B5
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2021
Bridging the digital divide in rural Oregon
to Long Creek and Monu-
ment and down to Seneca in
2022.”
Walker
said
Grant
County Digital is keep-
ing an eye out for addi-
tional funding and could get
involved in additional proj-
ects that support its mission
of bringing broadband inter-
net access within reach of
all Grant County residents.
“It opens up the oppor-
tunity for folks to move
here and make a living
here by being able to work
remotely,” Walker said. “To
keep up with the more urban
areas and compete with
them, we need to be able to
do that.”
New high-speed
internet hub opens
in Seneca
By BENNETT HALL
Blue Mountain Eagle
SENECA — When
Logan Stanley moved to
Seneca from Boise, she
knew fi nding work would
be a challenge. But with the
arrival of the Cyber Mill,
her options have expanded
dramatically.
The nonprofi t facility,
which opened earlier this
month in an 800-square-
foot former restaurant build-
ing on U.S. Highway 395, is
providing something that
has been sorely lacking
for many residents of this
small Grant County ranch-
ing community: broadband
internet access.
Stanley stopped by the
Cyber Mill to check the
place out and open a free
account that comes with
a code for the digital key-
pad for the front door, so
she can access the building
anytime between 5 a.m. and
10:30 p.m. She’s hoping the
facility’s high-speed inter-
net connection will allow
her to parlay her politi-
cal science degree into a
good-paying job.
“I’m looking for remote
work (and) this gives me
access to fi nd work out-
side the area,” Stanley said.
“Having access to the inter-
net is what opens the door to
that opportunity.”
Stanley was just one
of several local residents
who came in Friday to see
what the Cyber Mill was all
about. Acting as host, tour
guide and chief cheerleader
was Didgette McCracken, a
founding board member of
Cyber Mill Grant County,
the nonprofi t behind the
facility.
The project has been
more than two years in the
making, and McCracken
couldn’t be more excited to
see how the people of Sen-
eca make use of it.
“It makes my heart
happy,” she said.
It’s a big change for the
tiny town of Seneca, popula-
tion 165, but it’s also a sign
of things to come for other
isolated communities in
this part of Eastern Oregon.
Similar projects are already
in the works for Prairie City
and John Day, and long-
range plans call for laying
fi ber-optic lines that could
bring high-speed internet
access to every community
in Grant County.
All things internet
Think of the Cyber Mill
as an internet cafe without
the cafe.
Just inside the front door
is a living room-like space
with small tables and com-
fortable chairs scattered
around a Western-print
throw rug and a large video
monitor on one wall. On
the other side of the room
is a line of work tables with
three desktop computers
available for public use.
In the back of the build-
ing is a small meeting space,
with a portable whiteboard
and a wall-mounted moni-
tor set up for videoconfer-
encing. The room can be
reserved in advance.
There’s also a handi-
capped-accessible restroom,
a utility room for computer
servers, and a strong Wi-Fi
signal throughout the build-
ing for people who want
to bring their own laptops,
tablets or other wireless
More Cyber Mills
Photos by Bennett Hall/Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County Cyber Mill’s Didgette McCracken, left, chats with Grant Union High School senior Luke Jackson, center, and his father,
Layne Jackson, in the Seneca Cyber Mill. The nonprofi t facility off ers free high-speed internet access to Seneca-area residents.
devices.
Working at a remote job
is just one of the ways peo-
ple will be able to use the
facility, McCracken said.
The conference room
can be booked for meetings,
classes or even virtual doc-
tor’s appointments.
Having access to a high-
speed internet connection
could also enable local arti-
sans to sell their wares via
online stores and empower
entrepreneurs to launch all
kinds of online businesses.
High school students can
come in to do their home-
work or research a term
paper, while older students
can pursue a college degree
through online coursework.
Or people can just come
in to hang out, surf the net,
watch a movie or connect
with others for multiplayer
online games.
And for now, at least, it’s
all free.
McCracken said Grant
County Cyber Mill hopes
to keep it that way, but even
if the nonprofi t has to start
charging a user fee at some
point, she thinks the cost
will remain aff ordable.
“We’ve run the numbers
to see what it would take
to become self-sustaining,”
she said. “Once you’ve
done the upfront costs, it’s
very reasonable to operate.
If we have to do that, we’ll
do that, but we’ve also built
in scholarships.”
Life on the frontier
While internet service is
available through commer-
cial sources in Seneca, it can
be cost-prohibitive for some
area residents. Others say
their homes are too remote.
“This part of Oregon
is considered frontier,”
McCracken said. “A lot of
people don’t really know
what that means, but when it
comes to broadband, there’s
really not a lot of options.”
Layne and Janelle Jack-
son, who moved to Sen-
eca from Boston with their
son, Luke, said they’ve been
frustrated by the lack of reli-
able internet service at their
ranch seven miles from
town. The Cyber Mill, they
said, could make a big dif-
ference for them.
“It’s crazy how bad our
internet is,” said Janelle.
“We’ve been waiting for
this for a long time.”
For now, the Seneca
Cyber Mill is piggybacking
on the broadband internet
connection at Seneca Ele-
mentary School, which is
tied into the Grant County
Education Service District’s
wireless internet network.
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The Cyber Mill in Seneca opened earlier this month. Additional
Cyber Mills are expected to open next year in Prairie City and
John Day.
Eventually,
McCracken
said, that will be replaced
by an even more robust and
reliable fi ber optic cable.
The digital divide
Historically, rural areas
have lagged behind big cit-
ies when it comes to the
infrastructure required for
high-speed internet access.
According to a 2020
report from the Oregon
Broadband Advisory Coun-
cil, 95% of the state’s pop-
ulation lives in areas with
access to basic broadband
service, but those people
are concentrated in urban
centers.
The report found that
nearly half of the census
blocks in Oregon lack even
basic broadband access.
As a result, only 46.1% of
rural households subscribe
to basic broadband or faster
internet service, compared
to 64.1% for their urban
counterparts.
While some people still
think of home internet ser-
vice as a luxury, it is increas-
ingly viewed as a necessity.
COVID-19 only reinforced
that view, as businesses
suddenly found themselves
forced to rely on remote
workers and schools had to
pivot to remote instruction.
Even before the pan-
demic, however, there were
widespread calls to bridge
the digital divide, not only
for low-income households
who lacked the means to
connect to the net but also
for residents of rural com-
The Astoria City Council
wishes everyone a
SAFE AND JOYOUS
HOLIDAY SEASON!
Wear your mask and enjoy
the lights and holiday
festivities while social
distance shopping in
Downtown Astoria
www.astoriadowntown.com
Friday, November 26, 2021
to Saturday, January 1, 2022
Customers can park downtown
longer than posted time limits
(except in metered spaces)
munities that lacked the
infrastructure to access
broadband service.
In 2018, Congress appro-
priated $600 million for the
U.S. Department of Agri-
culture’s ReConnect Pro-
gram, which aims to expand
broadband
infrastructure
and services in rural Amer-
ica through grants and loans.
Last year, the Oregon
Legislature funneled $10
million from its share of
federal COVID relief pay-
ments into the Rural Broad-
band Capacity Program,
which awards grants to sup-
port infrastructure construc-
tion and related projects in
unserved or underserved
areas of the state.
Private foundations, rec-
ognizing the need, have got-
ten into the act as well.
Some of that money is
fueling the push for expand-
ing broadband internet ser-
vice in Grant County.
In addition to private
donations, McCracken said,
the primary funding sources
for the Seneca Cyber Mill
were the Roundhouse Foun-
dation, the Oregon Com-
munity Foundation and the
Grant County Digital Net-
work Coalition.
Grant County Digital,
as it’s known for short, is
a government consortium
involving Grant County and
the cities of Seneca, Prai-
rie City and John Day. The
group is currently funded
by a $1.8 million state grant
with the goal of increasing
access to high-speed inter-
net service throughout the
county.
To reach that goal, Grant
County Digital is partner-
ing with both Grant County
Cyber Mill and Oregon
Telephone Co. In addition
to providing funding sup-
port for Cyber Mill projects
in the three member cities,
Grant County Digital has
agreed to provide $1 mil-
lion in matching funds to
Ortelco, which has a $6 mil-
lion grant from the ReCon-
nect Program to extend
fi ber optic cables from John
Day to other Grant County
communities.
“They should be starting
construction in the very near
term,” Grant County Digi-
tal Chair Josh Walker said.
“They plan to be built out
The next year should
be a busy one for Grant
County Cyber Mill. Now
that the Seneca location is
up and running, McCracken
said, the group is turning its
sights on opening similar
facilities in Prairie City and
John Day before the end of
2022.
Both new Cyber Mills
will off er all the same basic
services as the one in Sen-
eca, she added, but each will
have its own personality.
“Every community has
its own needs,” McCracken
said.
“While we want this
sort of idea everywhere,
we know the amenities are
going to look diff erent in
every place.”
Grant County Cyber Mill
is raising funds to complete
both projects and is near-
ing its goal for the Prai-
rie City site. The John Day
Cyber Mill will be a big-
ger lift because it will
require a lot more remod-
eling, McCracken said, but
between private donations
and funding from Grant
County Digital, both proj-
ects are more than halfway
to meeting their fundraising
targets.
As
Ortelco’s
fi ber
optic project progresses,
McCracken said, there
could be opportunities to
set up Cyber Mills in other
Grant County communities.
Eventually, she’d like to
see the Cyber Mill model
replicated in isolated rural
areas far beyond the county
line. She’s already had con-
versations with Harney
County and Condon, and
she doesn’t see any reason
why it couldn’t work else-
where as well.
“We want to showcase
this to other communities
and say, ‘You can do this.’”
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