Summer 2018 - Biggs to Madras, OR

First stop in Oregon: Biggs, where the 18-wheelers outnumber the population. The constant growl of gears and brakes seemingly echoed off the nearby basalt cliffs.

I took a couple shots of the Columbia River Bridge, one of the most impressive structures in the area, before leaving. Even though the town Biggs may not have a lot going for it, the surrounding area makes up for it.

But it was the end of the day when I got there. I slept well and rolled out the next morning in anticipation of the day's sights.

I wasn't disappointed.

Ah! To be back in the country!

The first little town I came to along the Highway 97, Moro, took me back in time. It couldn't have had a population over 300, and I saw not a single soul around. The shops' windows would take one back to the '50s, hardly had they changed since then.

Evidence that there IS life in the town of Grass Valey. At the time this photo was taken, wildfires were raging in northern Oregon near the town of Dufur.

During the middle to late 1800s, a transcontinental railway system was just forming. The Columbia Southern Railway was granted permission to run tracks from Biggs to Shaniko. From 1874-1887, the town was owned by August Scherneckau, which the Indians living in the area at the time could not pronounce. They called him Shaniko, hence the name of the town.

As train tracks continued to be laid in the area as late as 1899, the town continued to grow. By 1903 it was a leader in the wool industry. In 1900, the first train arrived in town.

However, it all came to a halt when it was realized that the tracks couldn't be built any farther than Shaniko because of rough terrain. At around the same time, other tracks were being built in nearby areas that took the rail business in Shaniko away.

At the same time, in 1911, a fire destroyed much of the town. Though some of the 170 residents rebuilt, most gradually began moving away. Train service stopped completely in 1942.

Today, 30 people reside there, and they keep the town going through annual events such as Pioneer Days, Shaniko Days and Wool-gathering Days.

Shaniko has the status of a ghost town still inhabited.

I thought the town of Moro had taken me back in time. I hadn't yet seen Shaniko. A ghost town (inhabited)) from the early 1900s, one could not help but feel the old-time western atmosphere, each unique structure a masterpiece of its time.

Like a magnet, this old red building kept pulling me back I simply could not get enough of it, so absolutely picturesque it is.

The town's wedding chapel. I'd be interested in knowing how often it gets used.

This building is on land owned by the R 2 Ranch, a 60,000-acre cattle and hay ranch that includes land in and around Shaniko. I noted the R 2 on the bench of the hotel porch in the picture above this one, and also noted entrances to the ranch all along the Highway 97. The owner, according to the website, is Robert Pamplin, Jr., a philanthropist and entrepreneur out of Portland, Oregon.