Pawn, Oregon

{{Short description| Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States}}

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

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = Pawn, Oregon

|settlement_type = Unincorporated community

|nickname =

|motto =

|image_map =

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|pushpin_map = Oregon#USA

|pushpin_label = Pawn

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = Oregon

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = Lane

|timezone = Pacific (PST)

|utc_offset = -8

|timezone_DST = PDT

|utc_offset_DST = -7

|elevation_ft = 423

|coordinates = {{coord|44|09|12|N|123|56|55|W|region:US-OR|display=inline,title}}

|postal_code_type = ZIP code

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|footnotes = Coordinates and elevation from United States Geological Survey{{cite gnis|id=1147510|name= Pawn|entrydate=November 28, 1980 |access-date= November 26, 2015}}(dead link)

}}

Pawn was a historic unincorporated community in Lane County in the U.S. state of Oregon. It lay at the headwaters of the North Fork Siuslaw River, where Sam Creek and West Branch join to form the river in the Siuslaw National Forest of the Central Oregon Coast Range. Downstream is the unincorporated community of Minerva, and further downstream, near the mouth of the river on the Siuslaw River is the city of Florence.{{cite web|title=United States Topographic Map|publisher=United States Geological Survey|via=ACME Mapper|url=http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=44.153333,-123.948611&z=12&t=T&marker0=44.153333,-123.948611|access-date=November 27, 2015}}

Pawn had a post office from 1915 to 1933. Four area residents combined the first letters of their last names—Poole, Ackerley, Worthington, and Nolen—to manufacture the post office name. One of them, Monroe Poole, was the first postmaster.{{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 = 746}} Mail reached Pawn by horse or wagon, sometimes transferred from a boat further downstream.{{cite web|title=North Fork Siuslaw River Watershed Analysis|publisher=United States Forest Service|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5194228.pdf|format=PDF|date=December 16, 1994|page=31|access-date=November 27, 2015}}

Before roads connected Pawn to Florence, the community had its own school for children in grades 1 through 8. Older children boarded in Florence, where they went to high school.

A 21st-century forest trail in the same general vicinity is named after the community. Pawn Trail, managed by the United States Forest Service, forms a {{convert|4000|ft|m|adj=on}} loop through an old-growth forest.{{cite web|title=Pawn Trail #1317|publisher=United States Forest Service|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/siuslaw/recreation/recarea/?recid=42417|access-date=November 27, 2015}} The trail, open all year, is about {{convert|18|mi|km}} from Florence, mostly via forest roads.{{cite web|title=Pawn Trailhead|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/siuslaw/recreation/recarea/?recid=42419|publisher=United States Forest Service|access-date=November 27, 2015}}