Wicopee Fields, Willamette Pass, HWY 58, Oregon and The Frazier Slide:

On the Willamette Pass (Oregon Highway 58) south of McCredie Hot Springs, (also see The Hotel Mcredie Hot Springs) there is a sign on a gravel road that says Wicopee Fields.  There is no hyphen between the two words, so I always assumed there were some fields there, but not so.  In trying to come up with some historical information about this area, there isn't a lot easily found on the search engines.  I did learn that Wicopee is the area with the marsh, and that Fields is 6 miles further up at the end of the gravel road, with a small campground.  Slide is one mile before Fields, and the names Cruzatte and Natron are also associated with the area.  The Union Pacific Railroad has trains going through here, and it is a favorite area for train enthusiasts/photographers.  I did run across this well written story about the experience of three men who camped in the campground and got "stabbed" (don't worry, in this case that just means blocked in by a train), and it tells you exactly how to get there and what is up the road further than where we went.  Here is the link, when you are done here at Oregon Gifts:  "Stabbed at Fields" .

Several years ago, we drove down to see what we could see, but there didn't seem to be much there.  Last Saturday (Christmas Eve), we gave it another try and came up with some beautiful photos.  There is a marsh on the left hand-side that was covered lightly in ice. There is a program reintroducing "chub" fish into this marsh and in other places around Oregon.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Across the road from the marsh there is a nice little parking lot with a fire pit on the beautiful Salt Creek.  Somebody told me a rumor once that there were around 50 little hot springs around here somewhere, but I haven't learned anything more of about that.  If you have, please leave a comment (under "Anonymous" if you want to).

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

On January 19, 2008, there was a major mudslide that effected the railroad tracks, known as The Frazier Slide.  The Wicopee Fields road was used as an access road to get the mess for clean up.  This link shows a bunch of construction photo links of the slide: Train Orders.com.  Here are some neat pictures of it after they had gotten the trains running again: Train Web.com.  I also found these videos of when the slide was happening:

Train Wreck:

 Source: Steam Freight Cars.com

That is how it goes on here sometimes, one thing just leads to another.  I wanted to know how Wicopee got it's name, did people live there, was there a store, all that kind of stuff.  I still have a lot to learn about Wicopee Fields, but I found that there was a huge train wreck in the area during the late 30's.  What a mess that was to clean up!  1938-39 Train Wreck at Natron/Wicopee Photos

Here is a link with some geographical information and surrounding areas:  Traveling Luck.com.  If you have anymore info that you would like to share, please leave me a comment. Or, if you enjoyed this post, please leave me a comment, because I love your feedback. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!


Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.