Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Reedsport, OR

Reedsport is a coastal town in northwest Douglas County, Oregon, nicknamed Gateway to the Dunes and carrying the motto The Chainsaw Carving Capital of Oregon.

Reedsport was established on the estuary of the Umpqua River on January 7, 1852, was named for local settler Alfred W. Reed, who founded the city in 1912, and was incorporated in 1919, with its post office established July 17, 1912.

The 2020 census counted 4,310 residents in Reedsport, living in 1,954 households, with a median age of 51.5 years.

Reedsport lies about 73 miles northwest of Roseburg, the county seat, at the junction of Oregon Route 38 and U.S. Route 101, three miles north of Winchester Bay.

Built on marshy ground, Reedsport struggled with frequent flooding for much of its history, with most of its early buildings elevated 3 to 8 feet above ground, and after a devastating flood in 1964 a dike was constructed to protect the lower town.

During the 1964 flood, waters reached the fish hatchery and overflowed the fish troughs, introducing hundreds of thousands of smallmouth bass into the Umpqua River, where fishing reports say smallmouth bass became the most abundant fish.

The building of Southern Pacific Railroad lines extending south to Coos Bay led to the development of Reedsport, and before the post office was established in 1912, Reedsport was a camp for railroad construction workers.

In the last quarter of the twentieth century Reedsport struggled with the collapse of the Oregon timber industry, and its historic connection with timber ended in 1999 with the closing of the International Paper plant in nearby Gardiner, while tourism has since grown thanks to Umpqua River fishing and the nearby sand dunes.

The Umpqua Discovery Center along the Umpqua River in downtown Reedsport features regional natural and cultural history information, and the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area interpretive center is located at the intersection of Oregon Route 38 and U.S. Route 101.

The Dean Creek Wildlife Area, three miles east of Reedsport on Oregon Route 38, is a 1,000-acre preserve jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife where 60 to 100 Roosevelt elk can be viewed in their natural habitat year round.