TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020
School board to hear reports on sports
facilities, Early Learning Center progress
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
The Baker School Board will meet
at 6 p.m. Thursday for its second
Zoom video conference in compliance
with Gov. Kate Brown’s social distanc-
ing order during the coronavirus
pandemic.
More information about how to join
the Zoom session will be posted on
the Baker School District website at
baker5j.org
Traditionally, the Board has begun
its meetings with recognition of Prom-
ise Students of the Month from the
various school buildings in the com-
munity. The tradition has been known
to sometimes double the audience
gathered for the meeting as extended
family members congregate to witness
the honor bestowed on their child.
That portion of the session will be
postponed until further notice, accord-
ing to Thursday’s meeting agenda.
Presentations scheduled Thursday
include a report from Buell Gonzales
Jr., the District’s athletic director. He
will speak about the work he has
done to expand the use of the Sports
Complex and other District facili-
ties for future use in bringing more
tournaments and organized sporting
events to Baker City as part of the
community’s economic development
strategy.
Superintendent Mark Witty will
CLAIMS
BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
COMMUNITY
speak about maintenance priorities.
And Cassie Hibbert and Witty will
update the Board on work being done
to establish the Baker Early Learning
Center.
The tentative time set for the Board
to receive public comment during the
session is 6:50 p.m.
Other items on the agenda include:
• The intent to award an audit
services contract for the 2020-21 year.
• Approval of the Student Invest-
ment Account Plan and Agreement
for Baker Charter Schools.
• Approval of annual extension
agreements for Baker Early College
and Baker Web Academy with the
Baker School District.
• Adoption of a resolution designat-
ing May 4-8 as Teacher Appreciation
Week.
• Hearing an update from Baker
High School Student Body President
Laura Illingsworth.
• Hearing Witty’s report on listen-
ing sessions via Zoom to be scheduled,
plans for a Board retreat at which
visions and goals for 2020-2021 will
be set, an update on the District’s eco-
nomic state and a budget update, and
information about meals and child
care provided during the COVID-19
pandemic, negotiations with the clas-
sifi ed staff, which include secretaries,
paraprofessional classroom assistants,
custodians and other nonlicensed
peaked during the week ending
March 28, at 47 claims. The num-
Continued from Page 1A
ber dropped to 32 claims the week
The most recent weekly increase ending April 4, and to 31 the week
was driven not by job losses in the
ending April 11.
accommodations and food services
Claims increased, however, in the
sector, as was the case in past weeks. health care and social assistance
Jobless claims in that sector
category — to 24 the most recent
workers, the Baker Web Academy
service agreement and Wi-Fi access
for distance learning.
The Board also is expected to ap-
prove these personnel actions:
• Certifi ed staff resignations —
Jeana Phillips, Baker Middle School
counselor; Allison Duman, Baker
High School head cheer coach.
• Certifi ed transfer/hire — Emmy
Clausnitzer, from Brooklyn second-
grade teacher to Haines third-grade
teacher; Johnathan Baer, from South
Baker sixth-grade teacher to BMS
social studies teacher.
• Certifi ed new hires — Ali Abrego,
BMS special education teacher;
Teagan Wick, Haines sixth-grade
teacher; Dylan Francesconi, BHS
band teacher; Jacob Bokar, BHS math
teacher.
• Extra-duty new hire — Ali
Abrego, BHS head volleyball coach.
• Classifi ed retirements — Tally
Newman, BHS secretary; Ramona
Helgerson, Haines librarian/parapro-
fessional; Connie Robinson, Brooklyn
paraprofessional.
• Classifi ed resignation — Katelyn
Kercheski, Eagle Cap Innovative
High School secretary.
• Classifi ed new hire — Shayln
Woodward, BHS secretary.
• Classifi ed seasonal new hire
— Debbie Wilde, pre-kindergarten
screening assistant.
week, up from 13 the previous week
— and in manufacturing, from 11
claims to 20 claims.
New claims in the retail trade
sector have been relatively steady
over the past four weeks, at 11, 15,
13 and, for the week ending April 11,
14 claims.
SERVICE
Continued from Page 1A
Some of those who attended
Sunday’s service watched from
the lawn in front of Cockram
Arena, while others sat in their
cars.
For those who could not at-
tend, Neff’s sermon was also
available on Facebook Live.
“Everybody that is interested
and hungry and searching, I
wanted to present an opportu-
nity,” Neff said.“It may not be
their church but we’re having
church and that’s what they’re
looking for. Basically, there’s no
name over the door, so people
are able to just come and have a
great time, touching God, being
touched by the presence of God,
and the word of God.”
The Apostolic Lighthouse
Church had its fi rst outdoor
service on Easter Sunday. About
20 cars parked, and Neff said
people told him they could hear
him well despite some technical
glitches with the sound system.
“It was awesome,” Neff said.
“It felt good, it felt like we
were just able to worship God
outside.”
Angela Light, who attended
the April 19 service, said it was a
great experience.
“I love it. I would do this every
day if I could,” Light said.
In addition to the outdoor ser-
vices and online options, the Ap-
ostolic Lighthouse Church has
maintained its Sunday School
and youth group programs.
Neff’s wife, Kristin, is the Sun-
day School teacher. She has been
meeting with students through
Zoom, playing games, having
their lessons, and interacting
as best they could outside the
classroom.
“It may not be their church
but we’re having church and
that’s what they’re looking for.”
— Nathan Neff, pastor, Apostolic
Lighthouse Church, Baker City
“Right now our young people
in Baker are desperate for some-
thing to do and a way to connect
to God and so we felt like that
was an important piece for us
to be able to focus on helping
them,” Nathan Neff said.
The online programs have
attracted kids from Halfway
and Oxbow, and even some from
California.
“It’s open to anybody and any
young person that wants to have
fun, study the word of God,” Neff
said.
Traveling puppet shows
Church members have sought
other ways to stay engaged
with the community during the
pandemic.
Kristin Neff said she, along
with Light and other members
of the congregation, built a mo-
bile puppet stand.
They’ve driven around town
with music playing while she
and her son dressed as clowns
and Light and others acted as
puppeteers.
“The kids were so excited to
see us come,” Kristin said.
Nathan Neff grew up in Baker
City, attended Bible college in
California, and came back to
Baker City, serving as assistant
pastor for 13 years and as pastor
for the past 6fi years.
“I was in the military and
wound up going to Iraq, and it
was while I was in Iraq that God
spoke to me and said you’re go-
ing to pastor in Baker,” Neff said.
SERIES FROM LOCAL HISTORIAN GARY DIELMAN EXAMINES 1864 LAND SURVEY OF THE AREA THAT WOULD INCLUDE BAKER CITY
Baker City’s first map was drawn in 1864
By Gary Dielman
The 1864 Baker City
Township Map fascinates
me. It’s the closest we can
get to a “photograph” of
what Baker City looked like
before the town was platted
in 1865. The oldest actual
photograph we know of dates
from about 1868.
The 1864 Baker City
Township Map
has several
remarkable fea-
tures consider-
ing the fact that
in the spring of
Dielman
1862 the only
roads in Baker
County were the Oregon
Trail and a spur of that trail
through Eagle Valley. What
caught my attention upon
fi rst seeing the 1864 map is
the number of wagon roads
traversing the mostly sage-
brush terrain of the town-
ship. Coming from all direc-
tions the roads converged on
the area where settlement of
Baker City would begin just
one year later. Also surpris-
ing are two farm fi elds in the
heart of the area that would
become city. Once settlement
began in 1865, the fi elds
disappeared like an inch of
snow on a warm spring day,
leaving no trace that the
fi elds ever existed.
Another remarkable fea-
ture of the 1864 Baker City
Township Map is the course
Powder River took through
town in May of 1864, when
the township was being
surveyed. At Bridge Street
the map shows the river
taking a 90-degree turn to
the east for almost a mile,
then northwest to Main and
D streets, where it again
fl owed north. In a later
installment in this series
I’ll explore possible expla-
nations for this surprising
swing east.
The fi nal features of the
map are by far the tiniest
but just as intriguing as any
other features: four 1/32nd
of an inch squares, each
labeled “house” (see map at
right, with red numerals).
Plus there is an equally tiny
mark labeled “bridge.” All
fi ve features are located in
the area that became present
1. The Hotel Baker corner. This is the southeast corner of
the portion of Baker City that lawyer Royal Pierce platted
for a town in 1865.
2. Charles E. Place’s cabin. It was located near his toll
bridge over Powder River. It was about 10 feet south of
the present BCH offi ce. Place is the great-great-grandfa-
ther of retired Dr. Robert “Bob” McKim.
3. Charles B. Fisher’s cabin. Fisher’s Grove was named
for him, present site of Geiser-Pollman Park. The site of
his cabin was about in the middle of the Dollar Store
parking lot.
4. The surveyor’s called it “Finlays House.” Probably
refers to Thomas Finlayson. The 1870 census of Baker
City lists him as a farmer (45) worth $10,000, with wife
Margaret (46), and 4 children ages 7 to 15.
5. Surveyor’s put a symbol on their 1864 map with label
“bridge” over Powder River. It was located a ways north
of the present bridge over Powder River on Hughes
Lane. The bridge may have been built by Finlayson to
access a farm fi eld.
6. The surveyors show two roads intersecting in South
Baker. Just above that intersection and between the two
roads there is a symbol labeled simply “house” with no
indication of who the owner is. The site of the cabin was
about a third of a mile north of Colorado Street.
Then in 1864 surveyors Da-
Baker City. Surveyor fi eld
notes tell us who owned three vid P. Thompson and Daniel
Chaplin were awarded the
of the four houses.
contract to survey the interior
The Surveying of Baker
36 sections of T9S R40E. In a
City Township
six-day period from May 13-
In the spring of 1863,
18, 1864, surveyors Thomp-
aware of settlement taking
son and Chaplin and their
place in Eastern Oregon,
assistants, Z.S. Dotson, James
the General Land Offi ce
K. Stricklin, and A.J. Strick-
in Eugene contracted with
lin, surveyed all 36 square-
surveyor Timothy Davenport mile sections in the 6-square-
to survey the exterior borders mile Baker City Township. In
of township T9S R40E, which accomplishing that task the
I refer to as “Baker City
crew logged almost 100 miles
Township.”
in less than a week.
A map that includes the site of Baker City was drawn based on a survey that was done
from May 13-18, 1864.
To give you a sample of
what the survey crew was
doing, I’ve transcribed the
survey fi eld notes as the crew
surveyed north through the
area that became Baker City.
I fi nd it the most historically
interesting.
But fi rst some technical in-
formation. The numbers that
begin each fi eld note — for
example, 80.00 — refer to the
number of “chains” the crew
has surveyed from the begin-
ning of a section line. Two
chainmen stretch out a metal
chain that is 66 feet long
and composed of 100 links.
Each link is 7.92 inches long.
Here’s the math: 100 links x
7.92 inches = 792 inches / 12
inches = 66 feet. When the
chainmen have stretched
out the chain 80 times, they
have surveyed one mile: 80
chains x 66 feet = 5,280 feet
= 1 mile. The abbreviation
of “links” in the fi eld notes is
“lks” and “chains” is “chs.”
In writing about the
fi eld notes, I make men-
tion of what we see on the
ground today as reference
points for the reader. But
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we should keep in mind that
the survey crew is on almost
completely undeveloped
land, where the only signifi -
cant signs of civilization are
some dusty roads, a couple of
farm fi elds, and a scattering
of squatters cabins.
See Map/Page 5A