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.
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