2016 Edition
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These images were taken with my Nikon D810 and nifty fifty lens.
A County map will really help in finding these places.
Sparta is an unincorporated community in Baker County, Oregon, United States.
It was named for Sparta, Illinois by William H. Packwood, a prominent Oregon pioneer
who visited the gold diggings at the Powder River there in 1871.
By 1873, the population was 300 and the town had a general store, a hotel, a meat
market, and a brewery; food came from the nearby Eagle Valley.
The town was platted in 1872, and the post office was established in 1872 and ran
until 1952. The post office was originally named "Gem" in 1871 and was moved about
a mile east when it was renamed Sparta to match the established community. The
locale was also known as "Eagle City".
The Eagle Creek area of old mining camps is where one will find Sparta. But
Sparta wasn't always Sparta. First it was Koster, then Eagle City, then Gem and
finally Sparta. William H. Packwood, a civic leader in Gem, proposed the town be
renamed Sparta after his hometown-Sparta, Illinois. Several other civic leaders
disagreed and suggested the town be renamed after their hometown. The squabble was
finally resolved but not without some slight of hand on the part of Mr. Packwood.
The others were unaware they were duped and the town became Sparta. The town
flourished for a while but soon found itself running out of water. Raising capital,
Packwood built a 32-mile ditch in two years that provided the much-needed water for
continued mining operations. As soon as the ditch was completed, the gold supply
started to run out. In 1915, all hard rock mining ceased and Sparta joined its
sister towns of the Eagle Creek area.
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