Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1972)
Looking Around the County" Conl from puge 6 sery; David And Burgoyne, Lexington Flour Mill; W.a McAllister, the Boss Store; the Lexington Saloon; Snow and Wlntson, NoUry Publics ind Real Estate agents; E. T. Sine, attorney at law and notary public; S. a Hope, chop mill. Others ho did not ad vertise were: K.L. Beach, plumbing and hardware; Mrs. Eli Summers, hotel; N.A. Leach, store. Many of these businesses were short lived as some closed and others moved a w ay during the financial panic of 1893. The first church was the Congregational, built in 1887. The Methodist Episcopal church and parsonage were built In 1888. (In 1918 the Church and parsonage were purcliased by the Church of Christ, which in 1938 was Jo ined by the Congregational group.) So much more can be writ ten about developments and citizens of the Lexington area, but as this communi ty is 13 years younger than Heppner, its full story must wait. (Most of the facts given here are from Yester years of Morrow which gives more Lexington memories.) PINE CITY - (GALLOWAY) The year after Morrow Cou nty was established, J.J. Gal loway, became the first post master of Galloway, Oregon which was located very close to where Acton had been, and about where the Pine City school building (now a resi dence) now stands. This po st office was not disconti nued until 1915. When Mr. Galloway erected a home and a large building that hous ed a geneal store, postof fice, and blacksmith shop (w h ere the Leo Ashbecks now live) he tried to get the post office listed as Pine City, but because Oregon already bad a Pine City, his abdi cation was accepted and nam ed Calloway. A United Bre thren Church was built there in 1885 and was destroyed by (he 1889 cyclone. Thomas Ayers was pro bably the area's first sett ler' on what Is now the Tony Vey Place. Records show that the three Vey brothers came from Portugal and were work ing for Mr. Ayers in 1878 when one of them was kill ed by Indians. The two sur viving brothers later bought from Mr. Ayers. Other early Saddle, then as Douglas, and then as Morgan, It really didn't grow much until after the railroad came through it in 1888. Paul, Swen and Jo hannes Troedson from Calif ornia settled there In the middle 18A0s. The Douglas P.O. was established in 1890 with L. Morgan as postmas ter; it was later moved to the railroad station. The Dou glas P.O. was disontinued In 1906 and the Morgan P.O. established in 1890 with L. Morgan, postmaster. Early settlers were Henry and Gay "In 1902 the Oregon Land and Water Co. put on an ex tensive advertising campaign for the purpose of selling land at $100 per acre with a water right, however, at that time neither the canal nor the dam had been con structed. This proposed canal was to supply water for the land from the Uma tilla River, west to the dis trict around a railroad si ding on the O.R. t N. known as Stokes Siding. The town built there was known as Stokes until about 1903, when r jkA. --. it irw mw i . ssssmv I .... -3 ; OT) Cr.uir. In Jr-- ' Lee Cantwell (front) and Austin Sprinkle stand in steam engine behind the First Nat'l Bank building. The old Hayes place (where Gonty's is now) is in the background toward the hill. settlers were John Barker, Alfred Ayers, Jacob Yarlett, William Jones, Job Smith, E.G. Sloan. Several second owners families still farm there. In 1920 the school was a four year accredited high school as well as grade school. MORGAN SADDLE DOUGLAS) Saddle Butte about 10 miles northwest of lone has had a community near it for quite some time. First known as IP 1 'a Featuring a Complete Line of: Buick Ponfiac GMC Ford Farley Motor Co. Jim Farley Heppner Silvers, brothers from Nova Scotia, the Robert Sayers, the Redfords, Millers, and Charlie Cochran. Above Mor gan were the Milton R. Mor gans, Milton Hales, Lum Rhea, and James Casons. The W.W. Weather fords were below it on Willow Creek. At the height of its develop ment, Morgan was destroyed by a fire and had to be re built. Mr. A.C. Morgan, who like the Weatherfords and ot hers had come back to Wil low Creek after living in Linn County, rebuilt the town and gave it the "new" school, which still stands. The Mor gan postoffice was disconti nued in Jan. 1955. DAVIDSON AND STOKES Two postoffices established before 1900 are hard to find on maps these days. Mr. Gamaliel Davidson the grand father of Mrs. Harlan Mc Curdy, Sr. (Delia), was the first postmaster at Davidson in 1893. He was aCivil War veteran. The large Lovgren family lived next to the Da vidsons. That postoffice was discontinued in 1897 and its mail sent to Eightmile. Stokes postoffice was estab lished in 1897 with D. Dailey as postmaster and was dis continued in 1899 when its mail was sent to Umatilla Stokes became Irrigon in 1903. IRRIGON Some of Morrow's 20th cen tury communities were form' ed in places where men first lived, for example Irrigon and Board man along the Col umbia, the first travel route. Ranch Aero Airplane J the name of Irrigon was ori ginated, by taking the first four letters of irrigation and the last three of Oregon." (Yesteryears, Pg. 63) The Ir rigon postoffice opened on Nov. 16, 1903 with Frank Hol brock as postmaster. Settlers arrived by 1903 and a general mercantile st ore was established in a two story building built by Mr. Egbert from North Dakota and Mr. W.G. Corey from Woodburn, Oregon. TheGeo e M. Rand family settled on their acres in 1904. A school was started inahome; Adison Bennett became post master and started a weekly newspaper in one end of the postoffice building called the Irrigon Irrigator which did not live very long. The O.R. L N. railroad built a depot, started telegraph service. The dam on the Umatilla was built and the canal constructed and set tlers were working on these projects for $2.50 for a ten hour day. A team also earn ed $2.50 a day-and it took a day's time to go the six teen miles to Hermiston with a team. A ferry crossed theColum bia from Irrigon and freight and passenger stern wheel ers moving between Portland and Lewiston, Idaho stopped there. MANY BUSINESSES By 1905 Irrigon had a bl acksmith shop, the general merchandise store with a dance hall above, a barber shop, hardware store, hotel, furniture store, feed store, and Sam Carson's livery sta ble and city dray service. Dr. Beck and his doctor wife came and built a drugstore. A three-room school was built and served the district until 1921 when it burned. Page's Pool Hall and Confectionery came in 1907. Other later businesses included Semen's Complete Food Store; Hin kle's Store; Tum-A-Lum Lumber Co.; Pierce's Lum ber Yard; Leight's Motel; Clyde Grimm's Tavern. In the hardtimes of 1907, The Oregon Land and Water Co. was in the hands of a receiver-and settlers sold out and left until there were only about 50 left. In 1915 the irrigation system was im proved and expanded and in 1926 the west extension of the Umatilla Reclamation project was organized with the water office in Irrigon. ont. on page sTI Spraying Co. Owned and Operated by Paul N. Hansen 24 Years of Experience 5 ! iL! A M i in inis Area a v. a 2 ? Spraying, Seeding, Fertilizing,? ; J Wet and Dry Chemicals i 2 w. Z Monnnor A7A.QQ9C t
