John Day, 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 97845. It stands on Canyon Creek. The Survey maps it on the John Day quadrangle. 1,664 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,087 feet above sea level.
On record in John Day
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 4 records
- Kam Wah Chung Company BuildingNational Historic Landmark · listed 1973
John Day Compound, Supervisor's Warehouselisted 1986
Supervisor's House No. 1001listed 1986- Advent Christian Churchlisted 1992
Population over time
3 figuresJohn Day fell from 1,821 to 1,664 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 | 1,821 | |
| 2010 | 1,744 | -77 (-4%) |
| 2020 | 1,664 | -80 (-5%) |
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
60 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 60 fires within 5 miles of John Day between 1992 and 2019, burning about 1,068 acres in total. 17 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Natural | 17 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 15 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | BYRAM GULCH |
| 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 |
| 11 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | John Day Unit | EAGLE PEAK |
| 11 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | John Day Unit | RIDGE |
| 9 August 1998 | Smoking | under an acre | John Day Unit | LUCE CREEK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 160 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 160 workings within 5 miles of John Day: 71 past producers, 33 occurrences, 28 prospects, 16 producers. 16 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beggs Manganese | Manganese | Occurrence | ||
| 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 | |
| Koffee Kup 1 | Gemstone, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Koffee Kup 1 | Gold, Silver, Gemstone | Producer | ||
| Little Pine Creek | Silver, Platinum, Palladium, Gold | Occurrence | Stream Placer |
Storms near this place
6 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names John Day in 6 storm reports between 1995 and 2017: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 hail, 1 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | John Day | $2,000 | Multiple power outages due to thunderstorms between John Day and Long Creek. Damage amounts are estimated. |
| January 2011 | Flood | John Day | - | Only minor flooding observed. The John Day River gauge at John Day crested at 8.42 feet, which was .42 feet above flood stage. |
| August 2000 | Lightning | John Day | - | Lightning started a fire in the Graham Creek area, which is on the slope of Slide Mountain. This fire consumed over 400 acres. It was contained August 9th. |
| May 2004 | Hail | John Day | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | John Day | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | John Day | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canyon City | 1.8 miles | 15 | |
| Mount Vernon | 8.5 miles | 14 | |
| Prairie City | 13.3 miles | 14 | |
| Beech Creek | 17.5 miles | 13 | |
| Fox | 19.0 miles | 13 | |
| Seneca | 19.4 miles | 12 | |
| Galena | 21.6 miles | 12 | |
| Long Creek | 22.1 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 John Day | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1282972 | 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 1144303. 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.






