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Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Trail Fork. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Trail Fork to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Trail Fork, please Contact Us.

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Trail Fork (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Trail Fork. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Trail Fork ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Trail Fork: Trail Frk.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Although our information shows that the community of Trail Fork is historic, it would have been located within present day Gilliam County.

To see how the shape of Oregon's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Gilliam County: Morrow, Sherman, Wasco, Wheeler & Klickitat (WA).

Below are the counties that are near Trail Fork. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Trail Fork:

  • Gilliam County     (The home county of Trail Fork)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Trail Fork, with the one closest to Trail Fork listed first.
    • Mayville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayville
      • Mayville is located in Gilliam County
    • Lonerock
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lonerock
      • Lonerock is located in Gilliam County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 22 people
    • Condon
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Clem
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Clem. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clem
      • Clem is located in Gilliam County
    • Olex
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Olex. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olex
      • Olex is located in Gilliam County
  • Morrow County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Trail Fork, with the one closest to Trail Fork listed first.
    • Gooseberry
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gooseberry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gooseberry
      • Gooseberry is located in Morrow County
    • Eightmile
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Eightmile. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eightmile
      • Eightmile is located in Morrow County
    • Hardman
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardman
      • Hardman is located in Morrow County
      • Hardman has also been known as:
      • Dairyville
      • Dogtown
      • Raw Dog
      • Yaller Dog
    • Ione
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lexington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Heppner
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Wasco County
    • Clarno
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarno
      • Clarno is located in Wasco County
  • Wheeler County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Trail Fork, with the one closest to Trail Fork listed first.
    • Kinzua ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinzua
      • Kinzua is located in Wheeler County
    • Fossil
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Winlock
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winlock
      • Winlock is located in Wheeler County
    • Spray
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Richmond ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Richmond. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richmond
      • Richmond is located in Wheeler County
    • Waldron ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldron
      • Waldron is located in Wheeler County

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Trail Fork, see our County-by-County Page for Trail Fork.

Cemeteries Near Trail Fork ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Trail Fork.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Trail Fork covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Trail Fork, with the one closest to Trail Fork listed first.

  • Papersack Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Lost Valley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lost Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lost Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mayville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Masonic Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masonic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masonic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fossil IOOF Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fossil IOOF Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fossil IOOF Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lonerock Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lonerock Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lonerock Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • IOOF Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the IOOF Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the IOOF Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • King of Peace Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the King of Peace Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the King of Peace Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Masonic Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masonic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masonic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brown Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brown Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Winlock Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (22 more) ...
    • Gooseberry Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gooseberry Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gooseberry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Hardman IOOF Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hardman IOOF Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hardman IOOF Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Junkins Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Junkins Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Junkins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.

While we didn't find Trail Fork in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Trail Fork.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Trail Fork, with the one closest to Trail Fork listed first.

  • Mayville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayville
    • Mayville is located in Gilliam County
  • Lonerock
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lonerock
    • Lonerock is located in Gilliam County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 22 people
  • Fossil
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Condon
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Igo ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Igo have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Igo
    • Igo is located in Gilliam County
  • Gooseberry
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gooseberry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gooseberry
    • Gooseberry is located in Morrow County
  • Eightmile
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Eightmile. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eightmile
    • Eightmile is located in Morrow County
  • Hardman
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardman
    • Hardman is located in Morrow County
    • Hardman has also been known as:
    • Dairyville
    • Dogtown
    • Raw Dog
    • Yaller Dog
  • Clem
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Clem. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clem
    • Clem is located in Gilliam County
  • Olex
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Olex. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olex
    • Olex is located in Gilliam County
  • Lexington
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Ione
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Trail Fork. See our List of 1890's Communities around Trail Fork.

Newspapers Published in Trail Fork ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Trail Fork.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Trail Fork, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Trail Fork.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Trail Fork:

The official website for State of Oregon: https://www.oregon.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Trail Fork, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Trail Fork) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Trail Fork. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.1040, Longitude: -120.0664       In this case, the coordinates for Trail Fork have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025