Bingham Springs, Oregon

An 1899 advertisement for the Bingham Springs resort

Bingham Springs is an unincorporated community in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States.[1] It is about 8 miles (13 km) east of Gibbon in the Blue Mountains near the Umatilla River.[2]

Bingham Springs was a station and tollgate on the Thomas and Ruckle stagecoach line through the Blue Mountains.[3] The stage house was built in 1864.[3] Alfred B. Meacham operated the station from 1867 to 1868.[3] There was a post office at the locale named "Purdy" from 1881 until 1891, named after one of the early owners of the stage house.[3] Later, the community had a Gibbon mailing address, and today it receives its mail through Adams.

Beginning in the late 19th century, Bingham Springs was the site of a popular hot spring resort.[3] Today the hot mineral water is a feature of the pool at Bar M Ranch, a dude ranch founded in the 1940s that uses the historic stage house as its ranch house.[4] Notable guests of the resort include President Calvin Coolidge and then-Secretary of State Herbert Hoover.[4]

Climate[edit]

This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bingham Springs has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Bingham Springs". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  2. ^ Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2008. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-89933-347-2.
  3. ^ a b c d e McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 83–84. ISBN 978-0875952772.
  4. ^ a b "Ranch History". Bar M Ranch. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  5. ^ "Bingham Springs, Oregon". Weatherbase. Canty Media. 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.

External links[edit]

45°44′31″N 118°13′55″W / 45.742077°N 118.231897°W / 45.742077; -118.231897