Fields, Oregon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Fields, Oregon
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Fields Station, June 2018
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 Fields, Oregon
Location in Oregon
Fields, Oregon
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Harney |
| Elevation | 4,236 ft (1,291 m) |
| Population
(2010)
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| • Total | 120 |
| Within zip code 97710 | |
| Time zone | Pacific |
| GNIS feature ID | 1120703 |
Fields is a small, unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States. This means it's a small settlement that isn't officially a city or town. It's located about 112 miles (180 km) south of Burns.
Fields is an important stop for people traveling in the area. It's the biggest community between Denio, Nevada, which is 22 miles (35 km) to the south, and Frenchglen, Oregon, 52.4 miles (84.3 km) to the north. The main business in Fields is a family-owned store and restaurant called Fields Station. Only about 25 people live within a 1-mile (1.6 km) radius of this store.
Contents
The Story of Fields
The community of Fields began in 1881. A man named Charles Fields started a homestead here. He built a special roadhouse, which was a place for stagecoaches to stop and rest on their long journeys. These stagecoaches traveled between Winnemucca, Nevada, and Burns.
Around 1900, a one-room school was opened in Fields. It had just one teacher for all the students. Charles Fields sold his business to John Smyth in 1911. Two years later, the Fields post office opened. The old stone roadhouse was later changed into a store and restaurant, and it's still used today! The original stone barn for horses is partly collapsed but is also still in use.
Today, Fields has a bar, a store, a cafe, a gas station, a school, a campground, and a few houses. As of 2003, the school had two rooms and two teachers for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Early Ranching and Mining
Ranching started in the Fields area even earlier, in 1869, when the Whitehorse Ranch was established. From 1892 to 1902, a company called Rose Valley Borax processed about 400 short tons (360,000 kg) of crystallized borax each year. This borax came from alkali that formed when spring water evaporated. The water contained a mineral called borate. Chinese workers collected this alkali.
Fields' Climate
Fields is one of the driest places in Oregon, getting less than 7 inches (180 mm) of rain each year. The nearby Alvord Desert might be even drier. Fields has a "cold" desert climate. This means it's very dry, but it can also get quite cold.
| Climate data for Fields, Oregon | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 61 (16) |
70 (21) |
78 (26) |
89 (32) |
97 (36) |
101 (38) |
106 (41) |
101 (38) |
96 (36) |
92 (33) |
76 (24) |
62 (17) |
106 (41) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 42.0 (5.6) |
45.8 (7.7) |
53.5 (11.9) |
58.8 (14.9) |
69.5 (20.8) |
79.3 (26.3) |
90.3 (32.4) |
88.1 (31.2) |
78.5 (25.8) |
64.7 (18.2) |
49.8 (9.9) |
40.9 (4.9) |
63.4 (17.5) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 32.4 (0.2) |
35.3 (1.8) |
41.9 (5.5) |
46.4 (8.0) |
55.9 (13.3) |
64.3 (17.9) |
74.7 (23.7) |
72.1 (22.3) |
62.8 (17.1) |
50.5 (10.3) |
38.7 (3.7) |
31.5 (−0.3) |
50.5 (10.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 22.7 (−5.2) |
24.8 (−4.0) |
30.3 (−0.9) |
33.9 (1.1) |
42.3 (5.7) |
49.3 (9.6) |
59.1 (15.1) |
56.1 (13.4) |
47.1 (8.4) |
36.2 (2.3) |
27.6 (−2.4) |
22.1 (−5.5) |
37.6 (3.1) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −20 (−29) |
−2 (−19) |
1 (−17) |
14 (−10) |
— | 28 (−2) |
40 (4) |
35 (2) |
28 (−2) |
10 (−12) |
1 (−17) |
−7 (−22) |
−20 (−29) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.80 (20) |
0.57 (14) |
0.62 (16) |
0.69 (18) |
0.86 (22) |
0.48 (12) |
0.19 (4.8) |
0.17 (4.3) |
0.31 (7.9) |
0.53 (13) |
0.59 (15) |
0.73 (19) |
6.54 (166) |
| Source: Western Regional Climate Center (period of record for averages is 5/1/1973 to 3/31/2013) | |||||||||||||
Who Lives in Fields?
According to the 2010 census, the area around Fields (zip code 97710) had 120 people. There were 69 males and 51 females. Almost everyone, 119 out of 120 people, identified as white. The largest age group was people between 50 and 54 years old, making up about 15.8% of the population. The average age was 44.5 years old, and the average household had 2.35 people.
Fields' Economy
The main purpose of the town's businesses is to provide services for cars and people traveling on the local highway. This includes the gas station, store, and cafe.
Fun Things to Do in Fields
Many people visit Fields for outdoor activities like sightseeing, hunting, and fishing. The area is home to lots of interesting wildlife. You might see pronghorn (a type of antelope), mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, pheasants, doves, geese, and ducks. If you like fishing, you can find Rainbow trout in the nearby streams.
There are also natural hot springs in the area where you can relax. These include Alvord Hot Springs, Bog Hot Springs, and White Horse Hot Springs. Many photographers love to visit Steens Mountain, which is about 60 miles (97 km) north of Fields, because of its beautiful scenery.
Getting Around Fields
As of 2023, some pilots who fly small planes (general aviation aircraft) use the local highway as a runway. This shows how remote and open the area is!
Education in Fields
For students in kindergarten through eighth grade (K-8), residents attend Fields Elementary School. This school is part of the South Harney School District #33. In 1998, some students living on a ranch zoned to Fields Elementary had a nearly two-hour commute to school each way!
Students as Janitors
In 1972, the school board at Fields Elementary allowed students to do paid janitorial work. A teacher was offered money to clean the school, but she suggested the students do it instead. That year, 16 students were enrolled. The students used the money they earned to pay for field trips. Later, the grade school in Juntura adopted this idea after the Fields teacher moved there in 1975. Because Fields Elementary is so small, the school board decided not to hire a full-time janitor.
High School and College
After eighth grade, high school students from Fields attend Crane Union High School. This school is part of the Harney County Union High School District 1J.
Harney County doesn't have its own community college district. However, it has a special agreement with Treasure Valley Community College (TVCC). TVCC operates an outreach center in Burns, which helps students in the area access college courses.
