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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2016)
STOCKGROWERS RODEO COMING rs SATURDAY » Ranche , ills sk ready to show off PAGE A10 Enterprise, Oregon Wallowa.com Issue No. 18 August 17, 2016 $1 MINAM RIVER LODGE BUILDING IN THE WILD Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Amy Keiter smiles through the open doors of husband Robert Donatz’s Cessna 195 as she explains the rare plane to visitors at the Wallowa County Fly-In on Saturday. Pilot stories abound at latest Fly-In Dozens of pilots, hundreds of attendees enjoyed a beautiful day By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain E.J. Harris/East Oregonian Crews work on rebuilding the Minam River Lodge in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area east of La Grande. Luxury lodge rising deep in wilderness Minam River Lodge owner Barnes Ellis unloads supplies off of a plane at the airstrip at the Minam River Lodge. All supplies for the lodge must be flown in from La Grande. By Tim Trainor East Oregonian W UMATILLA 82 204 NATIONAL R. Area in detail Wallowa ORE. 82 LL A . Joseph MO 84 Enterprise OW er nd e R 3 WA 82 iv Mina m R FOREST Wallow Elgin Grand e R o 237 IN S Site of new Minam River Lodge 350 Wallowa Lake TA La Grande UN hen the Minam River Lodge was built in 1950, livestock hauled in most of the equipment. A sawmill was constructed on site to build the lodge and cabins, but mules provided the muscle when a 400-pound refrigerator needed to travel up and down the mountains to its new home deep in the woods. Now, 56 years later, as the crumbling lodge and old refrigerator is being replaced, some things have changed but many have not. The helicopters are new. Check out our Construction manager Ben online video Gates, of UP Architecture in of a landing Portland, conscripted copters on the Minam to make 97 supply drops into Lodge runway, the 127-acre inholding that Wallowa.com is surrounded entirely by the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Every- thing from timber to glass touched down at a small airfi eld within sight of the main lodge. At a cost of more than $2,000 an hour to rent a helicopter, just bringing in supplies cost “six fi gures,” said lodge owner Barnes Ellis. Ellis is a former reporter for The Oregonian turned investment banker who lives in Portland. He vacationed at the property growing up and pur- chased the property at auction in 2011. EAGLE CAP WILDERNESS 10 miles See LODGE, Page A12 WHITMAN 237 84 203 “ See FLY-IN, Page A9 There is no forgetting this place.” BARNES ELLIS lodge owner WALLOWA- N Amy Keiter of Beaverton is famous — and not just because her pilot husband Rob Donatz can park his 1950 Cessna 195 with an impressive tail wheel to bursts of ap- plause. Yes, the Cessna 195 is pretty stupendous, powered by a Jacobs 300-horsepower radial engine that makes the gear heads salivate. But Amy is famous in her own right due to the column she submitted to The Orego- nian back in 2002 about their fi rst experi- ence at the Wallowa County Fly-In. Back then, the event was nowhere near its current size, with scores of pilots in rare, restored or just plain interesting planes and hundreds upon hundreds of visitors. Nevertheless, the Joseph airmen put on a heck of a show back in 2002, and Keit- er and Donatz were glad they came with friends that year. Their friend’s Cessna 182 “crapped out” at the event, refusing to start when it came time to leave. They were all on their way to remote Moose Creek in Idaho for a camping trip to celebrate Amy and Rob’s fi rst anniversary. Now, stuck at Joseph Airport after the show, they experienced “the kindness of strang- ers” so extraordinary it felt like a novel. “People were just like crazy nice,” Amy recalls. “We woke up the morning after when a farm truck pulled up and a guy from Enterprise said, ‘I heard you had engine trouble and I thought I’d drive over and see what I could do.’” Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain NATIONAL FOREST EO Media Group graphic Greg, 9, takes a ride with experienced pilot Tim Locke and his “almost a pilot” adopotive uncle Emmet Wold. Rowena Patton named Homemaker of the Fair Enterprise woman excelled at quilting, flowers, repurposed denim creations By Scot Heisel Wallowa County Chieftain If you walked through the Wallowa County Fair exhibits at Cloverleaf Hall last week, it’s a near certainty that at least one item in the room from that caught your eye came from Rowena Patton. The Enterprise woman has been en- tering crafts, goods and quilts for years, and her efforts this year earned her the coveted Homemaker of the Fair Award. To be eligible, contestants must sub- mit entries for the Floriculture, Baked Goods, Food Preservation and Textiles Courtesy of Gail Hillock Homemaker of the Fair Rowena Patton. The red and black quilt on the wall was among her many award-winning entries. More Fair photos, B1 categories. Her favorite category this year? Cre- ating textile goods out of repurposed denim jeans. “I made one for every category,” Pat- ton said. That’s 12 entries in the textiles category alone. And her fl ower arrangement was named Best of Show. “For fl ower arrangement, you don’t have to use your own fl owers,” she said. “But I have a lot of fl owers, so I like to use my own.” To ensure the freshest arrangement, she waited until the last minute to cut her fl owers. “I was out picking fl owers in the rain,” she said. This isn’t the fi rst time Patton has won the top homemaker award. She’s been entering items since she and Wes- ley, her husband of 65 years, moved to the county in the 1970s. “I’ve won it two or three times now,” she said, before revealing one of her se- crets of fair success. “I’m a reader. We don’t have a TV. It’s amazing what you can get done when you don’t have a TV.” Editor’s note: The Chieftain has yet to receive full results from the fair exhibits. Additional results will be published at a later date.