page_title: Boring, Oregon
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Boring, Oregon / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Original Collection: Extension and Experiment Station Communications Item Number: P120:2523 Image Description: Shirley Gamble, 17, left and Haroldine DeBord, 16, are picking up a crate of raspberries near Boring, Oregon. You can find this image by searching for the item number by clicking here. Want more? You can find more digital resources online. We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons; however, certain restrictions on high quality reproductions of the original physical version may apply. To read more about what “no known restrictions” means, please visit the Special Collections &amp; Archives website, or contact staff at the OSU Special Collections &amp; Archives Research Center for details.
context_page_description: Boring is an unincorporated community in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. It is located along Oregon Route 212 in the foothills of the Cascade mountain range, approximately twelve miles southeast of downtown Portland, and fourteen miles northeast of Oregon City. A bedroom community, Boring is named after William Harrison Boring, a Union soldier and pioneer whose family built a farm in the area in 1856, before Oregon had received statehood.
  The community was officially platted in 1903 after the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company constructed an electric rail line, which operated from Portland to Cazadero. The former railway is now part of the Springwater Corridor, a rail trail which begins in Boring and ends at the Eastbank Esplanade along the Willamette River in southeast Portland. The Boring Lava Field, an extinct volcanic field zone that comprises terrain spanning between Boring and downtown Portland, took its namesake from the community.
  Boring was a hub of the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest prior to and during World War I due to the abundance of surrounding temperate coniferous and evergreen forests, as well as its proximity to the Port of Portland.
context_section_description: After its inception as a railroad community, Boring evolved into a hub for the timber industry in the Northwest, beginning in the pre-World War I era and continuing throughout much of the 20th century. One of the first mills established in Boring was the Hillyard Sawmill, which began operations in the 1890s; the mill produced over 30,000 feet (9,100 m) of lumber per day, mostly consisting of railroad ties. Bert Jonsrud, an early resident of the area, would later establish the Jonsrud Bros. Lumber Company, which would become Boring's main lumber mill. In a 1915 survey of timber and logging camps in the Pacific Northwest, it was reported that Jonsrud mill was producing 20,000 feet (6,100 m) of lumber per day.
  The Portland Traction Company, a now-defunct railroad, operated a rail line from Portland (near the current location of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) on the Willamette River) to Boring via Gresham. In the 1950s, the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads jointly took over operation of the remaining portion of the line for freight operations. Much of the line has since been purchased by local governments for the creation of a long-distance rail trail named the Springwater Corridor.
  The community is also home to a large number of dairy farms, plant nurseries and berry farms, including Iseli Nursery and Liepold Farms, who supplies produce to the local restaurant chain Burgerville. There are over thirty active plant and tree nurseries that operate within the community. Boring is also home of a campus of Guide Dogs For The Blind, Inc., the oldest guide dog training program on the US west coast. The largest employer in Boring as of 2018 is Good Shepherd Community Church, an independent evangelical church.
caption: Two teen girls picking berries on a farm in Boring, 1946
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