Mist is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Columbia County,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States. Formerly called Riverside, the place was renamed in 1888 for the atmospheric conditions of the Nehalem Valley. The first land claims in the area had been made circa 1870. The original Riverside post office was closed in 1975.

Background

On July 6, 2001, the Mist store, which was built in 1874, caught fire and was destroyed. Until then, it was the oldest continuously operating business in Oregon, offering food and hardware and displaying historic newspaper clippings and antique logging equipment on the walls. Mist is a crossroads community where

Oregon Route 47 Oregon Route 47 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the Willamette Valley, near McMinnville, Oregon, McMinnville, and the city of Clatskanie, Oregon, Clatskanie, along the Columbia River in the northwest part of the state. OR 47 ...

turns north to Clatskanie, and a pioneer trail (Burn Road) crossed the Nehalem River and went south to

Vernonia ''Vernonia'' is a genus of about 350 species of forbs and shrubs in the family Asteraceae. Some species of this genus are known as ironweeds. Some species are edible and of economic value. They are known for having intense purple flowers. There h ...

. It is the eastern terminus of Oregon Route 202. The Nehalem River valley widens between Mist and Jewell and was favored by the Native American tribes of the area for hunting; it was later favored by early

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

settlers for agriculture. Although the area is now sparsely settled, it is notable for having the largest operating

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

in Columbia County and also geological conditions lending themselves to

natural gas storage Natural gas is a commodity that can be stored for an indefinite period of time in natural gas storage facilities for later consumption. Usage Gas storage is principally used to meet load variations. Gas is injected into storage during periods o ...

. Mist contains one of the very few, and therefore very valuable, natural gas storage areas in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

. It operates unobtrusively on a hill near Mist. It is controlled by NW Natural (formerly Northwest Natural Gas) and is connected by several pipelines, including a and a pipeline along the Nehalem Highway.Northwest Natural 2006 Annual report
/ref> Earlier in the 20th century, Mist had a

logging camp A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...

next to a railroad used by the Kerry Timber and Logging Company. The remains of the camp were discovered in 2008 and 2009. Though still important in terms of logging, the population today is sparse, and there is no longer a railroad.

Gallery

SnowyNightInMist.jpg, Panorama of a snowy night in Mist, taken early 2006.

References

External links

History of Mist from VanNatta ForestryMist Elementary SchoolHistoric photos of Mist from Salem Public Library
{{authority control Energy storage projects Unincorporated communities in Columbia County, Oregon Unincorporated communities in Oregon