PLSO The Oregon Surveyor March April 2020

25 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon  |  www.plso.org The Lost Surveyor Photo 4: Greenhorn, Oregon city welcome sign. Photo 5: One of the more rustic buildings in Greenhorn on Virginia Street. Lonerock is a quaint little town in a small valley with one truly gigantic rock right next to the church. (Photo 3) Lonerockmaintains it’s 1891 jail building as a small roadside at- traction. As of the 2010 census, Lonerock was home to 21 people although, based on the number of buildings, it seems as though some folks who reside theremaybe don’t want to be counted. From Lonerock, the tour passes through Hardman, Gale- na, and Greenhorn, the site of this issues trivia question. Greenhorn is located near the summit of the Greenhorn Mountains in Section 9, T10S, R35E and is surrounded by mining claims. According to an Oregonian article published in 2008, Greenhorn may have been inhabited as early as 1891 and it was incorporated in 1903. At an elevation of 6,300 feet Greenhorn holds the title for the highest incorporated city in Ore- gon. Along with that lofty statistic, today it has a full-time population of zero. Thus, setting another Oregon record. The low population does not preclude the town of- ficials, all of whom hail from other areas, from participating in the Oregon League of Cities as well as receiving a whopping $8 per month from the Oregon Department of Transportation for road maintenance. [Photo 4 and 5] On February 8, 1912 a patent for 53.58 acres was issued to Simeon C. Richardson, Mayor of the Town of Greenhorn, in Grant County, Oregon. [Photo 6] Although it was patented in Grant County, a review of cur- rent assessor’s maps places Greenhorn in Baker County with the north line of the city touching the county boundary. The townsite is surrounded by numerous mining claims which at one time may have boasted up- wards of 2,000 miners and citizens. While promising at the time, the heyday of this little town was short lived with the popula- tion dwindling as the mines did the same. An excellent history of Greenhorn can be found in the book “Oregon’s Golden Years: Bonanza of the West” by Miles F. Potter, a one time Mayor of Greenhorn. According to Potter’s book the patent issued to Rich- ardson is the only one of its kind which was a direct patent to a municipality. Now the last fact of this tiny notable gem of Oregon that you might have already guessed…Sim- eon C. Richardson was a Surveyor! Maybe this explains the unlikely patent issued to a municipality. One last trivia fact of Green- horn is that it was home to the “Red Lion Hotel” which was undoubtedly the first of its name inOregon, long before themodern Continues on page 26 T