Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1972)
Significant Developments Continued from Page 6 managed In t manner evinc ing progresslveness and ef ficiency In the mayor and council. COMING OF THE RAILWAY From 1887 through 1888 negotiations were carried on with several rallways.Sever al propositions were made and finally one was worked out with the O.R. & N. peo ple. Construction was start ed In 1888 and completed from Willows to Heppner on Dec. 7, 1889, a Jubiliant day. The railway brought new life and energy into the county. It especially Invigorated the wheat raising industry as it had been impossible to trans port the yield by wagon to the main line of the rail road for the prevailing pric es. Heppner real estate rose fifty per cent. "The entire mercantile bu siness for the year 1888," says the Gazette supplement of 1889 "scarcely exceed ed $300,000. Recnt summar ies from the books of mer chants show that three deal ers in general merchandise have sold goods to the amount of $160,000 in six months. The seventeen firms doing bu siness have a trade of over $273,000 for half the year. The flouring mill, brewery and other manufacturing es tablishments have doubled ca pacity and are unable to meet demands of increased busin Willie Wirehand Says: "Congratulations to Heppner Umatilla Electric Cooperative Association has served the northern part of Morrow county since. 1938. In a continuing effort to provide dependable service to the rural areas, UECA is continually expanding its electrical network. Recently UECA constructed a new sub station and transmission line to provide dependable service to the expanding northern Morrow county area. UECA will continually play its part in the future de velopment of northern Morrow county. (UMMMLA LP HERMISTON 567-6414 ess. A conservative estimate of the entire trade for 1889 would exceed $1,000,000 or three times that of the year previous." The community became very concerned about Its wa ter supjdy and about the pos sibility of a disastrous Are. Otis Patterson of the Gazet te was asked to gather In formation about artesian wells. Which led lo the dril ling of an expensive lest well some S30 feet deep but no flow of water. So the city continued to use springs and small wells. After the advent of the rail way and the increase of 'raf fle and business the Palace Hotel Company was incorpor ated on Oct. 26, 1889 by Tho mas Qua Id, J.w. Morrow, C. A. Rhea, Henry Blackman and J.B. Natter, who soon began the erection of a three story brick building so that the next year the town could boast of as fine a hostelry as was to be found in any other town of twice the size in the Inland Empire. It was leased to Will Van Cadow and business flourished. 1889 also saw the construction of the Fair building and the opening of one or two more places of business. A MOST UNUSUAL DISASTER During the time of the con struction of the railroad, in the spring of 1888 a rare and unusual disaster, a dev estating cyclone struck Lex ington. It formed just north of town and struck first at Lexington grove twisting oft the trees with remarkable evenness. It caused a great deal of wreckage in Lexing ton, leveling and moving homes and town buildings and killing four persons. It con tinued out to Sand Hollow where It picked up several houses and strew them about. It terminated at a point be yond Pine City where It had demolished the schoolhouse. During 1889 some ex citment was generated by re ports of mining successes on Upper Willow creek. Cropp lngs were foundassaying over $160 In gold and silver, and on its 100th birthday. " We Care . . . We're Consumer Owned many hoped that coal mining would prove profitable. The mines were abandoned later on. EARLY LPS AND DOWNS The winter of 1889-90 was an unusually severe one and thousands of head of stock perished for want of food. This slowed business some what but business still seem ed to increase, being some what stimulated by the im provements made by the state on the Monument road. 1891 was a fine harvest year, pric es were very good and gen-' eral prosperity prevailed. Ts.7rfrr--wjij" st--""- ,l i 'mm ''i'Tl1 " Unfm-ftl lift- -- T7i HEPPNER'S PALACE HOTEL nreca " L. SECTION 3. PACE 9 Mr. Overholtz who had been operating the flouring mill was drowned In Clark's Can yon about 1885 and the mill changed hands several times from W.B. Cunninghame & Co., to John W. Morrow, to Nelse Jones and others. It passed into the bands of J.B. Sperry about 1887, and be built a large structure which cost about $32,000. Mr. Sper ry s Interests became scat tered and bis energies fet tered by lack of funds, but he kept the mill In opera tion until fall of 1891, when C ontinued Page 10 (Courtesy Lois Winchester)
