Wilbur

History

Just prior to the construction of the Central Washington Railroad line in 1889, no towns existed west of Davenport in Lincoln County. One place along the line, "Wild Goose Bill's Ranch," run by Samuel Wilbur Condit, was assigned a post office by the Federal government. Condit was 62 years old and known throughout the region as Wild Goose Bill when he and another man shot each other to death on January 21, 1895. The town was originally named "Goosetown" in his honor, however, after the local blacksmith's wife complained that she would never live somewhere with such a silly name, the town was christened "Wilbur" in 1889. It had been located on the stage line between Davenport and the Mines in northern Washington and with the speculation of the railroad arriving soon seemed a likely place for a town. The town grew in earnest and was platted in April 1889. With the arrival of the railroad later that year, Wilbur's growth increased rapidly with the establishment of bigger hotels, a bank, a lumber mill and countless other businesses. After several failed attempts to incorporate in 1889, Wilbur was officially incorporated on August 11, 1890. The boom had slowed by 1891 and came to a halt with the Panic of 1893. Wilbur gained news coverage in July 2007 as a result of crop circles found roughly 10 miles north of town, just off of Highway 2. The origin of these depressions in the wheat crop of local farmer Jim Llewellyn is unknown, and the phenomenon was covered by new stations as well as newspapers. More crop circles were discovered in August 2009. On July 31, 2012, crop circles appeared for the third time in wheat fields near the town.

Geography

Wilbur is located in northwestern Lincoln County on U.S. Route 2 approximately south of Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake on the Columbia River. The town is connected by additional highways: State Route 21 continues north to the Keller Ferry and south to Interstate 90 in Washington; and State Route 174 travels northwest to the Grand Coulee Dam. Wilbur is situated in an oblong basin with Goose Creek, also named for Wild Goose Bill, running through the center of the town, and abrupt, basaltic cliffs, not of very great elevation, on the north and south. At one time this spot was, evidently, a lake. During the construction of U.S. Route 2, the course of Goose Creek was altered, moving its flow southward as it flows to the west, part of the Wilson Creek watershed. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  213
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  206
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  193
• Horned Lark

  Eremophila alpestris (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  192
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  159
• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  155
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  126
• Hen Harrier

  Circus cyaneus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  119

Most recent

• M 2.73 — 2023-09-12
  Washington
• M 2.93 — 2022-10-13
  8 km NNE of Airway Heights, Washington
• M 2.51 — 2020-03-31
  12 km NE of Sprague, Washington
• M 3.48 — 2019-11-18
  19 km NW of Hartline, Washington
• M 2.77 — 2018-03-11
  4 km NNE of Waterville, Washington
• M 3.33 — 2017-07-24
  Washington