Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1972)
7A Heppner HEPPNER GAZETTE -TIMES CENTENNIAL EDITION r "Let 'er BUCK" s PENDLETON ROUND-UP and HAPPY CANYON 4 THRILL PACKED DAYS AND NIGHTS September 13, 14, 15, 16. 1972 WEDNESDAY Sept. 13 Barbecue Dinner in RoundUp Arena 5 p.m. THURSDAY Sept. 14 Junior Indian Beauty Pageant 10 a.m. FRIDAY Sept. 15 Unique Westward Ho! Parade 10 a.m. American Indian Beauty Contest 9 a.m. SATURDAY Sept. 16 Indian Tribal Ceremonial Dance Contest 9 a.m. - DAILY - Cowboy Breakfast - 7:00 a.m. Free Main Street Show RoundUp - 1:15 p.m. Indian Village Open to Visitors Happy Canyon- 7:45 p.m. Dance following Happy Canyon every night. 61st Annual Pendleton Round Up features six RCA timed events each day. Wild Horse Races, and much more! 1500 Indians live in Indian Village, and participate in Round Up and Happy Canyon Pageant, which tells the story of the West before the White Man arrived. Dancing nightly - Free Main Street Shows twice daily -Parades - Tribal Dancing - Something for everyone all the time. For Tickets & Information: ROUND UP ASSOCIATION P. O. BOX 609 PENDLETON, OREGON 97801 NAME ADDRESS. TOWN . The Morrow County Muse um lias a collection of ncws laer clippings about Henry Heppner; the 1889 History of (lie l'acific Northwest car ries a sketch of his life up to 1875 as does the History of Umatilla and Morrow Coun ties. In 1025 Harold Becket, then a tiiiitt school senior, wrote a very goixl account of Mr, Heppner's life, some of it being based on inter views with eople who re membered Henry lleppner very well. The various ac counts differ some on cer tain details about the life of the man for whom the town was named, but probably give a fairly accurate composite picture of him. Henry Heppner was born in Prussia ( east Germany ) of Hebrew parents. Three different birthdates are given 1825, 1831, ami 1843. The obituary published in a 1905 Gazette makes him 74 at his death in 1905, another clipping says he was 7G years old. Harold Becket wrote, "He, himself, did not know the exact date of his birth." One account says he left Ger many in 1855, another states he emigrated in 1858. He lived and "engaged in busi ness" in New York City for several years. He came to Shasta, Ca. in 1857 or 18G3. The History of the Pacific Northwest says that after two years in the mer cantile business in Shasta, he moved his business to Corvallis, Oregon, and " meeting little encouragiiient there he opened a store at The Dalles, doing well there for six years." However the I860 census lists him as a pack train operator in Wasco County (which then was all of Eastern Oregon). HEPPNEH'S PACK TRAIN'S Accounts agree that about the middle 18G0's this ambi tious business man was op erating a large pack train. His train carried supplies from The Dalles and Umatilla landing over the Canyon City route to the mines of Idaho and to points in between. Harold Becket wrote" He em ployed Mexicans who did the actual packing. A pack train might consist of up to 150 mules. It is said that Mr. Heppner had the- biggest and best-cared-for-inules in this part of the country. The Cay use Indians of the Blue Moun tains committed many depre dations on his train, stealing several mules at a time, and finally taking the last of the train. Before he died Mr. Heppner received re embursement from the government for that train." The History of the Pacific Northwest reports, "On one of his trips, nearly two years alter the commencement the business, his train twenty-nine mules was attack ed, and the animals driven in one direction, and the five men in charge compelled to take shelter in another. For tunately this mishap occurred on the return trip when the train was empty. He was able to replace the animals and continued his business with out trouble from the Indians, of of except us he says phlegmati cally, Mieing" fired on once or twice.' Being shot at was so common an occurrence up east of the mountains as scar cely to be noticed." HE SFTT1.ES IX1WN IN 1872 in 1871 Mr. Heppner quit his arduous business luck ing freight and went to La Grande where he liad a busi ness contract supplying sacks for a flour mill. He came traveling through the Willow Creek valley and camiwd where Heppner now stands on July 4, 1872, and It is reported tliat lie was impres sed with the locality and visualized a settlement there. Mr. J.L. Morrow who was in the mercantile business in LaGrande was persuaded somehow to look over the site and determined to sjx'C ulate on a store at the loca tion. The new partners divid ed organizational tasks; Mr. Morrow took charge of erect ing a building Mr. Hep pner took charge of buying goods and getting them there. Mr. Harold A. Colin, a grand-nephew of Mr. He pner, has said that goods were shipped from various locations marked "Henry Heppner" and tliat the new place gradually assumed his name. Another story is that Mr. Morrow or maybe Mr. Stansbury suggested that the old name Stansbury Flat be changed to Heppner. This was done within the year after the new store was finished and opened with a big cele bration on August 10, 1872. HIS CHARACTER AND WORKS Writers say Henry Heppner was always planning his next move. He was very energe tic and ambitious and must have been thoughtful of others. The old history book tells about the new commun ity's effort to organize its first school. "Accordingly Mr. Heppner mounted a Cay use and proceeded around the neighborhood to solicit subscriptions, the firm to which he belonged having first started the list with a dona tion of one hundred dollars' worth of materials." After the building was built a bell was furnished by Henry Hep pner. "Mr. Heppner had no children to educate but being a public-spirited man he was willing to work for anything tending toward the promotion of the commonweal." During the Indian scare of 1878 lie furnished, without compensa tion, the materials to build the fort at Heppner and gave to the needy refugees pro visions without stint, accord ing to a letter written to the G-T editor by Josephine Mahoney Baker. By 1875 Mr. Heppner was in partnership with Frank Maddock in a mercantile store. Soon after this he moved to Arlington, through which the railroad had just been built and constructed a warehouse for grain, wool and hides and also built a store. His sister's husband Henry Blackman came from San Francisco in 1880 and Continued -