John Day Fossil Beds Historic Resources Study

Chapter Six:
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (continued)

Cultural Resources Summary

Economic pursuits have left a most pervasive mark on the physical development of Grant and Wheeler counties. From the 1860s to the present day, mining, ranching, and lumbering have transformed the rural landscape with cultural imprints. Evidences of cattle and sheep ranching are perhaps the most visible today, spread across the valley of the John Day River and along high tributary valleys, where early settlement persisted and evolved into twentieth century operations. As is true in the context of early settlement, ranching resources encompass not only extant buildings and structures, but also smaller scale features such as fences, sheep bridges, corrals, cable crossings, and irrigation ditches. Landscape components shaped by people engaged in ranching, such as orchards, fields, hay stack yards, and clusters of ornamental plant materials remain as testimony to an evolving way of life.

Visible evidence of mining activity can be found in the mountainous corners of eastern Grant County, at placer and lode mine sites, in hillside ditches and tailings along the river banks, in ghost towns and remnant scatters. The timber industry is illustrated by sawmills, planing mills, logging camps, logging roads and railroads, scattered across the two-county region. Some are still operational, others reduced to surface artifacts. Hundreds of historic archaeological sites associated particularly with late nineteenth and early twentieth century mining and logging are located within the boundaries of the Malheur, Ochoco, and Umatilla forests. In twenty years of research and field work, Malheur Forest alone has identified some 3000 archaeological sites, including pre-historic sites.

Fig. 50. Postcard view of Mitchell, n.d. (Courtesy Fossil Museum)

A secondary effect of economic development in the region was town building. Town layout, infrastructure, and historic buildings and structures reflect patterns of growth experienced throughout central Oregon. Towns took shape for economic reasons — they served as mining camps (Canyon City, Susanville, Granite), as company lumber towns (Bates, Senaca), or ranching service centers (Fossil, Dayville). Some gained standing as a stage stop by virtue of their location on a main arterial (Mitchell, Spray, Kimberly). Where primary economic activities continued or diversified, towns survived. Where primary economic activities died, hamlets quickly became ghost towns (Richmond, Antone). Within all of these communities, whether fleeting or permanent in character, are resources that illustrate ethnic diversity, social and political life, and commercial enterprise. Churches, mercantiles, hotels, schools, courthouses, and permanent homes are examples of these property types. Together they form clusters, or concentrated pockets of cultural resources that reflect certain periods of economic stability. Only one historic resource within the boundaries of the Monument associated with the theme of economic development is listed in the National Register of Historic Places:

• The Cant Ranch, 1910-1976

Seven properties associated with economic development in the larger Grant and Wheeler county area are currently listed in the National Register:

• The Kam Wah Chung & Company Building, built ca. 1867 with later additions, in John Day

• The Thomas Benton Hoover House, built 1882, in Fossil, as the second, permanent home of the town's founder — the only designated property in Wheeler County

• St. Thomas Episcopal Church, built 1876 in Canyon City, in the carpenter gothic style

• Advent Christian Church, built 1898 in John Day

• Fremont Powerhouse Historic District in the vicinity of Granite

• Malheur National Forest Supervisor's House, constructed 1938 in John Day

• John Day Supervisor's Warehouse Compound, dating from 1941

Fig. 51. Kam Wah Chung & Co. Building, John Day. F.K. Lentz 1996 (National Park Service)

Many more resources associated with economic development are listed in the Oregon State Inventory of Historic Places for Grant and Wheeler counties (including some listings from both Umatilla and Malheur National Forests). A few of these sites are equally linked to transportation or settlement, and are thus also listed as inventoried resources in Chapter Four or Five:

In rural Grant County:

• The Oliver Ranch — barns no. 1-3, granary, bunkhouse, and farmhouse, all ca. 1910

• The Hines Lumber Company Railroad, 1940s

• The Shangri-La (Ophir) Millsite — house, barn, and bunkhouse, ca. 1927

In Austin, Grant County — a stage stop on the road between John Day and Baker City:

• The Linda Austin House — barn, store, rooming house, and outbuilding, from 1885-1909

• The W.O. Meador Store, ca. 1900

In Bates, Grant County — a company town built in 1909 by the Sumpter Valley Railroad and the Oregon Lumber Company:

• The Oregon Lumber Company Hotel, Sawmill, and Company Store — all ca. 1909-1910

In Canyon City, Grant County — founded in 1862, the earliest gold mining camp in John Day country, and briefly the largest city in Oregon, now the county seat:

• Canyon City Brewery, 1870

• Methodist Church, 1898

• C.G. Guernsey Building, 1899

• Jim's Antique Building, 1900

• Greenhorn Jail, 1910

• Fraternal Lodge Building, 1938159

• Herman Putzien House, ca. 1880

• J. Durkheimer Building, ca. 1885

• Waldenberg-Schmidt House, ca. 1895

• George Hazeltine House, ca. 1895

• Canyon City Grade School, ca. 1900

In Dayville, Grant County — a stage stop on The Dalles Military Road, a ranching service center, and the venue for turn-of-the-century horse races:

• Dayville General Store, ca. 1890

In Granite, Grant County — a mining town on the North Fork:

• Doctor's House, 1880

• Granite Country Store, 1883

• Granite Meat Market, 1902

• Granite Drug Store, ca. 1880

• Wells Fargo Office, ca. 1880

• General Store, ca. 1880

• Granite Dance Hall

In Greenhorn vicinity, Grant County — now a mining ghost town:

• Rabbit Mine District, ca. 1920

In John Day, Grant County — an early mining camp below Canyon City, remembered for its sizeable China Town, sustained by ranching and its central location on The Dalles Military Road:

• Clarence and William H. Johnson Building, 1902

• John Day Bank, 1904

• John Day Opera House, 1914

On the Malheur National Forest in Grant County (note: hundreds of sites have been inventoried by the Forest, but are not included in the Oregon SHPO listings):

• The Susanville Historic Mining District

• Sunshine Guard Station, 1931

• Stalter Mine Complex, 1935

• Raddue Guard station, ca. 1930

• Wray Lode Mine Complex, ca. 1940

In Mount Vernon, Grant County — a ranching service center on The Dalles Military Road and the John Day-Pendleton Highway:

• David W. Jenkins Barn, ca. 1875

• Ed Damon House, ca. 1890

• Eastern Oregon Trading Post, ca. 1900

• Mount Vernon Blacksmith Shop, ca. 1900

• George Aldrich House, ca. 1910

In Prairie City, Grant County — an early mining town and ranching service center, railhead for the Sumpter Valley Railroad:

• Methodist Church, 1885

• IOOF Hall, 1902

• Frank Kight Butcher Shop and Carriage House, 1902, ca. 1900

• Prairie Hotel, 1901

• Prairie City School and Gymnasium, 1939, 1931

• Masonic Temple, 1911

• Frank Flageollet House, ca. 1885

• Moses Durkheimer General Store, 1901

• Alex M. Kirchheiner Building, ca. 1901

• Solomon Taylor Grocery, ca. 1902

• Louis Parsons Store, ca. 1905

In Seneca, Grant County — a ranching hamlet at the head of Bear Valley, chosen as headquarters for the Hines Lumber Company in the late 1920s:

• The Edward Hines Lumber Company Hotel, ca. 1940

On Umatilla National Forest in Grant County (note: other sites may have been inventoried by the Forest but not listed with the Oregon SHPO):

• The Ruby Dugout Mining Site

• Southeast Fourteen Mining Site

• Ruby Bend Mining Site

• Southwest Thirteen Mining Site

• Ruby-Clear Creeks Confluence Mining Site

• Clear Creek Strip Mine

• Alamo Neighbor Mining Site

• Keeney Mine

• Ruby Creek Mining Cabins, 1930s

• Forks Guard Station

In Fossil, Wheeler County — founded in 1876 as a ranching service center and stage stop, became the county seat in 1900:

• Fossil Baptist Church, 1893

• Fossil Mercantile Co. Building No. 1, 1896

• Bank of Fossil, 1903

• Fossil Mercantile Co. Building #2

• IOOF Lodge #110, ca. 1905 — now houses the City of Fossil Museum

Fig. 52. Main Street in Fossil, city hall on the left, n.d. (Courtesy Fossil Museum)

In Mitchell, Wheeler County — formally founded in 1873 as a stage stop and watering hole, in the Bridge Creek Canyon on The Dalles Military Road:

• First Baptist Church, 1895

• Mitchell State Bank, 1918

• Mitchell School, 1922

• Central Hotel, ca.1879

• Wheeler County Trading Co. Store, ca. 1890

• Misener & Magee Saloon, ca. 1895

• Diana Reed House, ca. 1895

• Henry H. Wheeler House, ca. 1900

• Abdell Ramses Campbell house, ca. 1905

In Spray, Wheeler County — established in 1900 as a stage stop and ferry crossing:

• Union High School #1, 1920

• Spray Post Office, c. 1900

• Community Church, ca. 1900

• Baxter & Osborne General Store, ca. 1915

Area tourism literature listings for places associated with economic development, in addition to places listed above, include:

• Stone Barn for Mt. Vernon, a local race horse, built 1877 along John Day River near Mt. Vernon

• Richmond, a range hamlet in the Shoo-fly District, now a ghost town off SR 207

• Wheeler County Courthouse, built 1901, in Fossil

Fig. 53. Ghost town at Richmond. F.K. Lentz 1996 (National Park Service).

Several recommendations are made with regard to cultural resources associated with the context of Economic Development:

1. As proposed in Chapter Four, encourage and/or partner with the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office to conduct professional survey/inventory of historic properties in Grant and Wheeler counties. Current survey data is out-of-date, unsubstantiated, and terribly incomplete. An updated survey on ranching, mining, and logging would provide more solid site-specific data to better illustrate the contexts presented in this report, thus expanding the interpretive knowledge base at the Monument.

2. Consider sponsoring continuing scholarly research, perhaps in partnership with universities in eastern Oregon, on cattle and sheep ranch history in the area. Ranching, rather than mining and logging, is the historic theme most closely tied to Monument lands. Extant ranches along the John Day River north of Picture Gorge down to Clarno are of particular interest, as are large historic ranches, now broken up, of early cattle companies such as Gilman & French.

3. Little has been written of a substantive nature on the physical history of the communities of Grant and Wheeler counties. Consider working with the Grant County Historical Society and the Fossil Museum to sponsor a series of short but well-researched pictorial histories of the mining, ranching, and logging communities of the area.