Lake County, Oregon

Lake County is a located in the  of. It is so named for the sizeable number of lakes found within its boundaries, including and. While it is among the largest Oregon counties in land area, it is thinly populated: in 2000, its population was 7,422. The of the county is located at.

History
Lake County was created from and  Counties on,  by the State Legislature. It then included the present and all of the present Lake County except Warner Valley. In 1882 land was removed to create Klamath County, and in 1885 the Warner area from was added.

Linkville, now, was the first county seat. M. Bullard gave 20 acres (80,000 m²) as the Lakeview townsite. By the 1875 election a town had been started there and an election moved the county seat to Lakeview. Because of poor transportation connections with the rest of Oregon, the early economic orientation of Lake County was toward. As an indicator of that connection, both the ' and the ' arrived in Lakeview daily, often before the . During the 1840s and 1850s the county was part of the military courier route between on the  and the Presidio in. The county did not acquire a railroad connection until the 1890s. That railroad spur, the line running from Lakeview to, only emphasized the isolation of the county from the rest of Oregon.

Geographic features
According to the, the county has a total area of 21,648 (8,358 ). 21,071 km² (8,136 sq mi) of it is land and 577 km² (223 sq mi) of it (2.66%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * - (north)
 * - (west)
 * - (east)
 * - (south)
 * - (south)

Economy
The traditional county economy rests on lumber, agriculture, and government. Irrigation has permitted agriculture based upon the raising of livestock and the growing of hay and grain to thrive despite the low rainfall and a short growing season. Lumber and wood products are taken from the.

Government employees from the national forest and the regional headquarters provide stability to an economy that otherwise would have to rely only on seasonal agricultural and lumber jobs. The Bureau of Land Management is landowner of 49% of the lands within the county. Tourism is a growing industry because of the county's many attractions which include, Hunter's Hot Springs, Goose Lake, and areas for rock hunting.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 7,422 people, 3,084 households, and 2,152 families residing in the county. The was 0/km² (1/sq mi). There were 3,999 housing units at an average density of 0/km² (0/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 90.97%, 0.13% or , 2.37% , 0.71% , 0.13% , 3.19% from , and 2.48% from two or more races. 5.44% of the population were or  of any race. 14.1% were of, 14.0% or American, 13.8%  and 11.8%  ancestry according to. 95.9% spoke and 3.6%  as their first language.

There were 3,084 households out of which 29.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.60% were living together, 7.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.20% were non-families. 26.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.84.

In the county, the population was spread out with 24.90% under the age of 18, 5.10% from 18 to 24, 24.30% from 25 to 44, 28.10% from 45 to 64, and 17.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 100.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,506, and the median income for a family was $36,182. Males had a median income of $29,454 versus $23,475 for females. The for the county was $16,136. About 13.40% of families and 16.10% of the population were below the, including 20.40% of those under age 18 and 9.50% of those age 65 or over.

Points of interest
are found north of. Sunstone is Oregon's.