| Sullivan's Gulch | |
| Settlement Type: | Neighborhood |
| Map Alt: | Sullivan's Gulch neighborhood boundaries |
| Coordinates: | 45.532°N -122.641°W |
| Coordinates Footnotes: | PDF map |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Oregon |
| Subdivision Type2: | City |
| Subdivision Name2: | Portland |
| Leader Title1: | Association |
| Leader Title2: | Coalition |
| Unit Pref: | US |
| Area Total Km2: | 0.83 |
| Population Total: | 3043 |
| Population As Of: | 2000 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Housing |
| Demographics1 Title1: | No. of households |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 1804 |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Occupancy rate |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 95% occupied |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 475 households (26%) |
| Demographics1 Title4: | Renting |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 1329 households (74%) |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Avg. household size |
| Demographics1 Info5: | 1.69 persons |
Sullivan's Gulch is a neighborhood (north of the gulch of the same name) in the Northeast section of Portland, Oregon. The name commemorates Timothy Sullivan, an early farmer in the area. Sullivan settled his donation land claim on January 27, 1851. He was born in Ireland in 1805, received citizenship in the United States in 1855, and most likely received title to the claim around 1863.[1]
The compact, densely populated neighborhood borders the Lloyd District (with which it overlaps somewhat) on the west, Irvington and Grant Park on the north, and Kerns on the south.
The gulch extends east from the Willamette River and originally was a forested riparian area featuring a spring-fed pool and waterfalls. During the Great Depression it was home to a "Hooverville" shanty town.[2] Presently the gulch is a major urban transportation corridor, used by the MAX Light Rail system and a Union Pacific rail line, as well as Interstate 84, the Banfield Freeway. A trail north of the Union Pacific tracks (the Sullivan's Gulch Trail) is in planning, but has been held up by its estimated price of $36 million plus land acquisition costs.[3] The first railroad tracks were laid in the gulch in 1882, by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, later taken over by Union Pacific,[4] which continues to own the line in the 2020s. The Union Pacific tracks, now used only by freight trains, were also used by passenger trains during 1882–1971 and 1977–1997, lastly by the Amtrak Pioneer until its discontinuation in 1997.
The gulch itself was formed between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age when the ice dam containing Glacial Lake Missoula thawed some 40 times, causing some of the largest floods known on earth. The flood waters spilled across Idaho and eastern Washington, surged down the Columbia River and through the Gorge, flooding the Willamette Valley as far south as Eugene. This flood covered Portland with approximately 400feet of water, laying down large amounts of silt and gravel, creating the Alameda Ridge, as well as carving out Sullivan's Gulch.[5] [6]