Stories of the Flood
A n o th e r w av e dashed m e
upon a raft o f rubbish. 1 looked
for my wife, for my grandchild,
for Harris. Neither could I see.
1 floated dow n stream a mile
The paucity of children swept o ff the roof. At last I and a h a lf and at last gained
at H eppner is an evidence o f lifted my head out o f the water. the shore.”
the awful havoc o f the flood.
How many are dead will never
be known. N ext tim e school
opens the loss o f the growing *
crop o f young people will have
an aw ful significance once
more. Had the flood com e an
hour earlier, 25 or 30 m ore
children would have escaped,
b e c a u s e th a t m an y w e re
rehearsing exercises in the
South M ethodist Church for
the evening service. A bout a
dozen persons w ho w ere in
the church when destruction
fell upon the city escaped safe
Picture submitted by Nancy Jepsen. Heppner after the June 14,1903
and sound. The organist, Miss
flood.
Adkins, daughter o f the pastor,
was going hom e, but the rain
drove her into the house o f a
relative. The house was swept
aw ay and she was drow ned.
T h ere h av e been
many rumors ofbodies having
returned to life w hen picked
up one or tw o days after the
catastrophe. Each o f these
rumors has turned out to have
no basis o f truth whatever.
A M rs. H agar w as
borne away from the m orgue
yesterday with a bleeding leg.
The story got abroad that she
had returned to life while being
prepared for burial and had
been cut by scissors w hen
attendants were cutting off her
clothes. But Mrs. Hagar, while
w o rk in g on a b o d y , h a d
leaned against her scissors and
thus had wounded herself.
Judge Julius Keithley, Shenanigans fiddle group: (back row L-R): Matt Holland,
70 years old, tells one o f the Alex Carlson, Kate Kendrick, Brynna Rust; (front row
m o st re m a rk a b le ta le s o f L-R): Kara Clay and Eric Jepsen.
escape o f any.
show. It w as given to a near
The final performance
“ I’m alive today,” he
capacity crowd in February in
F lo o d :
We
say s, “ b e c au se I kep t my o f “ T h e
H eppner. In A p ril, it w as
head. No, I’m not bruised very R e m e m b e r” w ill be th is
perfonned for the lone student
Friday, June 13, at 6:30 p.m.
much.”
body as a school assem bly
The Judge lost his wife at the Catholic Parish Hall in program, and most recently it
and grandchild in the flood. A Heppner. This m ultim edia/ w as staged at the H ardm an
m an nam ed H arris, a tinner, musical presentation tells the C o m m u n ity H all in M ay.
w ho lived at his house, was history o f the Heppner Flood A c c o rd in g to Peg W illis,
also carried away. Harris from o f 1903 using Pow er Point program director, this should
first to last despaired o f escape. technology with pictures and be the best show yet. There
»
“ We w ere preparing n a r r a tio n , as w e ll as h av e been m o re p ic tu re s
for supper,” say the Judge, perform ance o f music o f that a d d e d a n d s o m e s c r ip t
“when a heavy storm began. I e ra by S h e n a n ig a n s. T he changes as well.
was uneasy and so was Harris. evening will open with music
A d m issio n is free.
Frequently, I went to the door by the fiddle groups Mulligan Everyone is invited to attend.
and looked out. Then H arris Stew and Shenanigans. The
Shenanigans have had
clim bed upstairs. He had no actual multimedia presentation 50 more copies o f their music
more than looked out the south will get under way about 7 p.m. CD produced and those will
This will be the fourth
w indow than he shrieked:
be available to purchase if
and
final
perform ance o f the
‘W e’re lost. W e’re lo st.’ I
desired.
rushed upstairs, my grandson
following. I called to my wife
to follow. She hesitated. Then
the floor bulged upward. She
at once started up the stairs. By Debbie Harper
Just as she reached the last
Tami Sneddon is the
step from the top, the w hole USGen Web site Coordinator information about the county.
house fell to pieces. The apex for Morrow' County. Her web It’s a good place to share
o f the ro o f seem ed to cave in. site: w w w .rootsw eb.com / information.” She has a place
I remember nothing more until -orm orrow was developed to on her site where people who
I found myself floating on a part provide genealogy research are looking for inform ation
o f the roof. I looked about for a s s is ta n c e an d h is to ric a l about Morrow County people
m y wife. A s I did so, up she inform ation about M orrow or places can post queries.
Sneddon, w ho grew
darted from the water close by County.
up
in
M
orrow County, has
me. 1 extended my hand to her.
O f particular interest
lo
n
g
b
e
e n i n te r e s te d in
She grasped it. I pulled. She right now, is the inform ation
genealogy,
teaching genealogy
could not follow. I tugged and a b o u t th e 1903 H e p p n e r
tugged, but could not get her flood. The site talks about the classes through BM CC and
u p . H a r ris c a m e to m y f lo o d , h a s c o p ie s o f a ls o g a v e a c la s s on th e
assista n c e . T he tw o o f us new spaper articles, and lists H e p p n e r F lo o d th a t w as
could pull her up no better the flood victim s. Sneddon attended by over 35 people.
She w as one o f the sources
than one.
cross-references the sources
that the History Channel used
she used to compi le the victim's
for its N ovem ber 2000 flash
list. There is also a translation flood episode o f its ‘ Wrath o f
ALL NEWS
o f th e h e a d s to n e s o f the
( iod* series, which features the
C hinese flood victim s, with
AND
Heppner Flood.
ADVERTISEMENT photos.
T h e U S G en W eb
“Most o f the history of
P r o je c t is a g ro u p o f
DEADLINE:
the county is in its people," says
v o lu n te e r s th a t p r o v id e
S n e d d o n . T h e w e b s ite
I n te r n e t w e b s ite s fo r
MONDAYS
provides “people that c a n ’t genealogical research in every
trav el to M orrow C o u n ty
AT 5:00 P.M.
county in every state in the
a c c e s s to r e c o r d s a n d
U.S.
Flood wipes out new
“ 'K ic k ’ 1 cried to her,
g en era tio n a n d Ju d g e but she either couldn’t kick or
Keithley's story, June 18, d id n ’t understand. A w ave
1903 (staff correspondence): bore dow n upon us. We were
Bessie AatzâLL
U o f J Ne * 3 pa par H o r a r y
Eu£aae, OR 974.'3
-T
Final performance of flood
program to be held Saturday
School District office will stay in Lexington
The M orrow County
S chool D istrict office will
rem ain in Lexington, as per a
split vote M onday evening at
the d istric t’s regular board
m eeting in Irrigon. The board
revisited the issue o f m oving
the school district office from
Lexington to the north end o f
the county, and because o f
prohibitive costs involved in
moving the office, in particular
th e c o m p u te r m a in fra m e ,
reversed the decision they had
m ade in April.
Board members Larry
M ills and B urke O ’B rien,
H e p p n e r , J o h n R e n f ro ,
Lexington, and John Rietmann,
lone, voted in favor o f leaving
the office in Lexington because
o f cost savings. B oard C hair
J u lie W e ik e l a n d G a ry
Frederickson, both Boardman,
and Pat M cN am ee, Irrigon,
opposed the m otion, saying
that the district office should
b e m o v e d to w h e r e th e
majority o f the students are.
“ With Heppner being
the only school there (if lone
secedes from the district), I
think the district office needs
to be where the action is,” said
M cN am ee. W eikel echoed
that sentim ent, saying that
sin ce six out o f th e eight
sch o o ls are lo cated in the
north end, the district office
s h o u ld be th e r e as w e ll.
S u p e r in te n d e n t D r. Ja c k
C rippen, concerned that he
would not be able to establish
continued page 3
1903 Keppner ^lood Commemoration
~ ~ ‘Triclq?, Sune 13, 2003 ~ ~
6 :3 0 p .m . “The "Flood -
Remember”
presented bp Peg GDillis Jjf The Shenanigans
performing at the S t. Patrick Parish ^ a ll
~ ~ Saturday, Sune 14, 2003 ----
8 :0 0 - 1 :0 0 1 0 0 -^ear "Flood Commemorative Dolkswalk
start at Pettyjohn S ld /(3 g Service Center
9 :0 0 - 2 :0 0 PQorrow County Courthouse open for tours
9 :0 0 - 4 :0 0 Self-guided Keppner "Flood Tour
information at the M orrow County flQuseum
and Jteppner Chamber of Commerce
Self-guided fiQasonic Cemetery ©allying Tour
9 :0 0 - 6 :0 0 flQorrow County flQuseum Visitation
vie» video of IQ03 ‘Flood historp
booh signing - Mark Kighberger at museum
book sale at the Oregon Trail Cibrarp
1 0 :0 0 a.m . Dedication at heritage Park
1 1 :0 0 a.m . Memorial unveiling
at the Keppner CQasonic Cemetery
2 :0 0 - 4 :0 0 uCascadia "Folk Quartet”
performing at the S t. Patrick Parish Hall
Sponsored bp CQorroa? County Unified Recreation District
6 :3 0 p.m . Dinner at the Cemetery (by ticket only)
Tickets available at Klamath T irsi If Heppner Chamber of Commerce
Local woman’s website features
flood information
HiQual L ive sto ck Eq u ip m e n t
CLOSE O U T S A L E OIM SELECTED ITE M S
• B a le S p ik e s • Flex H o rs e P a n e ls • a n d m o re !
Call o r s to p b y fo r a c o m p le te lis t o f sa le Ite m s
Morrow County Crain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment. visit our wtb sit* at w w w .im n .n tt