Kinzua, Oregon

{{Other places|Kinzua (disambiguation)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = Kinzua, Oregon

|settlement_type = Ghost town

|image_skyline = Kinzua Golf Club clubhouse.jpg

|imagesize = 300px

|image_caption = Clubhouse of the Kinzua Hills Golf Club in 2011

|pushpin_map = USA Oregon

|pushpin_label_position =

|pushpin_map_caption = Location within the state of Oregon

|pushpin_mapsize =

|image_map =

|established_date =

|established_title =

|named_for = Kinzua, Pennsylvania

{{cite book |last= McArthur

|first= Lewis A.

|author-link= Lewis A. McArthur

|author2=Lewis L. McArthur

|author2-link=Lewis L. McArthur

|title= Oregon Geographic Names

|orig-year= 1928

|edition= 7th

|year= 2003

|publisher= Oregon Historical Society Press

|location= Portland, Oregon

|isbn= 0-87595-277-1

|page=539}}

|mapsize =

|map_caption =

|image_map1 =

|mapsize1 =

|map_caption1 =

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = Oregon

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = Wheeler

|area_total_sq_mi =

|area_land_sq_mi =

|area_water_sq_mi =

|population_as_of =

|population_note =

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|coordinates = {{coord|44|59|22|N|120|03|32|W|region:US-OR|display=inline,title}}

|timezone = PST

|utc_offset = -8

|timezone_DST = PDT

|utc_offset_DST = -7

|elevation_ft = 3402

|postal_code_type = ZIP code

|postal_code = 97830 (Fossil Post Office box)

|area_code = 541

|footnotes = Coordinates and elevation from United States Geological Survey{{cite gnis|id=1158308|name= Kinzua (historical)|entrydate=November 28, 1980|accessdate= August 3, 2011}}

}}

Kinzua is a ghost town or former town site in Wheeler County, Oregon, United States. It existed as a company town from 1927 to 1978.{{cite web|url=http://www.pasturegolf.com/kinzua.htm|title= Kinzua Hills Golf Club|date=April 24, 2009|publisher=Pasture Golf|accessdate=July 17, 2011}} Kinzua lies directly east of Fossil and uses a Fossil mailing address.

The community was founded by Pennsylvania lumberman Edward D. Wetmore to support the sawmill operations of the Kinzua Pine Mills Company, that was named for the Kinzua Township in Pennsylvania.Thomas R. Cox, The Lumberman's Frontier (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2010), 334–38{{cite web|url=http://www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails/cks.html|title= Condon Kinzua & Southern Railroad Kinzua Pine Mills|publisher= High Desert Rails|accessdate=July 17, 2011}} At one time Kinzua was the most populous community in Wheeler County and 330 people worked at the mill.{{cite book|last=Beckham|first=Stephen Dow|author2=Lentz, Florence K. |year=2000|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/joda/hrs/hrs.htm|title=John Day Fossil Beds National Monument: Rocks & Hard Places:Chapter 6, "Economic Development"|location= Seattle, Washington|publisher= National Park Service|page= not numbered|oclc=47958562|accessdate=July 17, 2011}}

In 1929, the company built the Condon, Kinzua & Southern Railroad to ship forest products from the mill to Condon, {{convert|30|mi|km}} to the north.{{cite book|last=Culp|first=Edwin D.|title=Stations West, The Story of the Oregon Railways| page=97|year=1978|orig-year=1972|publisher=Bonanza Books|location=New York|oclc=4751643}} From Condon a Union Pacific feeder line went north to Arlington on the Columbia River.{{cite book|last=Beckham|first=Stephen Dow|author2=Lentz, Florence K. |year=2000|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/joda/hrs/hrs.htm|title=John Day Fossil Beds National Monument: Rocks & Hard Places: Chapter 5, "Transportation"|location= Seattle, Washington|publisher= National Park Service|oclc=47958562|accessdate=July 17, 2011}} Through 1952, the Kinzua & Southern carried mail and passengers via a self-powered rail bus called "The Goose". The line closed entirely in 1976.

In 1965, Kinzua included 125 homes, a community hall, church, library, store, and the golf course. When the mill closed in 1978, the buildings were removed and the townsite was planted with trees, mainly ponderosa pine. The six-hole golf course of the Kinzua Hills Golf Club occupies part of the site. The nearby Kinzua landing strip and Kinzua Mountain retain the name as well.