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Pursuant to an act of the legislature in 1874 the people of Baker City proceeded
to form a city government, by electing the officers required by the terms of the
charter.
The trustees were S. B. McCord, J. A. Reid, S. Grier,
J. H. Parker and G. J. Bowman.
The first meeting of the board was held at the Court
House, November 25, 1874, at which Bowman was elected president.
The minutes of the meeting were signed by R. H.
Cardwell, recorder.
At a meeting of the board November 28, Wm. M. Constable
was elected city marshal.
On December 2, James H. Shinn was elected city
attorney.
At a meeting on the 9th of December, ten ordinances
were submitted to the board by the city attorney and adopted.
George Wisdom was elected night watchman with a
salary of seventy dollars per month.
December 30, W. J. Eastabrook was declared elected recorder in place of
Cardwell, resigned.
March 3, 1875, E. W. Reynolds was elected recorder in place of Eastabrook,
resigned.
At a special election March 18, J. M. Shepherd was elected recorder.
July 31, 1875, a fire engine for the use of the city was purchased for $700.
At the regular city election November 4, 1875, Bowman,
Eppinger, Alfred, Weller and John Bowen were elected trustees. H. C. Durkee,
recorder; George Wisdom, marshal and R. Alexander, treasurer.
November 6, 1876, Foster, Weller, Heilner, Hulsey and Parker were elected
trustees, Thomas Britten, marshal; Durkee, recorder and G. H. Tracy, treasurer.
November 5, 1877, Weller, Alfred Umberger, Bowen and Bowman were elected
trustees, Tracy, treasurer; Phil Hardisty, marshal and Gray, recorder.
The records were not at hand to continue a connected
account of city affairs. The next after November 5, 1877, on file in the
auditor's office in regard to city officers is the following:
November 11, 1885, new board of trustees met, present: Heilner, James, Geiser,
Gardner and Tracy; Heilner chosen president.
Smith, marshal; Wulff, treasurer; Van Slyck, recorder;
Hyde, city attorney; Alfred, street commissioner.
November, 1886, the following officers were elected:
Weller, Weber, Kellogg, Tracy, Kastner, trustees; Van Slyck, recorder; Kimberly,
marshal; Janney, treasurer; Moeller, street commissioner.
In 1887, under the new charter the officers elected and
appointed were:
McCord, mayor; Moulton, Carter, Palmer, Campbell, Kelly, councilmen; Donnelly,
auditor; Travillion, chief of police; Hyde, city attorney; Foster, city
surveyor; and Moeller, street commissioner.
In 1887, D. M. Kelly and G. B. Moulton were appointed a water committee with
instructions to report the most feasible method of supplying the city with
water. March 14, 1888, the committee reported progress and the sum of $100 was
appropriated to be used in their discretion in the development of certain
springs on Washington gulch. The city subsequently purchased certain ditches and
water rights of Adams on Washington gulch, for $820.
At a meeting of the council May 23, 1888, the water committee submitted an
estimate of the probable cost of bringing water to the city and it was ordered
that an election be held the 6th day of June for the purpose of voting upon the
question of bonding the city to the amount of $20,000. June 6, 250 votes were
cast, 219 in favor of bonding the city and 37 against the measure.
August 8, 1888, the council passed an ordinance
granting L. L. Bromwell an exclusive franchise for the purpose of erecting and
controlling gas works, electric light plants or other artificial light for the
purpose of supplying the city and people artificial light for the period of
fifteen years.
Also the right of way for the construction of a
telephone system was granted to Robert L. Nolf and Harry Bowers.
September 12, the water committee was instructed to
sink a well on the city property east of the brewery.
March 14, 1888, council accepted proposition of Levens to donate block 37,
Levens addition for a city park.
November 1888, McCord was elected mayor, Campbell,
Kelly, Smith, Perkins and Clarke councilmen.
Officers appointed were Foster, surveyor; Moeller street superintendent;
Travillion, chief of police, Hyde, city attorney; and Packwood, auditor.
At a special election held June 24, 1889, the sum of
$8920.50 was ordered paid to the owners of condemned property on the line of
Center Street.
October 24, right of way was granted for a street railway.
November 1889, the following named persons were
elected:
Mayor, McCord; councilmen, Clarke, Ernst, Perkins,
Green, Place, Houston, Campbell and Shinn; treasurer, Abbott. Appointed
officers: Packwood, auditor; Moeller, street superintendent; Hyde, city
attorney; Reynolds, water superintendent; Foster, city surveyor; Harper, chief
of police.
The great increase in the amount of city business
incident to the improvements of streets and establishing a water system in the
year 1889, made a more elaborate system of bookkeeping necessary, and Auditor
Packwood introduced a set of books in which each item of city finance is entered
in its proper place, and in such a way that its whole history can be easily
traced from the time the matter is first acted upon by the council until finally
settled. The amount of revenue obtained from any particular source can readily
be ascertained from the books, as also the expense of each department for any
given time.
From November 10, 1888, until November 10, 1889,
Auditor Packwood drew orders to the amount of $51,740.63.
November 1890, the officers elected were as follows:
McCord, mayor; Clarke, Donnelly, Green, Miller, Place, Palmer Campbell and
Thompson councilmen; Murphy, treasurer.
The officers appointed were Smith, chief of
police; Packwood auditor; Hyde, city attorney; Reynolds, water superintendent;
Wolff, street superintendent; Foster, surveyor.
November 1891, the officers elected were as follows:
Johns, mayor; Clarke, Miller, Faull, McMurren, Parker,
Geddes, Boreman and Levens councilmen; Murphy treasurer.
The appointed officers were Baisley, chief of police;
Packwood auditor; Hyde, city attorney; Wolff, street commissioner; Foster,
surveyor; Reynolds, water supt.
Ex-Mayor McCord in his address to the incoming council, said:
Our city water system is now on a paying basis. We have
good wells, reservoir, pumps, boiler and appliances; also about 7½ miles of
water mains and 71 fire hydrants."
November 1892, the officers elected were: Johns, mayor;
Clarke, Geddes, Boreman, McMurren, Cook, Baird, Castle and Hinshaw councilmen;
Murphy, treasurer.
Officers appointed: McGuire, chief of police; Packwood,
auditor; Parker, water superintendent; Rand, city attorney; Foster, surveyor.
Vacancies occurred in different offices at various
times by the death or resignation of the persons elected, and in such cases
their" places were filled by the appointment of persons whose names do not
appear in the reports of the elections.
At the election in June 1868, the candidates on the
democratic ticket for county offices, were all elected, and Baker City received
a majority of the votes in the county for the county seat and the result was so
declared, but in the act providing for such vote to be taken there was nothing
said about the manner in which the change should be made in case the people
declared for Baker City. Men who owned property at Auburn wished of course to
have that town remain the county seat, and it was not clearly perceived in what
manner the office should be removed. A. F. Johnson who was then county judge,
issued an order to the county clerk, Joseph H. Shinn, to bring all the county
records to Baker City. Some citizens of Baker went to Auburn with a wagon and
team and very early in the morning everything belonging to the county offices
was loaded into the wagon and on the way to their destination before the people
of Auburn know what was going on.
The first settlers in the town of Baker regarded
tree planting and gardening as an experiment of which there was little hope of
successful results. There were some failures, particularly in the matter of
starting grass in door yards, but success was attained by repeated experiments.
John Brattain was one of the pioneers in that line, and
one of the first to achieve success by making the peculiarities of the soil and
climate a study and adapting his method of cultivation to the necessities of the
case. He says it was the great interest which he took in matters affecting the
credit of the city that led him to call the attention of the council to the
condition of Mr. Hindman's potato patch on a certain occasion, stating that it
was too badly gone to weeds to be allowed to remain on one of the principal
streets, and asked that an ordinance be passed requiring Mr. Hindman to remove
it to one of the back streets.
Mr. Brattain says the council took the same view of the case and were about to
pass such an ordinance when he proposed to them to postpone action until the
next meeting, and he would try to prevail upon Mr. Hindman to make his potato
patch look sufficiently respectable to be allowed to remain.
He says he was so far successful in his endeavor
that he was able to report to the council at the next meeting that Hindman had
destroyed so many of the weeds that further compulsory measures were
unnecessary.
Baker County, as established at the session of the
legislature, September 1862, extended from the territory of Washington, on the
north to the state of Nevada on the south, and from Snake River on the east to
the Blue Mountains on the west.
Union County was organized in 1864, with main Powder
River and the north fork of same for the boundary line between the two counties.
February 17th, 1887, by an act of the legislature Malheur County was organized
comprising all the territory of Baker County south of the Burnt river mountains.
The boundaries of Baker County at this time are as
follows:
Commencing at the intersection of Powder River with Snake River; thence up the
main channel of said Powder River to the intersection of North Powder River with
said main Powder River to the mouth of Anthony fork of said North Powder River;
thence up the main channel of said Anthony fork of North Powder River to the
largest lake near the source of Anthony fork, which lake is used as a reservoir
for the Camp Carson mines; thence due west to the chain of mountains known as
the Blue Mountains, that separate the waters of Powder River and Burnt River on
the east, from the waters of John Day River on the west; thence southerly along
the chain of mountains between the waters of said Powder River and Burnt River
on the west to a point where The Dalles Military road crosses the summit of said
Blue Mountains; thence due east to where the range line between ranges 36 and 37
east of the Willamette meridian is intersected; thence easterly along the summit
of Burnt River mountains to the intersection of the south boundary line of
township 14, south of range 43 east; thence east on the south boundary line of
township 14 to the middle channel of Snake River to the mouth of Powder River to
the place of beginning.
The extreme length of Baker County east and west is about 65 miles, and from
north to south about 50 miles, containing about 1,380,000 acres, of which about
280,000 would be classed as agricultural land, and about 820,000 as grazing
land, and about 280,000 as mountain forest.
The summit of some of the mountain peaks in the
northwestern part of the county are about 8400 feet above sea level and about
5000 feet above the level of Powder River Valley.
As yet but a comparatively small portion of the agricultural land is cultivated.
Most of it needs to be irrigated in order to make it productive, and there has
never been any extensive system of irrigation inaugurated.
To what extent agriculture will extend in the future
over what is now called grazing land, time alone can tell.
Farming and fruit growing are now carried on successfully, where it once thought
that the land was not adapted to such purposes.
The country on lower Burnt River and on Snake River has
been called the fruit belt. Apples, pears, peaches and all small fruits grown to
perfection but as yet only a very small part of the land suitable for
horticultural purposes has been improved.
Some land which was once thought to be most worthless
in Powder River Valley has been converted into the best meadow land, the farms
of R. D. McCord and James Garren, west of Baker City, being samples of what can
be done by cultivating and irrigating sage-brush and grease-wood land.
In 1884 the Oregon Short Line railroad was built
through Baker County, and two new towns were built on the line of the road.
Huntington in the southeast corner of the county is next to Baker City in
business importance, being the supply point for an extensive tract of country
and the shipping point for a wide extent of cattle range. The original town site
was a part of the claim taken by Henry Miller in August 1862.
Mr. Miller came to Auburn from Salt Lake with goods in the summer of that year,
and after selling his goods, returned down Burnt River and took a claim which
was known far and near as Miller's ranch. It was an important stage station down
to the time the railroad was built, and a very popular hotel for teamsters and
travelers.
In 1867 he sold his claim to G. W. Davis, and in turn
sold to some one else, and in 1882 Huntington bought the place and the next year
engaged in the mercantile business, and a small town sprung up. When the
railroad was built in 1884, the present town was laid off nearer the road than
the old town retaining the name of Huntington.
There are seven large brick business buildings in the
town, and a two-story brick schoolhouse in process of construction, the building
alone costing $7,500.
The First Congregational church is a substantial and
commodious house of worship, well finished and furnished.
The business of the town is represented by three
general merchandise stores, one drug and one grocery and variety store, three
hotels, three livery stables and one blacksmith shop.
From Huntington stages run daily to the town of Mineral in Idaho and tri-weekly
to Burns and Malheur in Harney and Malheur counties.
The business of the town extends through out Malheur
and Harney counties and a part of Baker and a portion of Idaho, one firm selling
52½ carloads of merchandise in the year 1892.
The Oregon Short Line Railroad Co., building from the
Union Pacific railroad westward, and the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co.,
building from the Columbia River eastward, formed a junction of the two roads at
Huntington in 1884. For some years the two companies could not agree on freight
rates and all freight had to be transferred, but the matter was finally adjusted
and through rates agreed upon.
In 1890 the two companies leased their roads to the U.
P. Co., and since that time they have been under one management. The monthly pay
roll of the company at Huntington amounts to $5,000.00.
The fruit belt of country tributary to Huntington
extends fifty mikes down Snake river and twenty miles up Burnt river, and
eastward into Idaho and southward into Malheur County. The fruit grown
throughout that belt is acknowledged to be of superior quality. In the year
1892, 14,000 boxes of fruit of different kinds were shipped to eastern markets,
besides supplying the home demand, and yet it is estimated that one half of the
crop was not saved.
An extensive canning establishment at Huntington is
needed to enable fruit-growers to utilize the entire product of their farms.
At the Oregon Marble and Lime Company's works four
miles west of Huntington a superior quality of lime is made, and the trade
supplied for a great distance east and west.
The lime used in the construction of the Oregonian building in Portland was
shipped by the above named company.
The kaolin fields, four miles south of Huntington,
owned by L. Durkee, C. W. James and E. H. Blake, of Baker City, give promise of
great value in the future. Some of the kaolin has been sent to China to be
tested and was found to be of extra quality for the manufacture of fine
porcelain.
Between Huntington and Snake River coal has been found, and some development
work done on a small vein, and further prospecting may lead to the discovery of
a large coal field.
The steamer Norma was built on Snake River in 1890, and
the next year run sixty miles down the river and back. Since that time the sum
of $50,000 has been expended by the government in improving of the river, and
more work is yet to be done, and when the mines in the Seven Devils district are
developed, the boating business on the river will increase rapidly.
Huntington has a population of about 600, and was
incorporated in 1891; F. A. Bowen was the first recorder. The town supports a
newspaper, The Herald, now in its third volume, issued weekly by F. A. Bowen,
editor and publisher, and has a circulation of about 500 copies and a liberal
advertising patronage.
In 1884 a town site was surveyed on the line of the railroad about midway north
and south in Powder River valley. The town was named Haines for the proprietor
of the land on which it was built, the late Senator I. D. Haines.
Haines is the nearest shipping point for a great part
of the best farming land in the valley, and also for the lumber and shingles
from three sawmills and a shingle mill in the foothills on the west side of the
valley.
The business establishments comprise one store, general merchandise, a drug
store, a confectionery and cigar store, a restaurant, two blacksmith shops and a
livery stable.
A house of worship was built in the town in 1890 by the
Baptists and the Methodists built another one for the use of that denomination
in the year 1893.
In October, 1891, the Sumpter Valley railroad, three
foot gauge, was completed from Baker City twenty-five miles up Powder River, at
the present terminus of which the town of McEwen was built. The principal
business of the road is the transportation of sawlogs from the timber region
about McEwen to the Oregon Lumber Company's mill near Baker City, but passengers
and freight are also carried over the road.
The road was built and equipped by the stockholders of the Oregon Lumber Company
at a total cost of $400,000.
The rolling stock consists of four locomotives and
sixty cars of all kinds.
The directors of the S.V.R.R. Co. are David Eccles,
Ogden, Utah; C. W. Nibley, Logan, Utah; John Stoddard, Wm. Eccles and F. M.
Shurtliff of Oregon. Joseph A. West, superintendent, Baker City.
The S.V.R.R. Co. contemplate extending the road to the John Day coal fields near
Canyon City.
The Oregon Lumber Company have built another sawmill four miles from McEwen. The
two mills will have a cutting capacity of 100,000 feet per day.
Nearly all the products of the mills is shipped to
Ogden, Utah. The company have a planing mill near the Baker City sawmill, where
they manufacture flooring, rustic, ceiling, surfaced lumber, molding, lath and
fruit and packing boxes. About one hundred men are employed by the company in
the various branches of the business.
A telephone line from McEwen connects with the
company's office at Baker City, the U. P. depot and Warshauer hotel.
The town of McEwen has two stores, a hotel, two
blacksmith shops, a saloon, an Odd Fellows hall and a Methodist church.
The country about McEwen is settled by claimants on
timber lands. Logging is the principal industry.
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Thirty-one Years
in Baker County, Isaac Hiatt |
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