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Opal City, Oregon

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1926 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Culver census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97734. It lies near Osborne Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Opal City quadrangle. It stands 2,861 feet above sea level.

Opal City within Jefferson County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 17 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

88 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 88 fires within 5 miles of Opal City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 691 acres in total. 27 started naturally. 2 were 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
Natural27
Missing data/not specified/undetermined22
Equipment and vehicle use9
Debris and open burning8
Recreation and ceremony7
Railroad operations and maintenance7
Arson/incendiarism2
Smoking2
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1

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
5 September 2019Naturalunder an acreOchoco National Forest0910 PR
3 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOchoco National Forest0786
24 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePrineville District0616
2 September 2015Smoking1.0 acresOchoco National Forest573
19 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresOchoco National Forest1090
15 September 2012Natural4.5 acresOchoco National Forest0562
15 September 2001Naturalunder an acreOchoco National Forest1646
12 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresPrineville District0587

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jefferson County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Opal City: 7 past producers, 4 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Mercury, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Parkerville and WintervilleGold, ChromiumPast Producer
Basalt QuarryStonePast Producer
Gray ButteMercuryOccurrence1942
Gray ButteMercuryProspect
QuarryStonePast Producer
Unnamed PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Unnamed PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Steelhead Falls PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Jefferson County

Storms near this place

4 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Opal City in 4 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 1 heavy rain, 1 hail, 1 lightning, 1 funnel cloud. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2012LightningOpal City$500Lightning causes a power outage in the Crooked River Ranch subdivision.
July 2025Funnel CloudOpal City-Chief Meteorologist from KTVZ in Bend, OR shared a viewer video of a funnel cloud briefly touching down near Crooked River Ranch Golf Course.
August 2008HailOpal City-Large hail reported at Crooked River Ranch.
July 1997Heavy RainOpal City-Heavy rain and lightning strikes knocked out power from Opal City to Madras. Some phone service was also down for a while.

Every storm recorded in Jefferson 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
Crooked River Ranch1.9 miles17
Culver5.6 miles13
Grandview9.4 miles16
Lamonta (historical)9.6 miles17
Geneva9.6 miles16
Metolius10.0 miles13
Madras13.8 miles14
Grizzly16.0 miles10

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.

Wikidata item Q112580396The 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 1147243. 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.