9
A Centennial Year Historical Feature
56 Years Ago Next Sunday-
The Heppner Flood
HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES. Thursday, June 11, 1959
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As a part of the Gazette-Times delving into the past
for Centennial year historical features, we this week are
running this page of pictures of the Heppner flood of June
14, 1903. Next Sunday will be the 56th anniversary of that
great disaster which claimed the lives of 251 persons. All
of these photos, and many others, appeared in the special
50th anniversary Commemoration edition of the Gazette
Times published in 1953. They depict the consequences of
Heppner's greatest, and by far the best known, historical
event which claimed more lives than any other disaster to
ever occur in Oregon.
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PROBAELY THE BEST-KNOWN PICTURE of the Heppner flood is this photo of the T W Ayera
house which stood on Chase street a few lots south of the corner of May street. This picture has
been used many times by newspapers and magazines to illustrate articles on the flood. What not
too many persons, except those who lived here prior to 1903, know is that the upper story of this
house, minus the cupola, and considerably remodeled, still stands on Chase street and has been
sheltering families for most of the SO years since the flood.
THIS WAS HEPPNER before the flood came to wipe out a big part
of the town of about 1400 population. The exact date when this
photograph was taken is not known, except that it was several
years prior to 1903. In the center background is the old Heppner
school, which sat well up on what is now known as hospital hill.
The white building in the left foreground was then the Catholic
church. It still stands, and has since been remodeled and is now
the Heppner American Legion halL (
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BOARDS AND WRECKAGE SCATTERED EVERYWHERE. This cut shows the piles ol nibble that
were left after the waters had taken the lives of at least 251 of the residents of Heppner. It Is
thought that this picture was tcken looking north on north Gale street which probably was mark
ed by the row of telephone polos, though here obliterated with wreckage and houses. Tha top of
the steeple of the Methodist church is shown sticking up above the other buildings between the
Z ' first two poles. It ts thought the hoas in the left foreground is ttill standing, but ut where and
to whom it belongs, is indefinite.
WHEN THE WATER HAD TAKEN ITS TOLL this was the way the
south end of the town looked. This picture was taken from ap.
proximately the same position on cemetery hill as the above
photo. It was in this upper section, where the valley is very
narrow, that the water hit first. The torrent came into Heppner
from Balm fork which enters the Willow creek canyon only about
five or six blocks up the creek from the lower right corner of this
picture. As can be seen, this section was swept clean of build
ings and trees.
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, -rr-nwe r.rurp1Nr. nrBRlS are shown in this warehouses which were located aiong tne rauioaa aCKS. ii
wuHuna ' -r::' r " if i. force of the water unrooted nearly all trees in its path and where
a few years ago was occupied by Mr ana Mrs u n iea. i- rrT "T'" va " ' tha ....
low buildings in the left-center, partially hidden Dy wees are .
LOOKING ACROSS WILLOW CREEK at the business section of Heppner from the east hill after the
great flood of June 14, 1903 had taken its toll of lives and property. The bent and broken trees and
bare earth tell a vivid story of the force of the water. The large building in about the center of
the picture is what Is now known as the Case Appartment building on the corner of Main and Center
streets. It was known then as the Fair Building. Many of the houses and much of the debris came
from above (to the left) of this picture, which looks west down Willow creek valley toward Lexing
ton and lone.
ONE OF THE BEST GENERAL VIEWS of the great destruction
caused by the wall of water, is shown in this old photograph. The
white building on the left with the steeple is the Methodist
church which still stands in the same location. The row of pop
lar trees marks the approximate location of the channel of
Willow creek. The photographer was looking north when this
picture was taken.
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WRECKAGE AROUND THE METHODIST CHURCH Is shown
in this old panoramic photograph which was taken from
about the corner of Gale and Church streets looking east
up Hinton creek. The remains of the house in the fore
ground in front of the church is the same one that Is
shown in another picture taken from a different direction.
Seme stories tell that this house washed In from its pre
flood location on Main street, but the exact site where it
stood before the flood could not definitely be established.
The scattered debris shows the height of the water in this
section, a full two blocks above the creek.