Canyon City, Oregon
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1940 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the John Day census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97820. It lies near Town Gulch. The Survey maps it on the John Day quadrangle. 660 people lived here at the 2020 count.
On record in Canyon City
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
St. Thomas' Episcopal Churchlisted 1974
Population over time
3 figuresCanyon City fell from 669 to 660 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 669 | |
| 2010 | 703 | +34 (+5%) |
| 2020 | 660 | -43 (-6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1940 USGS John Day quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS John Day quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Canyon City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Canyon City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1972 USGS John Day quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS John Day quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1998 USGS John Day quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
78 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 78 fires within 5 miles of Canyon City between 1992 and 2019, burning about 1,098 acres in total. 29 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 29 |
| Debris and open burning | 19 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | John Day Unit | ALLEN CREEK |
| 3 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | John Day Unit | DRY GULCH #2 |
| 29 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | John Day Unit | DAVIS CREEK |
| 16 September 2001 | Natural | under an acre | John Day Unit | HAGGARD AND NEW MINE |
| 15 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | BYRAM GULCH |
| 15 September 2001 | Natural | under an acre | John Day Unit | ALLEN CREEK |
| 15 September 1992 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | John Day Unit | LITTLE PINE CREEK |
| 13 September 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | John Day Unit | LITTLE CANYON MOUNTAIN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 186 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 186 workings within 5 miles of Canyon City: 77 past producers, 43 occurrences, 37 prospects, 17 producers. 17 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Copper, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Boy | Nickel, Chromium | Occurrence | Chromite | |
| Black Wonder | Chromium, Silver, Nickel | Occurrence | Unknown | |
| Black Wonder | Chromium, Nickel, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Byram Gulch | Rhodium, Platinum, Palladium | Occurrence | Stream Placer | |
| Byram Gulch | Palladium, Rhodium, Platinum | Prospect | ||
| Canyon Creek District Placers | Silver, Gold | Past Producer | PLACER | |
| Cougar | Gold, Silver, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Doubtful | Copper, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Koffee Kup 1 | Gemstone, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Koffee Kup 1 | Gold, Silver, Gemstone | Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Canyon City in 4 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 2 hail, 1 flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2011 | Flood | Canyon City | $688,000 | Low lying areas of Canyon City, John Day, Prairie City, and Mount Vernon were flooded along with other areas along the John Day River to the Picture Gorge area. The basement of the high school in Canyon City was flooded as were several businesses. |
| November 2023 | Tornado (EF0) | Canyon City | - | Approximate EF0 tornado path was less than 0.25 miles at Marysville Lane, located east-southeast of Canyon City, Oregon. One tree was uprooted in saturated soil. One manufactured home experienced roof damage, including the removal of roofing |material. An opened hay shelter also saw roofing material removed. A travel-trailer was moved several feet from its original location. |
| July 1998 | Hail | Canyon City | - | A thunderstorm produced up to 2 1/2 in hail, wind gusts to 60 mph, and heavy rain. At least two windshields were broken in Granite with 2 inch hail. Hail was 4 inches deep in some places and snow plows were used to clear hail off Highway 26. As much as 1.15 inches of rain fell in 15 minutes. Water and mud ran through two houses and road side ditches filled causing water to run down roads. Pine trees and numerous tree branches were blown down and metal roofs were damaged by the wind. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Canyon City | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Day | 1.8 miles | 15 | |
| Mount Vernon | 8.9 miles | 14 | |
| Prairie City | 13.7 miles | 14 | |
| Seneca | 17.6 miles | 12 | |
| Beech Creek | 19.0 miles | 13 | |
| Fox | 20.6 miles | 13 | |
| Galena | 23.2 miles | 12 | |
| Long Creek | 23.8 miles | 13 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Canyon City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2704384 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1139318. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.






