Shaniko ,Oregon...Living Ghost Town

[Gypsy Heart]

As of the census of 2000, there are 26 people, 14 households, and nine families residing in the city.

Shaniko owes its birth to wool and wheat. Central Oregon in the 1890's was in effect a huge sheep ranch. Wool was produced in huuge quanities .Since a railroad needed to cojme in to take the huge wool bales, a terminal was needed Shaniko was built for that express purpose. By 1900 many of the original "tent" business's had been replaced by buildings including hotel,City Hall, Fire Hall store and jail...all of which still stand.
According to Oregon Geographic Names, Shaniko was named after August Scherneckau, a settler who came to the area after the Civil War. The spelling of the town's name reflects local pronunciation of Scherneckau's name. The town was originally called Cross Hollows; a post office by that name was established in May 1879 with Scherneckau as postmaster.

The town's heyday was the first decade of the 20th century, when Shaniko served as a transportation hub spurred by the presence of the Columbia Southern Railway, a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad which built a branch from Biggs Junction to Shaniko. That branch was completed in May 1900.

The residents of Shaniko voted to incorporate Shaniko and elected a mayor, F. T. Hurlbert, and other city officials on January 1, 1902. It was Wasco County's fifth largest city, boasting the largest wool warehouse in the state, from which two tons were marketed in 1901. It was surrounded by cattle ranches, which produced livestock for shipment which filled 400 railroad cars that year.[1]

By 1911, another line diverted traffic once served by the Columbia Southern and the town begin to decline. A mid-1960s flood in Hay Canyon near Grass Valley destroyed part of the Columbia Southern line and led it its abandonment.

[packerbacker]

I found some 1910 maps for this place. Shows exactly where all the buildings etc. were. Population then was 400.