Piipe Six
iV reviewing the development of the Pacific Northwest, no events will be found to be
more thrilling nor history-making than the empire-building struggles of our pioneer
railroad builders. With vision and perseverance these men created commerce and indus
try . . . opened multiple channels of trade and transportation so tliat settlements and
villages grew into thriving towns and busy cities. The entrance of the Union Pacific into
La Grande in July of 1884 marked an era of prosperity and growth for this entire Grande
Ronde Valley. Safeway Stores heartily welcome the Old Timers Clubs, Locomotive En
gineers in convention, and laud the Union Pacific Semi - Centennial as a worthy testi
monial to men of splendid achievement.
IN HIS WAY, S..M. SKAGGS, founder of Safeway Stores, and father of the present ex
ecutive heads of Safeway, was also, a pioneer. He had to blaze new trails in a less waste
ful method of distributing the necessities of life. A man of higli moral purpose ... a
minister of the gospel, untrained in business methods, S. M. Skaggs opened his first tiny
store on a side street in American Falls, Idaho, in the summer, of 1915. Housed in a
frame building, 18x32 feet, which he-built himself with borrowed money, this one-man
business was dedicated to just one thing . . . lowering the costs of living for his neighbors.
Accepting as a challenge the unwarranted, high-priced practices then prevalent, Reverend
Skaggs fought-waste and inefficiency . . . discarded frills and-fancy trimmings to the end
that his- small business flourished and expanded.
NINETEEN YEARS have passed. The first Skaggs store . . . (now known as Safeway)
. . . has multiplied until today its sister stores are to be found in twenty-one West
ern States . . . each dedicated to the publie service ideal of our founder . . . "Distribution
Without Waste." The great locomotive, roaring down the track with its string of cars
flashing after it. impresses us with. its. organized efficiency for service. Likewise, a busw
ness organization is capable of almost unlimited public service when its leaders and per- 1
sonnel are imbued with the spirit of fair dealing.
SAFEWAY STORES, came to La Grande in 1922, with the belief that the people would
: welcome our economical plan of merchandising. You did! As citizens and business
mem w are sincerely, interested it La Grande's well-being and pledge active co-operation
and support for alt forward-looking enterprises.-