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Milton-Freewater, Oregon

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Milton-Freewater census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97862. It lies near Columbia Heights. The Survey maps it on the Milton-Freewater quadrangle. 7,151 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,070 feet above sea level.

Milton-Freewater within Umatilla County

On record in Milton-Freewater

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 6 records

Population over time

7 figures

Milton-Freewater grew from 4,110 to 7,151 between 1960 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.

YearPeople Change
19604,110
19704,105-5 (-0%)
19805,086+981 (+24%)
19905,533+447 (+9%)
20006,470+937 (+17%)
20107,050+580 (+9%)
20207,151+101 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 8 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

5 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Milton-Freewater between 1992 and 2018, burning about 2,502 acres in total. 1 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Recreation and ceremony1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWallowa-Whitman National ForestMANN
5 September 2011Naturalunder an acreWallowa-Whitman National ForestINC 858
3 August 1992Equipment and vehicle use80 acresPendleton UnitBOWLUS HILL
17 July 2005Recreation and ceremony362 acresPendleton UnitNORTH FORK OF WALLA WALL
13 July 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined2,060 acresUmatilla AgencyMILTON-FREEWATER ASSIST

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Umatilla County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 34 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 34 workings within 5 miles of Milton-Freewater: 24 past producers, 10 producers. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Geothermal. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Mf Pit and PlantStonePast Producer
Unnamed WellGeothermalProducer
Blue Mtn StationStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Casper QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Komen PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Mf Pit and PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Blue Mtn StationSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Casper QuarrySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Eastside PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Eastside PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Umatilla County

Storms near this place

10 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Milton-Freewater in 10 storm reports between 2004 and 2022: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 heavy rain. The reports record 1 death. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2020FloodMilton Freewater1 killed, $39,700,000Umatilla County There was record flooding along the entire reach of the Umatilla River. There was extensive damage to areas along the river, including homes, roads including Interstate 84, railroads as well as other public facilities such as parks and sports complexes. Along the upper reaches of the river, roads were washed out with homes damaged or destroyed. One resident was swept away by flood waters and died. A number of residents had to be evacuated via helicopter or 4 wheeler with 70 homes on the Umatilla Indian Reservation damaged. The Riverview Mobile Home Park at Pendleton was inundated. There was minimal to no damage through Pendleton, due to the levee, but the Bob White Baseball field had extensive damage as water overtopped a low wall. Adjacent to Pendleton, the levee was damaged and overtopped with water flowing through the Keystone RV Manufacturing plant and the Colby Pipe Company. Several bridges and roads downstream from Reith to Echo were damaged or washed out with a number of homes damaged. Downstream from Echo to the confluence of Columbia River, the river rose out of the banks and flooded Interstate 84 between Highway 395 and Highway 208. Several semi-trucks were stranded in the flood waters with extensive damage to the highway. Numerous pastures and buildings along the river through Stanfield were flooded with extensive damage to Oxbow Park in Hermiston and to a sports complex in Umatilla. There was extensive flooding as well as on the Walla Walla River from the headwaters through Milton Freewater and on the upper reaches of Mill Creek. Numerous levees along the Umatilla and Walla Walla Rivers were damaged or overtopped including near Milton Freewater, several locations on the Umatilla Indian Reservation and adjacent to Pendleton. Damage is estimated at 1.3 million dollars to private property on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, with damage for public infrastructure for the entire county at 39.7 million dollars.||Umatilla at Pendleton Flood stage is 12.3 feet. The river rose above flood stage on February 6th 1230 pm, crested at 19.18 feet on February 6th at 10 pm, then fell below flood stage on February 8th at 11am. This was a record peak flow of 19,400 cfs. Highway 11(major access way to Pendleton) was closed due to water flowing over the road. Several bridges and roads downstream from Reith to Echo were damaged or washed out with a number of homes damaged. Umatilla near Gibbon Flood Stage is 7.0 feet. The river rose above flood stage on February 6th, at 2 am, crested at 12.14 feet on February 6th, at 130 pm, then fell below flood stage on February 8th at 645 pm. This was a record peak flow of 13,900 cfs. There was extensive damage along the upstream portions of the river with over 70 homes damaged, roads and railroad tracks washed out, levee damaged or washed out.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindMilton Freewater-A NWS Storm Survey conducted the day after the event revealed areas of isolated down trees and tree branches, where one of the downed trees had landed on a home. There was also an area of corn crops that had been blown over in a unidirectional manner.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindMilton Freewater-A downburst occurred from a strong thunderstorm that affected several unoccupied, parked mobile homes. One of the mobile homes was lifted 30 feet into a neighboring mobile home, destroying the lifted mobile home. Other mobile homes suffered some roof and other structural damage, as evidenced from broken glass and insulation around the site.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindMilton Freewater-Spotter reported 10 inch diameter tree down.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindMilton Freewater-Spotter reported many cottonwood trees on the neighbors property damaged with tops broken off from high winds.
June 2010Heavy RainMilton Freewater-Late frost and heavy rainfall caused at $3.5 million loss to the cherry crop around Milton-Freewater.
April 2006Funnel CloudMilton Freewater-Resident observed funnel cloud form and dissipate over golf course.
June 2004HailMilton Freewater-no account filed
August 2004HailMilton Freewater-no account filed
August 2004HailMilton Freewater-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Umatilla County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Cobb1.6 miles8
Sunnyside2.2 miles8
Crockett2.9 miles8
Ferndale3.4 miles8
Umapine6.5 miles8
Weston8.4 miles8
Waterman8.7 miles10
Athena10.0 miles8

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 Milton-FreewaterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2401051The 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 1167716. 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.