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 Clint from pane 7 Because there were no Im proved roads in the area for years, all produce was shipp ed by local express trains which were often stopped for id .ire than an hour loading crated melons, fruit and cream. Since the improved highway came, lrrigon has changed considerably. It has several churches, a fine grade scho ol. A.C. Houghton School, 1952) and several new busi nesses. BLALOCK ISLAND An especially interesting 4,000 acre island, Blalock Island, in the middle of the Columbia was covered by the waters backed up by the John Day Dam. Various attempts were made to mine gold there. As late as 1957, using crude makeshift equipment, Lee Tyler of Edmonds, Wa took out $4,000 in gold, unoffi cial assays running $1.30 and $1.70 per yard. Now the gold, many Indian relics, and some ancestral burial grou nds are under water. STRAWBERRY AND COYOTE 1904 saw postoffices estab lished atStrawberry in March and at Coyote in June. Str awberry was discontinued in 1908; Coyote lasted until 1912. Little has been writ ten about these communities. Strawberry's original post master was J.C. White. The community was named by dre amer who visualized fields of lucious strawberries there along the projected canal and under constant irrigation. The Strawberry School was north of the Devine School, south of the Juniper School, northwest of theHodsdonSch ool and southeast of the Lone Tree School according to an early map. Coyote was a stage coach stop on the Columbia River o has been in business for Thank you, Mrs. Ida Farra 676-9446 rather close to where Board man now stands, Its first postmaster was not listed. PARKERS MILL The Parker Mill is writ ten of in Tim Bisbee's diary by 1676, and was in business for many years before a Par kers Mill Postoffice was es tablished in 1907 under Milt Maxwell. This office was discontinued in 1925 and its mail sent to Hardnian. This community had a hotel and a school and was a busy pl ace, according to Mr. Bis bee, during the 1878 Indian War. Around 40 pupils at tended the school there under early teachers Mrs. Barker, Mrs. E.L. Freeland, Ada Jo nes, (Mrs. Ben Parker), Flora Ward (Mrs. Joe Nys). The area was widely known for its three-day 4th of July celebrations, consisting of horse races, bucking conte sts, bull riding, ball games and dances. SIN'NOTT AND SEPANEK In August 1917 Bertha Se panek was postmistress at Sepanek, Oregon where the postoffice was discontinued in Sept. 1918 and its mall sent to Echo. The Sinnott Postoffice ex isted from April 1916 to Feb. 1918 when it was disconti nued and its mail sent to Lexington. S. Osborn is lis ted as original postmaster. Does anyone remember these postoffices? The list of Postoffices does not include the names of some of the early communities. Morrow County had 59 school districts at one time; where ever several families with children settled and the need for a school was felt a com munity feeling developed. So me of these pioneer commu nities were along creeks or in canyons, and some of them have been included in some early history books. 27 years and mighty proud to be Dart " of this community. kJ j; G J k vv; r- ? L .: ( U " r " TT BURTON VALLEY, Dist.No. 51, in the mountains south of Hardnian was noted for Its lumber mill established by Mr. Howston, Mr. Cantwell and Mr. Mallory. At one time there were 60 att ending Sunday School there and 50 in the daily school, which operated three months in the spring and three mon ths in the fall, starting in March and ending in Novem ber because of weather con ditions in the mountains. The last session of school there was taught by Marguerite Gla vey who teaches in Heppner now. CAMAS PRAIRIE, DIST. NO. 7, is south of Burton Val ley. Some early families in that area were: Steers, Jun kins, Grahams, Robinsons, Medlocks, Hastings, Harry Frenchs and the McDonalds. DEE COX, No. 59 was east of Hardnian. FAIRVIEW community a bout 10 miles south of lone was settled in the 18H0's. Some of the early families there included the Menzo A. Oldens, the Sam Warfields, the Robert Simpsons, Thomas Morgan and his brother-in-law Hamelet and Downing, John Peterson, Jerry Bar low and Jbhn Cox. Other early districts south of Heppner were no. 3 Wil low Way, no. 6 Golden West, no. 49 Hall Ridge, and no. 19 Rood Canyon. Toward the east were McDonald Canyon no. 24, Pleasant Point no. 48, Upper Willow Creek no. 34 Twin pines & Frk no. 42, and no. 33 Gurdane, quite a community with a that lasted for many store years. Some communities north and east of Lexington were Strawberry no. 18, Devine no. 23, Blackhorse no. 17, Al pine, no. 27, Sand Hollow no. 46, Juniper no. 20, Gal loway no. 55 and of course, Pine City, which even had a four-year high school. East of the highway and north of lone were-Lone Tree no. 9, Ella no. 16, Four Mile no. 28, Cecil no. 8, zc: ;'z 1901 Willows no. 39, and Board man no. 25, and lrrigon no. 10. In the west going north from Golden West, which must have been near Ruggs, were: Eight Mile Center no. 31. Democrat Gulch no. 22, Missouri Ridge no. 21, Rocky Bluff no. 29, Goose berry no. 36, Liberty no. 11, Clarks Canyon no. 15. Continuing in a northerly direction from west of Hep pner were: Fairview no. 37, David no. 4, Bunker Hill no, 38, Social Ridge no. 53, Rhea Creek no. 32, Shilohno. 30, Pleasant Vale no. 14, and Hardesty no. 52, and Mor gan no. 41, (Lexington was no. 12 and lone no. 35.) The map showing the school districts on pg. 14 of Yes teryears does not show no. 13 Coplinger, no, 45 Wilmot, and no. 50 Hodsdon, which later consolidated with Lexington i t.'ont. on page 9 c Every Day At HeppnerAuto Parts For a Complete Line of Automobile Parts and Supplies Bob and Aloha DeSpain 1959 Morrow County was the first county in the state of Oregon to aperate under the County Unit System, and cut down from 59 different school boards to just one. BUARDMAN The newest existing post office was established July 13, 1916 at Boardman, with Mrs. Olive Payne in charge. Boardman is named after its first settler, Sam Boardman, who filed on his homestead there In 1903. He and Mrs. Boardman, who joined him there later, waited through many dry years for irrigation water which finallyarrived in new cem?nt ditches in 1916 After a long tenure as the first state park superintin dent, Sam Boardman died in January 1953 at the age of 78. The families of five who worked on the cement ditch es stayed in the area- The
