Galena is an unincorporated community in Grant County, Oregon, United States, about 20 miles from Austin Junction in the Blue Mountains.[1] It is on the Middle Fork John Day River on the border of the Wallowa–Whitman and Malheur National Forests. The former gold mining camp is considered a ghost town.[2]
The locale was settled in 1865 as a mining community on the Middle Fork John Day River near its confluence with Elk Creek.[3] The town was named Susanville after one of the earliest inhabitants, Susan Ward.[3]
Galena post office was established in 1901 when a group of miners were able to get the Susanville post office moved from the current site of Galena two miles up Elk Creek to their mine.[3] The new post office was named for a body of galena ore in the area, and the town was renamed as well.[3] The mines were worked extensively in the 1860s and were still active in 1940.[4]
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