Harper, Oregon
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Brogan census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97906. It stands on Willow Spring Creek. The Survey maps it on the Harper quadrangle. 113 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,520 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresHarper grew from 109 to 113 between 2010 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 109 | |
| 2020 | 113 | +4 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 8 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.
- 1955 USGS Boise quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Boise quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Boise quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Harper quadrangle1:62500
- 1990 USGS Harper quadrangle1:24000
- 1993 USGS Vale quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
12 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Harper between 1992 and 2020, burning about 221 acres in total. 8 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 | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 September 1997 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Vale District | HUNTER SP |
| 28 August 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Vale District | HARPER |
| 26 August 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Vale District | RACEHORSE FLAT |
| 14 August 2005 | Fireworks | under an acre | Vale District | HARPER |
| 7 July 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Vale District | COPELAND |
| 6 July 1995 | Natural | 200 acres | Vale District | COTTNWD CR |
| 29 July 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Vale District | NAMORF |
| 16 July 2001 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Vale District | COPELANDRD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 12 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Harper: 5 occurrences, 4 producers, 3 past producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Uranium, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Diatomite | Diatomite | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Hot Spring | Geothermal | Producer | ||
| Mp 223.3 Harper Rock | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Mp 223.3 Harper Rock | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Mp 224.5 Central Oregon Hwy | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Mp 224.5 Central Oregon Hwy | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Blue Moon Uranium | Uranium | Occurrence | ||
| Blue Moon Uranium Claims | Uranium | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
7 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Harper in 7 storm reports between 1996 and 2013: 3 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harper | - | A trained spotter near Harper measured a thunderstorm downburst wind gust to 57 knots with sustained winds of 38 knots from the northwest. |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | Harper | - | Trained spotters in and around Harper, Oregon reported flooding in the town and along U.S. Highway 20 with 1.79 inches of rain in about 2 hours. |
| June 2004 | Flash Flood | Harper | - | Between Harper and Wesfall. |
| July 2003 | Flash Flood | Harper | - | Mud and debris washed across Highway 20 near Harper |
| May 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Harper | - | Two small, short lived funnel clouds were reported by a spotter near Harper, Oregon. |
| May 2005 | Hail | Harper | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harper | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westfall | 10.3 miles | 8 | |
| Bohna (historical) | 12.8 miles | 9 | |
| Warm Springs (historical) | 13.5 miles | 11 | |
| Paris (historical) | 15.9 miles | 10 | |
| Vale | 21.3 miles | 12 | |
| Willowcreek | 21.7 miles | 12 | |
| Dennis | 21.8 miles | 12 | |
| Home (historical) | 22.9 miles | 12 |
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 Harper | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3709583 | 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 1136359. 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.





