Metolius

History

Metolius was founded in the early 1900s. The earliest records are from 1903 and written in German. In February 1911 the Oregon Trunk Railroad built a depot, turntable and roundhouse in the town. The railroad was connected to Bend, Oregon. Railroad engines at the time needed water at regular intervals, and Metolius was chosen as a servicing spot. Electricity was provided in 1912 from a small dam at the Cove. A high school and grade school were built in 1913. The town continued to prosper during the war years and by 1917, the population was over 1,700, and the town had two banks, two newspapers, a flour mill, hotels, general stores, hardware stores and a railroad maintenance hub. As railroad technology improved, maintenance stations were required less frequently and the Metolius shop was eliminated. Without the railroad base, the population of Metolius went into decline. A major fire in the 1920s destroyed most of the downtown buildings. Drought from 1924 to 1926 bankrupted many farmers, and the Great Depression almost finished the town off. By 1945 the population was down to about 45 people. Prior to the 1940s, only dry farming existed in the area. An irrigation project diverting water from the Deschutes River boosted farming output and the town began to grow again. Water from the Deschutes river reaches the area through an extensive canal system. Farmers were now able to grow large crops, mostly mint, potatoes and hay. By 1960 over 3,000 railroad cars of fresh potatoes were loaded each year from the area. Four giant packing sheds stored fresh packed potatoes and delivered them onto railroad cars. A frozen French fry factory employed many workers year round. In 1968 a potato blight of nematodes ended large-scale potato production in the area. In 1973 the railroad…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. This region experiences warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above . According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Metolius has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,130
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,010
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  813
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  757
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  741
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  702
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  697
• American Kestrel

  Falco sparverius Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  649

Most recent

• M 2.71 — 2025-01-29
  6 km SW of Prineville, Oregon
• M 2.77 — 2023-12-14
  5 km SW of Prineville, 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 3.94 — 2021-06-06
  6 km NE of Government Camp, Oregon
• M 2.71 — 2021-01-17
  4 km ENE of Government Camp, Oregon