Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2015)
12 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015 Local Sumpter’s Heisler turns 100 years old BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com The Sumpter Valley Rail- road celebrated the 100th birthday of the wood-burn- ing Heisler Locomotive Number 3 on Saturday, August 8th with cake at the McEwen Depot. The locomotive was delivered to the WH Eccles Logging Company in Sumpter on August 10, 1915 and worked on log- ging lines that fed into the main line of the Sumpter Valley Railroad. The Heisler was later sold to Boise Cascade and used as a back-up boiler at a sawmill in Cascade. She returned to Sumpter in 1971 and, after many hours of volunteer labor restor- ing the train and track, the Sumpter Valley Railroad offi cially reopened July 4, 1976 with a few thousand feet of rail. Today, the track is a bit over fi ve miles long and the Heisler number 3 normally runs earlier in the season (before fi re season) and for the October photo shoot and Christmas trains. Marilyn Fullman and Linda Raney presented a cake complete with candles and LeAnn Woolf, Vice President of the Rail- road, addressed a few brief remarks to the crowd. Fullman said volunteers had been working hard to get the locomotive back together and “in steam” for the celebration. The engine recently underwent a complete overhaul and inspection, as federally required ever 15 years. Volunteers worked until late the night before to have the engine ready to go on Saturday. Fullman said the rail- road is in need of working volunteers and “any skills they have, we’ll make use of them.” She said her fi rst year, she ran a paintbrush. In subsequent years, she has helped fi x windows, install a solar-powered wheel- chair lift, and redo some of the seats. Sam McCloskey, the Heisler engineer on Sat- urday, said he is working in North Dakota and got in two days before the celebration. He went right to work helping on the engine, caught a little sleep Friday night, and was back to power the engine for her birthday celebration. With smoke rising as the sound of her iconic (tugboat) whistle reverber- ates, the Heisler looks in grand shape for a century old. Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press Linda Raney stretches to put a birthday hat on the locomotive. Baker County burns CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In addition, the Cornet Fire then burned hot down the Mill Creek area on the other side of Dooley, crested and went over the hill near the junction of 245 and Bridgeport Lane. The fi re moved from public lands onto private land, consuming the timber and grazing lands owned by the Bruno family, and hit a corner of private land owned by Ann “Bebe” Racey who is one of the three generations of our family making up The Baker County Press editorial board. Helicopters dipped water out of the section of the Burnt River running through the fi eld behind her home. County Commissioner Mark Bennett, and manag- ers Jason Yencopal and Gary Timm, all of Emer- gency Management, were on site. Phone service and electricity were out in Bridgeport for hours with cell phone service sketchy. Meanwhile, ash, glow- ing embers, and clumps of charred pine needles from Dooley fell in yards and on roofs and sidewalks in Baker City. The fi re continued to burn brush and timber on lands managed by Oregon Department of Forestry, United States Forest Service Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (WWNF), and the Bureau of Land Management Vale District. Dooley Mountain road (OR Highway 245) and Burnt River Lane between Bridgeport and Durkee were closed. Over 100 fi re fi ghters were working early on to contain the fi re August 11, a number that more than tripled by Thursday. “Crews are working to keep the fi re from reach- ing Little Baldy and Stices Gulch,” reported Bennett on Aug. 12, shortly after attending a fi re briefi ng at the Burnt River School. Those efforts quickly proved unsuccessful. Resources were removed from the Windy Ridge fi re www.Facebook.com/TheBCPress as the Cornet fi re crested the Dooley Mountain Sum- mit and evacuations began in Stices Gulch. Evacu- ation notices soon went out to Ebell Creek, Alder Creek, Sutton Creek and Beaver Creek. Fighting the Cornet Fire was complicated by contin- ued high temperatures, low humidity, and fuels listed as, “dormant brush, timber (grass and understory) and medium logging slash.” Due to the evacuations, an emergency Red Cross shelter was set up in the Baker High School gym to house those who were displaced, opening at 6:30 p.m. On Wednesday night at 9 p.m. the shelter still had no evacuees, but the four volunteers were there all night—two from Baker and two from Union County. Those Red Cross vol- unteers said they’d heard from several evacuees who let them know they were staying in motels. The vol- unteers reported they’d had Brian Addison / The Baker County Press L-R: Heather Stanhope from Summerville, Linda Hudson from Baker City, Rebecca Vaughn from Union County, and Shelter Manager David Cowan. a large number of people calling to volunteer and those people were under- going background checks. Also, anyone interested in providing housing for dogs and cats were encouraged to contact the Red Cross. On Thursday, Governor Kate Brown invoked the Emergency Confl agra- tion Act at 3:28 a.m. in response to the Cornet Fire burning in Baker County. After growing very quickly, the fi re threat- ened approximately 170 structures. In accordance with ORS 476.510-476.610, Gov- ernor Brown determined that a threat to life, safety, and property exists due to the fi re and that the threat exceeds the fi refi ght- ing capabilities of local fi refi ghting personnel and equipment. The Governor’s declara- tion authorizes the Oregon Offi ce of State Fire Mar- shal (OSFM) to mobilize structural fi refi ghters and equipment to assist local resources battling the fi re. The emergency was declared for the Cornet Fire only and was effec- tive immediately. OSFM assumed command of the fi re at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, just as this issue went to print. Editor’s Note: Due to our weekly print schedule, additional wildfi re coverage will be included in next week’s issue. Subscribe to The Baker County Press today! See order form inside for more information. Annual rates as low as $29.95! All local. All relevant. Every Friday.