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,?
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2 w.
Z Monnnor A7A.QQ9C t