Idanha

History

The North Santiam River corridor was used by the Santiam Kalapuya for travel, food gathering, and trade, and was later traversed by Euro-American fur trappers. The locality at present-day Idanha was originally known as Muskrat Camp. A hotel served travelers, anglers, and hunters, and its proprietor adopted the name Idanha from a mineral-water brand bottled in Soda Springs, Idaho. The Oregon Pacific Railroad was intended to cross the Cascade Range and continue east toward Idaho. Its tracks reached Idanha at the end of December 1889, but the company entered receivership in October 1890 and construction east of the community was never resumed. As the eastern terminus of the completed line, Idanha became a departure point for hunting and fishing excursions into the Cascades. In 1949, residents debated whether Idanha should incorporate separately or become part of a combined municipality with nearby Detroit, much of whose original townsite was to be inundated by the dam reservoir. Voters rejected an initial joint-incorporation proposal and subsequently approved the separate incorporation of Idanha by a vote of 190 to 8. The Marion County court certified the result in December 1949. The Oregon Blue Book lists March 15, 1950, as the city's official incorporation date. Changes in the management and harvesting of federal forests contributed to the closure of Idanha-area mills by the mid-1990s. Logging continued on a smaller scale, while the local economy increasingly served outdoor recreation and travelers using Oregon Route 22 to reach Detroit Lake, the Santiam Pass, and central Oregon.

Geography

Idanha is in eastern Marion and Linn counties, with the North Santiam River forming the county line and separating the two settled areas within the town limits. The area on the southern, Linn County side is shown on U.S. Geological Survey maps as New Idanha. Oregon Route 22 runs along the northern, Marion County side of the river and leads west to Salem, the state capital. In the other direction Route 22 leads east and south to U.S. Route 20 at Santiam Junction. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Idanha has a total area of , of which , or 4.15%, are water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Steller's Jay

  Cyanocitta stelleri (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  444
• Common Merganser

  Mergus merganser Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  431
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  405
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  324
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  321
• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  298
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  290
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  243

Most recent

• M 3.18 — 2025-11-23
  5 km SE of Amity, Oregon
• M 2.66 — 2024-08-30
  14 km ESE of Molalla, Oregon
• M 2.56 — 2023-06-06
  Washington-Oregon border region
• M 2.99 — 2023-06-06
  8 km NNE of Government Camp, Oregon
• M 4.39 — 2022-10-07
  16 km ESE of Lacomb, Oregon
• M 2.7 — 2022-05-25
  4 km WNW of Molalla, Oregon