Oxbow is an unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 community in Baker County

Baker County, Oregon

Baker County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. It is named for Edward Dickinson Baker, a senator from Oregon who was killed at Ball's Bluff, a battle of the Civil War in Virginia in 1861. It was split from the eastern part...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States. Oxbow is located on Oregon Route 86

Oregon Route 86

Oregon Route 86 is an Oregon state highway running from Interstate 84 at Baker City to the Idaho state line at Oxbow . OR 86 comprises most of the Baker-Copperfield Highway No. 12 . It is long and runs east–west. OR 86 has an unsigned spur near Halfway, which runs for...

 next to the Snake River

Snake River

The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...

 near the Oxbow Dam

Oxbow Dam

Oxbow Dam is a hydroelectric run-of-the-river rockfill dam on the Snake River on the Idaho-Oregon border, in Hells Canyon . It is part of the Hells Canyon Project that also includes Hells Canyon Dam and Brownlee Dam, built and operated by Idaho Power Company.The dam's powerhouse contains four...

 on the Oregon-Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

 border, about 17 miles northeast of Halfway

Halfway, Oregon

Halfway is a city in Baker County, Oregon, United States. This town took its name from the location of its post office, on the Alexander Stalker ranch, half way between Pine and Cornucopia...

. Oxbow is just south of the site of the former mining town of Copperfield

Copperfield, Oregon

Copperfield is a former town in Baker County, Oregon, United States, located on the west bank of the Snake River, near a place called The Oxbow.-Early history:...

. Although it is unincorporated, Oxbow has a post office with a ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 of 97840.

There was once a station named Oxbow on a portion the Oregon Short Line Railroad

Oregon Short Line Railroad

The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon. The line was as organized the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railway. Union Pacific intended the line to be the shortest route from Wyoming to Oregon...

 now inundated by Oxbow Reservoir. It was named for The Oxbow, a U-shaped bend

Meander

A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...

 in the Snake River named for the agricultural implement

Oxbow

An oxbow is a U-shaped wooden or metal frame that fits under and around the neck of an ox or bullock, with its upper ends passing through the bar of the yoke and held in place with a metal key, called a bow pin. The wood most often used is hardwood steamed into shape, like elm or hickory and...

. The present-day community of Oxbow was established in the early 1960s near the former site of Copperfield during the building of the Oxbow Dam by the Idaho Power Company

Idaho Power Company

Idaho Power Company is a regulated electrical power utility. Its business involves the purchase, sale, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. It is a subsidiary of IDACORP, Inc...

. Oxbow post office was established on May 1, 1965 after moving the office from Homestead

Homestead, Oregon

Homestead is an unincorporated community in Baker County, Oregon, United States. Homestead lies on the Snake River south of Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and four miles north of Oxbow. Its ZIP code is 97840, and its area codes are 458 and 541....

 six miles to the north. At one time Oxbow had a school.

By some accounts, Hells Canyon

Hells Canyon

Hells Canyon is a wide canyon located along the border of eastern Oregon and western Idaho in the United States. It is North America's deepest river gorge at and part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area....

is defined as starting just outside of Oxbow.

External links

• Images of Oxbow from Flickr