Prairie City, Oregon
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Prairie City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97869. It stands on Dixie Creek. The Survey maps it on the Prairie City quadrangle. 841 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,535 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Prairie 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
Sumpter Valley Railway Passenger Stationlisted 1981
Population over time
3 figuresPrairie City fell from 1,080 to 841 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 | 1,080 | |
| 2010 | 909 | -171 (-16%) |
| 2020 | 841 | -68 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 14 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 Canyon City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Canyon City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Prairie City quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1978 USGS John Day quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1988 USGS Prairie City quadrangle1:24000
- 1996 USGS Prairie City quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
26 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 26 fires within 5 miles of Prairie City between 1993 and 2019, burning about 191 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 15 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | John Day Unit | SHANGRILA |
| 30 September 2011 | Natural | 19 acres | John Day Unit | HALL HILL II |
| 3 August 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Prineville District | DIXIE |
| 3 August 1997 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Malheur National Forest | OR-MAF-185 |
| 24 August 1999 | Natural | under an acre | John Day Unit | KEYSTONE MINE #2 |
| 23 August 1999 | Natural | under an acre | John Day Unit | KEYSTONE MINE |
| 20 August 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 acres | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | JERRYS DRAW |
| 20 August 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | John Day Unit | FAIMAN SPRING |
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 44 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 44 workings within 5 miles of Prairie City: 16 past producers, 12 occurrences, 8 prospects, 6 producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Bell Claim | Silver, Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Blue Bell Claim | Gold, Silver | Unknown | ||
| Comini Quarries | Granite | Past Producer | ||
| Dixie Queen Property | Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper | Prospect | ||
| Haley Claim | Gold, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Last Chance Group | Gold, Zinc, Silver, Nickel, Lead, Copper, Cobalt | Prospect | ||
| Standard & Other Mines | Gold, Copper, Cobalt, Bismuth | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Uranium Occurrence | Gold, Uranium, Silver, Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Uranium Occurrence | Gold, Copper, Uranium, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Uranium Occurrence | Silver, Copper, Uranium, Gold | Occurrence | Chalcopyrite, Pyrite |
Storms near this place
10 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Prairie City in 10 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 3 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2025 | Flood | Prairie City | - | The Grant County Emergency Manager reported high water over the US Route 26 at milepost 173 between John Day and Prairie City. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie City | - | Social media reported huge pine trees uprooted and marble-sized hail. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie City | - | Agrimet station reported 66 mph wind gust. |
| June 2010 | Flood | Prairie City | - | Spotter reported flooding from Indian Creek along Indian Creek Road and surrounding fields. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie City | - | Gusts to 60 mph knocked down several trees in the Prairie City area. Some of the fallen trees knocked down power lines. |
| September 2003 | Wildfire | Prairie City | - | The Bull Springs 2 Fire was a lightning sparked fire which burned 1,266 acres. The estimated cost of containing the blaze was $1,422,000. |
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Prairie City | - | Flash flooding was reported over Highway 26 in eastern Grant County. An RV park in Prairie City also flooded. |
| July 2007 | Hail | Prairie City | - | no account filed |
| July 2007 | Hail | Prairie City | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Prairie 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 | 13.3 miles | 15 | |
| Canyon City | 13.7 miles | 15 | |
| Bates | 13.9 miles | 12 | |
| Austin | 14.8 miles | 14 | |
| Susanville | 17.7 miles | 12 | |
| Galena | 18.0 miles | 12 | |
| Robinsonville | 21.0 miles | 14 | |
| Mount Vernon | 21.6 miles | 14 |
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 Prairie City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3458885 | 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 1147975. 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.





