Olene is an unincorporated community in Klamath County, Oregon, United States.[1] It is 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Klamath Falls on Oregon Route 140.[2] Olene currently has a general store and at one time it had a school.[3][4][5] In 1940 Olene had a population of 62 and was considered a suburb of Klamath Falls.[6] Olene was the center of a prosperous dairy and potato farming district.[6]
Olene, Oregon | |
|---|---|
  Olene Location within Oregon and the United States  Olene Olene (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 42°10′19″N 121°37′51″W / 42.17194°N 121.63083°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Klamath |
| Elevation | 4,153 ft (1,266 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1124978[1] |
| Coordinates and elevation from Geographic Names Information System[1] | |
According to William Gladstone Steel, Olene is a Klamath word meaning "eddy place" or "place of drift." O. C. Applegate adopted the word for the site in 1884 when the post office was established.[7] The original Olene post office was up the Lost River from the current townsite.[7] When the post office closed in 1966, it was near The Gap, a restriction in the Lost River.[7][8] This gap is also known as Olene Gap, and the Olene Hot Springs are nearby.[9][10]
The community was along a rail line operated jointly by Southern Pacific and Burlington Northern. Today the OC&E Woods Line State Trail, a rails to trails conversion, passes through Olene.[11] Originally built by the Oregon, California and Eastern Railway, the railroad line reached Olene in 1918.[9]
A geothermal drilling project near Olene was completed in early 2013, and the temperature produced by that well was in excess of 280 °F (138 °C).[12] Plans include drilling two or three more wells for a commercial-scale power plant, with a planned electrical capacity of 21 MWe.[12]