lightning first struck on Bureau of Land Management lands; however, winds quickly drove it onto forestlands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry. The fire took three days to fully contain.[4]

References

1. "Rye Valley". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. May 22, 1986. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
2. McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 833. ISBN 978-0875952772.
3. Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2008. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-89933-347-2.
4. "Rye Valley Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved November 9, 2016.