Bendigo State Park

About Bendigo State Park

The 100 hectare Bendigo State Park is located in a small valley surrounded by many picturesque hills. About 20 hectares of the park are cultivated, about half of which is a large shady picnic area. The forest consists mainly of northern deciduous forest and includes beech, birch, cherry and maple.

The eastern arm of the Clarion River flows through the park, and the beautiful creek was once polluted by abandoned mine drains.

The creek is now trout-stocked by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and offers excellent fishing opportunities. The Clarion River and its tributaries today offer trout fishing, as well as a variety of other species.

The Irish tavern owner who lived in England, Bendigo State Park is named after him, and his fighting career from 1832 to 1851 was almost perfect, winning with just one defeat. When his opponent died in a heavyweight fight, Thompson fled to America to escape prosecution.

Although professional boxing was banned in the ring, he was arrested for breaking anti-fighting laws.

He moved to northwestern Pennsylvania and, under the tutelage of his friend and rival Abed D. Brown, took up a job as a boxing coach at the New York Athletic Club.

A very large and strong Bendigo became a railwayman and Protestant Methodist and named the new mill town "Bendigo" after Alfred Truman, on the suggestion of an Italian railwayman. Truman built the mill in what is now State Park and named it after him. The Belgian Count De Hamm founded a glassblowing community in North Bendigos State Park.

Settlers could not make a living from glass production, but wood still existed and B.F. Hazelton soon built a large sawmill in the town and renamed it Glen Hazel. North Bendigos State Park was a thriving logging town, though it is now mainly a cottage and hunting camp.

Chartered in 1887, the Johnsonburg-Clermont Railway connected the town and the mills in the area to bring timber to the market. When the timber was depleted, railways and sawmills in and around the towns of Bendigo slowly disappeared. Today visitors can ride on the old railway line when passing by on Parkstrasse.

Bendigo State Park began in the 1920s as a community project for the nearby town of Johnsonburg. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many improvements to the park were made by the EPA, but floods destroyed many EPA facilities in 1940. The trial began in August 1948, and in April 1949 the late Senator George B. Stevenson introduced a bill to transfer ownership of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The original park entrance at the corner of Parkstrasse and Parkstrasse in Bendigo is still there.

Bendigo State Park was officially opened on August 15, 1959, and parking facilities improved. More than 150 picnic tables were spread over several picnic areas, and the area included a picnic area, picnic pavilions, a swimming pool, an amphitheater and a tennis court.

The picnic pavilions can be reserved for up to 11 months against advance payment, and there is an unreserved picnic pavilion. Who comes first, who comes first and who comes last First, picnic tables are served on the picnic area, which is open to the public at weekends.

This beautiful park contains the East Branch Dam that forms the lake, as well as a number of other natural attractions. Leisure activities include hiking, cycling, canoeing, camping, fishing, kayaking and other leisure activities. For information about nearby attractions, please contact the Oregon Department of Natural Resources (Oregon DNR) at (503) 888-8477 or contact your local park district office.

The US Army Corps of Engineers completed the East Branch Dam on the Clarion River in 1952 and operates the recreational area around it, including Bendigo State Park and Bendigo Lake recreation areas, as well as a number of other natural attractions. The dams provide flood protection and recreational opportunities for residents and visitors to Bend, Bend County, Oregon and the State of Oregon.

The purchase was made in 1920 and is commemorated in the Bendigo State Park logo on the west side of the park's entrance gate. Visitors are welcome at the entrance to the State Park on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The marker was erected in 1920 by sports enthusiast John MacFarlane Phillips as part of the Game Commission's efforts to develop Bendigo State Park and the state's first state park. For information, please contact the state Department of Natural Resources and Nature Conservation at (888) 662-5555.

Bendigo State Park is located on SR 1004, which branches off from US 219 at Johnsonburg. State forest areas may be used only for recreational purposes, and only on state forest areas within the boundaries of the park.