Lime, Oregon

Lime is an unincorporated community and ghost town in the northwest United States, located in Baker County, Oregon.^[1] Five miles (8 km) north of Huntington on Interstate 84 (& U.S. Route 30), it is near the confluence of Marble Creek and the Burnt River on the Union Pacific Railroad. The historic Oregon Trail passes through Lime.^[2]

Lime, Oregon
Unincorporated community
Abandoned cement plant at Lime, circa 2012
Lime Location in the United States Show map of the United States Lime Location in Oregon Show map of Oregon
Coordinates: 44°24′24″N 117°18′41″W
Country	United States
State	Oregon
County	Baker
Elevation	2,234 ft (681 m)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
Area code(s)	458 and 541
GNIS feature ID	1167713[1]

History

The Lime post office was established 125 years ago in 1899.^[3] The deposits of limestone in the area were manufactured into lime that supplied a large area of Eastern Oregon and western Idaho.^[3][4] The Acme Cement Plaster Company built a plant at Lime in 1916 to produce plaster,^[3] then the Sun Portland Cement Company bought the plant in 1921 and built another facility for producing Portland cement.^[3] In 1926, the company merged with Oregon Portland Cement Company from Portland; by the 1960s, the Lime facility produced 1,200,000 barrels a year.^[3] In 1940, the community at its peak had a population of 18.^[5] The town began to decline when the post office closed in 1964.

As the nearby limestone deposits were depleted, limestone was brought from the Nelson area near Durkee.^[3] A new plant was built at Nelson in 1979 and the facility at Lime was closed in 1980.^[3] Oregon Portland Cement Company merged with the Ash Grove Cement Company in 1983.^[3][6]

In 1999, Baker County took possession of the site of the closed factory for back taxes. In 2018, the plant was scheduled for demolition; crews arrived that April to begin the work.^[7]

See also

• Oregon portal

• Abandoned village
• Cement, California
• List of ghost towns by country
• List of ghost towns in Oregon

References

1. "Lime". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
2. Friedman, Ralph (2002) [1993]. The Other Side of Oregon (2nd ed.). Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. p. 46. ISBN 0-87004-352-8.
3. McArthur, Lewis A.; Lewis L. McArthur (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 578. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.
4. Bailey, Barbara Ruth (1982). Main Street: Northeastern Oregon. Oregon Historical Society. p. 32. ISBN 0-87595-073-6.
5. Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Oregon (1940). Oregon: End of the Trail. American Guide Series. Portland, Oregon: Binfords & Mort. p. 251. OCLC 4874569.
6. Merriman, Ed (November 27, 2009). "Durkee Doldrums: Locals Fear Ash Grove Layoffs Will Doom Businesses". Baker City Herald. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
7. Collins, Chris. "Tumbling Down Contractor expects to finish demolition project by the first of June". Baker City Herald. Retrieved August 1, 2018.

External links

• Images of abandoned cement plant at Lime from Flickr
• Cockle, Richard (April 22, 2012). "Grand Idea to Turn Eastern Oregon Eyesore into Utopia Sparks Skepticism But Also Sliver of Hope". The Oregonian.