Pondosa is an unincorporated community in Union County

Union County, Oregon

Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. The county is named for the town of Union, which is located within its boundaries; in 2010, the county population was 25,748. The county seat is La Grande.-History:Union County...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Pondosa has an elevation of 3261 feet (994 meters).

The town came into being in 1927, when the four Stoddard brothers of La Grande

La Grande, Oregon

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 12,327 people, 5,124 households, and 2,982 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,833.5 people per square mile . There were 5,483 housing units at an average density of 1,260.3 per square mile...

 bought land in the area. They moved the sawmill operations of the Grande Ronde Lumber Company in nearby Perry

Perry, Oregon

Perry is an unincorporated community in Union County, Oregon, United States. It is located five miles west of La Grande on the Grande Ronde River and Interstate 84...

 to the site. The town was named after the Ponderosa Pines

Ponderosa Pine

Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...

 that dotted the area. A post office was established in 1927. In 1931, Truman Collins of The Collins Companies

The Collins Companies

The Collins Companies, which began operations in 1855, is a family-owned American forest products company. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Collins was the first privately-owned forest products company in the United States to have all of its hardwood and softwood forests certified by the Forest...

 of Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 bought the mill. The mill was sold again in 1956, this time to Boise Cascade

Boise Cascade

Boise Cascade Holdings, LLC, which uses the trade name Boise, is an American pulp and paper company, ranked as the thirteenth largest forest products company in the world....

, which made plans to shut down the mill. This caused the decline of the town, which had over 500 inhabitants at the time. The post office was discontinued in 1959.