Ghost Town of Lamonta, Oregon
Ghost Town of Lamonta, Oregon
Lamonta gained a post office September, 7th, 1898, and was plated April 1905. The Post Office closed in April 1918. The town was apparently named by Miss Kate Helfrich and is supposed to refer to nearby Grizzly Mountain. But in which language, is unknown. The town was built to serve the needs of area ranches, but dried up as those ranches were absorbed by bigger ones. The remains of the town were burned in the 1960’s to make way for the power sub-station. These days, even the remnants of that era are long gone.
But the name still lives on in several local businesses in Prineville.
If you know anything about this town, please comment below!
with the town of Dolph in Oregon people should check out the town of Dolph and see if it is haunted or not. from Wendy Sells
My grandfather Elmer Lott was born near Lamonta in about 1916. His grandfather Charles Lott owned one of the ranches just ouside Lamonta and was one of the directors of the Lamonta Percheron Horse Company.
My mother was born in 1908 in Lamonta.
There are photos of the school house labeled the TM Smith cabin= that’s my grandfather, Theodore Monroe Smith. As a child we returned to Lamonta and we still found outlines in the grass of where the homestead house had been, and the cabin/school. My mother, Opal Smith (Chantler Bess) couldn’t remember which outline was the house and which the school. She pointed to a nearby hill and said the stage coach came though there. She didn’t like it because they whipped the horses and she was distressed to see that. I found a beautiful, large amethyst colored rock, and my mom said it was probably from one of her brother’s rock collections. Her brothers were Floyd and Lyle Smith
As I remember, my mother said the house and (then abandoned) school burned down and they moved away.
Michael – would like to hear from you [email protected]= Have you been back?
Oops = my mom Opal Lavina Smith (Chantler) was born in 1905, not 1908 as I stated.