8
PROGRESS 2019: LONG CREEK
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Long Creek motors along with can-do spirit
Mayor: ‘We don’t
have soup lines
over here’
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Long Creek is a can-do
community.
Although there isn’t a
cornucopia of growth hap-
pening presently, the town
of 190 is holding steady
with some improvements in
the works.
Mayor Don Porter said
the growth he’s seen over
the last 10 years has been
“astronomical.”
“We went from no busi-
ness — no store, no gas sta-
tion, no nothing — (to) now,
a top-of-the-line mechanic
service in Long Creek
... a full-service restau-
rant, chuck wagon and two
stores,” he said.
“We do everything we
can to support the local busi-
nesses,” he said.
He recalls when peo-
ple walked around with gas
cans, before OK Garage was
established.
Now, he’s having repair-
man Isaac Studtmann install
a transmission in his car.
“That’s phenomenal in
my book,” Porter said.
Studtmann and his wife,
Bailey, bought OK Garage
last August from Craig and
Donna Palmer.
The business includes a
fueling station, a full-ser-
vice repair shop and a con-
venience store.
Long Creek Lodge is
another
well-established
business.
Porter said the prices at
the Long Creek General
Store are reasonable com-
pared with other stores in the
county, but added he “would
be willing to pay 7-11 prices
just to have a store.”
The Kitchen Cupboard is
a new home-operated busi-
ness owned by Lynelle and
Arlin Hurst who make salsa
and jams, sold at local stores.
Residents of Long Creek
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Long Creek School is
‘front and center’ for their
community, said Mayor Don
Porter.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Lynelle Hurst of Long Creek and her daughter Courtney Hurst sell jams at the Keerins Hall Holiday Bazaar last December.
Lynelle and her husband Arlin own a home-operated business call The Kitchen Cupboard.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Isaac Studtmann performs some regular maintenance on a
semi-truck at the OK Garage in Long Creek. He and his wife,
Bailey, bought the OK Garage & Mini Market in August of 2018.
may enjoy the slower pace,
overall, but many hope to
see their internet connection
speed up with broadband.
Porter’s wife, Denise,
a teacher at Long Creek
School, is on the Grant
County Digital Network
Coalition board and is com-
mitted to doing what she can
to bring broadband speeds to
the community.
“It’s been slow — a lit-
tle bit higher than dial-up,”
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Eagle fi le photo
‘Fort Townsend’ in Long Creek is the entrance to the future
site of the Long Creek Historical Society Museum.
Don Porter said, adding
broadband has 25 megabits
per second, and tests on the
local internet show Long
Creek’s at 1.1.
The mayor said he is see-
ing potential in a new subdi-
vision with 14 lots located 6
miles east of Long Creek.
The development, called
Long Creek Ranch Proper-
ties, includes a road system
with power, and so far, there
is one new Palm Harbor
double-wide on the property.
“It’s an interesting devel-
opment, because it’s so close
to Long Creek,” he said.
“It’s a unique addition to the
area.”
“There were two or three
families that came through
this weekend that said,
‘We’d really like to live
here,’” he said.
The city’s infrastruc-
ture is sound, Don Porter
said. The 40-year-old sewer
plant was built for 800 peo-
ple — the city has 100 hook-
ups but could serve 300. The
public water system hasn’t
seen a major leak, with costs
ranging from $5,000-7,000,
since 2013.
To the town’s credit,
the Long Creek Volunteer
Fire Department received
accreditation through the
Oregon Department of Pub-
lic Safety Standards and
Training in 2018.
“Very few cities the size
of Long Creek would have
the accreditation,” said Don
Porter, who is also the fi re
chief. His wife is the depart-
ment’s training offi cer and
hosts trainings for other
departments.
The future site of the his-
torical Fort Townsend on
West Main Street (High-
way 402), draws inter-
est from passersby with its
fortress-like fence, but the
museum has not reached
completion.
Fort Townsend is named
for a local man, William
“Billy” Townsend, who is
credited with saving the
Long Creek community
during the 1878 Bannock
and Paiute Indian War.
During the uprising, local
people hastily built a fort
east of town where settlers
gathered to defend them-
selves. Townsend, a veteran
of the Civil War, prevented
members of the approaching
tribes from entering the fort.
The Long Creek Histor-
ical Society has been striv-
ing for years to establish
a home for their collec-
tion of local artifacts, doc-
uments and other historical
memorabilia. The group is
in the midst of a fi ve-year
plan to solicit input from
Long Creek citizens on the
direction and future of the
museum and site.
Don Porter said he’d like
to see some younger resi-
dents involved in the project.
Reiba Carter Smith, who
is a member of the histori-
cal society, said they are still
seeking funding to complete
the project, and they’ve
received some grant-writ-
ing assistance from Elaine
Eisenbraun.
While Fort Townsend
is on the west side of Main
Street, Long Creek School is
on the east side.
The mayor said he’s
happy the Grant County
Road Department will install
a fl ashing school-zone traf-
fi c light near the school.
“It’s the only county road
that goes by a school,” he
said. “Grant County has
really stepped up to the
plate. We’re feeling really
good about that.”
Don Porter said the
school district’s budget is
sound, and the staff and stu-
dents are an important part
of the community.
“The school is front and
center around here,” he said.
The benefi ts of the Great
American Eclipse of 2017
are still raining down on
Long Creek School, due to
the volunteer work of staff
and students.
Visitors from around the
globe fi lled the upper and
lower athletic fi elds at the
school that year, camping
and enjoying the hospitality
of the locals.
During the fi ve-day cel-
ebration, astronomy experts
taught workshops on the
total solar eclipse and held
star-gazing events with vis-
itors donating funds to the
school.
Long Creek teachers
Patch Freeman and Denise
Porter, who contributed an
article for the educators’
magazine “Today’s OEA,”
wrote: “The majority of peo-
ple who paid for camping
spaces were families and
serious eclipse enthusiasts.
They saw spending their
eclipse dollars on helping
our school as a bonus.”
The school’s offi ce man-
ager and deputy clerk Jen-
nifer Garinger said the
fundraiser was created to
remodel the school cafeteria.
That work was com-
pleted last summer, and
the upgrades included new
fl ooring, stainless steel prep
tables and a fresh coat of
paint. Resident James Her-
cher also painted a Moun-
taineer, the school mascot,
on one wall.
Garinger said it hadn’t
had a facelift in 20 years or
more.
“It looks sharp down
there,” she said.
With a surplus of funds,
the school’s offi ces will also
see upgrades this summer,
including new windows in
the front offi ces, which will
allow staff to see people
approaching the building,
she said.
Five classrooms will ben-
efi t from the fl oor fund, a
pot of money raised through
a yard sale of surplus school
equipment, such as older
desks.
“We do a little at a time
as the money is available,”
Garinger said.
Because housing is tight
in Long Creek, she said the
school district has built four
homes for staff members
to rent, and another is cur-
rently under construction on
the west side of the school
with the foundation recently
poured.
The school’s strong for-
eign-exchange
program,
which has been in place for
several years, boosts student
numbers and brings world
culture to the school and the
town.
Six of those students
have or will soon be leav-
ing for their homes, mostly
overseas.
In the small community,
Don Porter said, “a lot of
tears will be shed.”
Garinger hosted Jesus
Olmos of Mexico and Tiger
Zeng of China. Other foreign
exchange students included
Henry Grannis of Germany,
Cherie Lee of South Korea,
Jammy Santhob of Thai-
land and Mathéo Buchart of
France.
“I’ve hosted for four
years,” Garinger said. “I
have nine children of my
own. I’m a kid person and
have four sons at home —
adding two more to the mix
is not a big deal.”
She’s planning to host
students from Thailand and
Vietnam next school year.
“My
children
have
friends from all over the
world, especially now with
social media,” she said. “My
son interacts with his host
brother almost every day.”
Mayor
Porter
said,
although Long Creek is a
small community and prob-
ably not as thrilling as stay-
ing in a bigger city where
they might see fancy sports
cars, the foreign exchange
students enjoy their stay.
“They want to come
back,” he said.
One boy came to stay,
then his sister came another
year, then another sister, he
said.
“They don’t only learn
about this country, but inter-
act with kids from other
countries,” he said.
Porter said not everyone
in Long Creek wants to see
major growth and change.
He said about fi ve years
ago plans were made to
bring the mill back and hire
14 people — but not 14 Long
Creek residents, because not
many would be qualifi ed to
work there.
Porter, who has been
owner and operator of Blue
Mountain Herbs for 20
years, said he’s happy with
the gains he’s seen in the
town over the last 10 years.
“Everything is going
good,” he said. “We don’t
have soup lines over here.”