2018 Edition
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These images were made with my Nikon D810 camera and my fancy, schmancy
$1,100 (but I got mine for a lot less used) Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 AIS
manual focus lens.
GETTING THERE: I-84 to The Dalles.
SR 197 to Maupin (there's one gas station here).
Bakeoven Road to Shaniko.
SR 97 to Biggs Junction.
Pictures of past rides to Shaniko:
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
2014,
2014,
2014,
2014,
2015,
2015,
2016,
2016
April, 2017,
May, 2017,
Sept, 2017,
April, 2018,
Aug, 2018.
Pictures of past rides to Kent:
2012,
2013,
2015.
2016,
2018.
Pictures of past rides to
Grass Valley in 2018,
2017,
2016,
Summer, 2014,
Spring, 2014,
2013
Pictures of past rides to Antelope:
2014,
2014,
2016 and
2016
Pictures of past rides along
Bakeoven Road
Shaniko, located 38 miles northeast of Madras on U.S. Highway 97, is the nearest
real ghost town to Bend. It was named (and mispronounced) for early settler August
Scherneckau, who owned a stage stop in the earlier community of Cross Hollows.
For just over a decade, beginning in 1900, Shaniko was the largest wool-shipping
depot in the world. As the southern terminus of the Columbia Southern Railroad, a
subsidiary of the Union Pacific, it was the hub of a 20,000-square-mile territory
that extended through most of Eastern Oregon. Ranchers and farmers brought their
sheep, cattle and wheat to be shipped north to Biggs Junction, on the Columbia River.
In 1903, more than 1.1 million bushels of wheat were sold. Wool sales topped $3 million
in 1903 and $5 million in 1904. But when the Oregon Trunk Railroad was completed to
Bend in 1911, Shaniko was reduced to being the mere terminus of a dead-end railroad.
When Australia and New Zealand began producing less expensive wool for the world
market after World War I, Shaniko's importance faded further. The Columbia Southern
was finally abandoned in the 1960s.
The Shaniko Hotel, originally the Columbia Southern Hotel, has been the town's
anchor from the moment it was completed in 1900. Now owned by Portland financier
Robert Pamplin Jr., the two-story brick hotel remains in fine repair - although it
is presently closed, with no current plans for reopening.
But the entire downtown of Shaniko is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, and plenty of other century-old buildings remain open. The largest of them
is a wool shed - the largest in Oregon - on the east side of town. "SHANIKO" is
spelled out on its tin roof in letters large enough to be read by any passing
aircraft. The Columbia Southern train station, long since destroyed, stood immediately
north of the shed.
A row of historic false-front structures - including the Shaniko post office - stands
opposite the hotel on the south side of the street. Among them is the 1901 Gold
Nugget Saloon, now an antiques store. Across from the hotel to the east is the 1901
city hall, where historical photos are displayed in an anteroom, open even when
offices are locked. On the back side of the building is a three-cell jail, which
visitors can explore, as well as the Shaniko firehouse. More old structures, including
a small museum, are across a secondary lane behind city hall.
The town's most prominent building, after the hotel, is the Shaniko School, also
built in 1901. Lime green, the three-room school features a unique octagonal bell
tower. As one of its rooms serves as a wool fabric shop, it is frequently open to
the public.
Shaniko's imposing 1901 water tower, 70 feet high, is just west. Built of sturdy wood,
it held a pair of 10,000-gallon tanks that contained water pumped from a nearby spring.
So the lady who owns this house invited us in to take pictures.... pretty
rare to get access to the inside of this place. Lots of interesting stuff
but it was so cluttered that it was difficult to get any good shots. Still,
very much appreciated her hospitality.
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