Waldo Hills

The Waldo Hills are a range of hills in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States. Encompassing an area of around 50 square miles (130 km²), the hills are located east of Salem.^[1] The hills are named after pioneer Daniel Waldo.

The hills stretch out from Mill Creek in a northeasterly direction.^[1] These hills were formed by a cuesta of Columbia River Basalt Group.^[2] Rocks of the hills include Tertiary volcanic bedrock, sedimentary bedrock, and Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary basin fill shaped by elongate domical folds.^[3] The Waldo Hills form part of the divider between the upper and lower Willamette Valley.^[2] Additionally, the Waldo Hills as part of a larger fault system of low-lying hills in the mid-valley, are the largest geological structure in the mid-Willamette Valley.^[2] Along with the Silverton Hills, these hills form the foothills to the Cascade Mountains to the east.^[3]

Euro-American settlement of the Waldo Hills began in 1843 when Daniel Waldo settled a land claim there and began farming.^[1] Later settlers included Homer Davenport and Samuel L. Simpson, along with Waldo's sons John and William.^[1] In 1846, the hills were the site of the formation and drilling of the Oregon Rangers, a militia formed by the Provisional Government of Oregon.^[4]

• Eola Hills
• Howell Prairie
• Salem Hills
• Theodore Thurston Geer

• Winter scene in the Waldo Hills from Salem Public Library Historic Photographs Collection
• Geologic map of the area
• The Battle of the Abiqua

44°53′45″N 122°51′38″W / 44.89583°N 122.86056°W / 44.89583; -122.86056