' In mini anrt iff-t.
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER. LA GRANDE, OREGON
Pape Eig-ht
DUG-OUT HOUSED FIRST BUSINESS HOUSE IN 1862
Edward B. Patterson
- Opened First Store
in "Side of Hill."
A lock at La Grande's modern,
up-to-the-minute biulne&s sec
' tton this year, 60 years alter the
coming of the railroad, to this
city, and not bo far removed from
the building of the first home
here in 1661, and one would little
think that the first store here
was in a dug-out.
Yet, pioneers tell us that La
Grande's; original store, started by
a man named Edward B. Patter
son In the fall of 1862, was lo
cated In a dug-out In the side of
the hill at the head of what was
later called A avenue, close to
the old Crandall place.
The provisions, consisting large
ly of brown Manila sugar, co'ffee,
large quantities of syrup In live
gallon kegs, and other staples,
were kept In the dug-out all dur
ing the winter of 1862-63 and not
until thje following spring was
Patterson able to erect a build
ing the first business house of
Its kind In La Grande. The
first store was built on block 2,
C avenue. Old Town, and whs lo
cated along the original Old Ore
gon Trail highway. Patterson
also built the first plank house in
La Grande during the year 1863
on the north side of C avenue
Ben Brown's first house In 1861
was made of logs. In, either 1867
or 18t8 Patterson sold his store
to Mt Enrich and left for Ver
mont, Jater going to California.
When Patterson came here two
men Green Arnold and Don
Chaplin were surveying and
staking out the town of La
Grande, the two main streets of
which were B and C avenues. B
Avenue was directly on the Old .
Oregon Trail, which all emigrants
took when passing this way. The
trail went almost directly west
from La Grande, leading up over
the luil, rattier than following j
tho canyon.
The Mcond general store was
opened by S. AC Bloch about 1863, j
nd wi located In a log house on
the south side of B avenue, Just
east of the creek which runs
through Old Town, later he erect-j
ed a r.tw f-tore building on B and
Cedar, wfcich was used for several ;
years. j
PIONEERS TO
MEET HERE
ON THURSDAY
AcctnLng to President Ed Reyn
olds, the annual meeting of the
pion-etr-.. of Union county. Thurs
day. July 19. arranged by the Sons
and DtiUfhters association prom
ises to have unusual interest this
year and its proponents are ex
pec tine a crowd t wo or th ree
times he usual size on hand for
the prcvTam. Some of the features
are planned especially In connec
tion with the opening day of the
great railroad Jubilee, others fol
low lint which the pioneers have
been familiar with for years.
As generally known the day
start cl! with the arrival of the
replica of the original train from
Island City. In the coach of the
train which leaves the Island at
0:00 e'rlock will be the oldest pio
neers which can be found. A pro
gram will be offered at the sta
tion at 6:30 on the arrival of the
train and there are some special
numbtrt to be given here that the
committee have secured but are
not ytt announcing. The parade
to tlw pirk will form at 10:00
o'clock and will reach the park
probatly at 11:00. From that time
on the pioneer meeting will have
much the same outline as in pre
vious )ars with business meet
ing, prrram and opportunity for
visit mp, and a basket lunch at
noon. It it yTSrssed that each fam
ily if to bring Its own lunch, the
coffee itiid cream to be provided
by the wtscclaWon.
One additional feature and one
wliich fiiomlsoa to have great sig
nificance is tt reunion of stu
dent of the old Blue Mountain
acfUK-my. This Is scheduled tor
6:30 o'clock and will also be held
at Riverside park.
THEY SKIPPED Oi:T
Myrrtt Bros., late extensive wool
: deleni of Kamrla, are now In
tome unknown locality. When
last heard Ironv tbfy were at
Walla Wnlla. having written a
letter from that city stating that
, they could not avttle their ob-
Itgmtioaa. and had concluded to
"skip." I Grand Oawtte.
- Sept. 33, 1899.
SEVERAL IN
OLD FIDDLERS
BIG CONTEST
Several contestants have already
entered the Old Time Fiddlers
content to be conducted Wednes
day night July 18, at Zuber hall.
The contest la drawing entrants
from all parts of the, country.
Suitable prizes are to be awarded
winners.
The method of judging has not
yet been, definitely settled. Just
prior to the Fiddlers contest there
will be held an old time dance In
the street on Adams between
Depot and Elm.
GUARDSMEN
HAVE PART
IN JUBILEE
Company E, 186th Infantry, the
La Grande unit of the national
guard, will make two appearances
during the Semi -Centennial U. P.
celebration here next week.
The company will lead the par
ade on Friday morning, and wilt
furnish an escort for the colors,
and on Saturday It will take part
in the pageant at the La Grande
stadium, which Is free to the pub
lic. Capt. Walter A. Bean Is com
mander of the company of 60 men.
one of the best rifle units In Oregon.
FOUR MAJOR FIRES IN
EARLY LOCAL HISTORY
Like most other cities which
can look back Into the 19th cen
tury for their early history. La
Grande had several major fires in
Its first forty years of growth.
The first fire of size of which
there is record came In the early
seventies when many of the build
ings on the south side of C ave
nue were wiped out, and never
rebuilt. At this time most of La
Grande was in the neighborhood
of B and C avenues. For several
years after this La Grande was at
a standstill, rather it was going
down Instead of progressing.
The next big lire was in 1886
when much of the business sec
'tlon of the new town was de
stroyed, half of a block of build-'
Ings between Depot and rAm
streets on the south side of Ad
ams avenue, and on Jefferson ave
nue were completely razed. Burned
down were two hotels, a livery
stable and several other business
places.
This section was rebuilt, but
again In 1891 a third fire de
stroyed all the buildings on the
west side of Depot between Adams
and Jefferson, including the first
brick building in the city con
structed by A. So mjner. j, D.
Slater and Circuit Judge J. W.
Knowles had law offices In that
building.
In July of the same year, 1891,
the fourth large fire occurred.
starting In the old Blue Mountain
When the Railroad
Was Young-
In 1886 the Kiddle family came to
La Grande and the Valley and
There Was Established the
PIONEER FLOURING MILL
With Stills and Warehouses Now Throughout Union County
The Pioneer Flouring Mill company
has been buying grain from Grande
Ronde valley growers and manufac
turing flour for half a century. And
:is Union county has gone forward,
new methods in nulling, new know
ledge of food values, new tests for
baking qualities have permitted us to
match the progress of the community
and the industry.
BUY 'FEDERATION" FLOUR
Not only because it is a Grande Ronde valley product and a means to
greater valley progress but buy it for Federation quality that insures
success in all your baking needs.
hotel, located on the corner
where the Elks temple now stands,
and burning all the buildings on
that street as far east as tne
Presbyterian church, also a one
story building where the Sornmer
hotel now stands, and two build
ings on the corner o Washington
and Depot where the Modern
Laundry is now located.
Since then there have been
many fires, but none as disas
trous to the business section as a
whole as those early blazes.
BACK TO THE OIL BURNERS
Something la radically wrong
at the power house of the elec
tric light company. It is not an
occasional occurence but almost
every night the lights become so
dim as to necessitate the light
ing of lamps in the business
houses where electric lights are
used. La -Grande Gazette, Oct.
21. 1892.
CUESTNTT SOCIAL
The ladles ofl the Episcopal
church will give a chestnut so
cial at the residence of J. H.
Stevens Friday, Sept. 30. La
Grande Gazette, Sept. 23, 1892.
VISITS MOTHER
Mrs. Laura Ohilds, of San
Francisco, is visiting her mother,
Mrs. Zuber. She will remain In
La Grande during the winter.
La Grande Gazette, Oct. 21, 1892.
The choicest grain of the entire val
ley is selected from the thousands of
bushels bought by us each year for
our milling. Expert millers, with
years of experience and the advant
age of the most modem laboratory
tests and milling equipment, super
vise the making of our products and
the prime product of the valley
"Federation" Flour.
0G DEN BAND
HAS 4 SETS
OF UNIFORMS
The Union Pacific Ogden band,
which Is an outstanding organiza
tion of its kind In the west, will
be sent to La Grande and spend
four days here during the XT. P.
Jubilee.
This band consists entirely of
railroad men and for several years
has led the grand entry at the
Cheyenne Frontier Days. Among
other honors it has also won first
place at the Salt Lake Covered
Wagon days celebration among 20
bands from Colorado, California
and Wyoming.
Uniforms In which the band ap
pear Include the West Point full
dress uniforms, Elks lodge uni
forms and the Union Pacific Old
Timers uniforms, all of which will
bo brought with them to La
Grande's celebration this month.
They will appear at frequent In
tervals during the days of the cel
ebration. With the bands, which will come
by special train, will be four Pull
man loads of people from Ogden,
according to word received from
the Ogden headquarters, making
between 200 and 250 persons who
will be present from that city
alone.
AHOt'T iirSTY STREETS
Editorial In La Grande Chron
icle. May 17. 1893. The business
men should get together on some
plan for sprinkling r.tf streets.