THE TOWN OF Long Creek developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s on the banks of Long Creek, one of the tributaries of the John Day River. It was, and is, a little north of the center of Grant County, a few dozen miles north-northwest of John Day and Canyon City. It was a prosperous little town, well positioned, and it grew relatively quickly to become one of the most promising settlements in Grant County, so much so that in 1891 the residents incorporated the town and started the process of trying to take over from then-fading Canyon City as county seat.

But before anything could come of that, the town got flattened by the most intense cyclone in recorded Oregon history.

And yeah, about that cyclone: One of the people who watched it descend upon the town gave what may actually be the earliest known eyewitness description of the creation of a “bomb cyclone.” ... (Long Creek, Grant County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2412e.long-creek-bomb-cyclone_682.511.html)