Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Canyon City, OR

Canyon City is a city in Grant County, Oregon, and it is the county seat of Grant County, about 2 miles south of John Day on U.S. Highway 395.

Canyon City was established in June 1862 as a result of the discovery of gold in Canyon Creek, and as up to 10,000 miners flocked to Whiskey Gulch and other sections of the canyon, land values between Canyon City and John Day rose to about 500 dollars per square yard.

The city was platted in 1862 and was chosen as the county seat two years later, when Grant County was created from old Wasco County and old Umatilla County, and it was incorporated in 1891 with C. W. Parrish elected as its first mayor.

Geologist Waldemar Lindgren estimated that between 3 million and 5 million dollars in gold was extracted from Canyon Creek in each of the first three years, 1862 to 1864, and gross gold production for the 40 years from 1862 to 1902 was approximately 800,000 ounces.

Gold production continued until 1942, when the War Labor Board issued order L-208, which prohibited gold mining and effectively killed the gold mining industry in the United States.

As of the 2020 census, Canyon City had a population of 660, down from 703 in 2010, while census tallies for the city have fluctuated between about 250 and 700 since 1870.

In the 2010 census, Canyon City had 322 households.

The city covers 1.41 square miles, all land, at an elevation of about 3,200 feet.

Canyon City has a humid continental climate, with large seasonal temperature differences, warm to hot summers, and cold, sometimes severely cold, winters.

As of 2002, the biggest employer in Canyon City was the county government, followed by the Grant School District, in its district office and Humboldt Elementary School.