his nine properties, parts of the ghost town still look like they’ve been kicked in the teeth. And they have, almost literally: A semitruck crashed through the ice cream parlor years ago and it has yet to be repaired. In the face of all the obstacles, Shaniko holds an irresistible allure for history buffs, music lovers, and people simply drawn to rough-edged authenticity. When musician Pam Brown, 39, and her husband, Mark Haskett, 53, were up from San Francisco for the Tygh Valley Bluegrass Jamboree in 2018, they stopped over in Shaniko and played music on the stairs of the closed hotel. The next thing Brown knew, she was pulling an American flag out of her Westfalia to hoist up the town’s naked flag pole. Then the couple and a small group of locals sang “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.” “That was my Shaniko moment,” says Brown, who used to work in marketing for a real estate firm. “Even though we weren’t looking to move, I was warmed up when Mark suggested we buy the closed-down gas station. Now we’re here.” Not only has the couple opened the gas In 1879 tiny Shaniko was named after its first postmaster, August Scherneckau (phonetically similar). Its ship came in around 1900 when the Columbia Southern Railroad connected Biggs Junction to Shaniko. Quickly the town became known as the Wool Capital of the World. Millions of pounds of wool were stored in the warehouse for export annually, not to mention wheat crops. In 1909 the Ruralite newspaper noted that “little old Shaniko is in the swim of a genuine western boom . . . there is not a vacant room, residence or habitable shed in all of Shaniko. Some families are living in tents.” More than a dozen saloons dotted the growing town. “Saloons were the first places to play music in pioneer towns,” says Debra Holbrook, Shaniko’s city recorder and resident historian. “Shaniko has strong musical roots. Sheep herders and cowboys have always been known for singing to their livestock.” In 1911 an alternative rail line was built, History of Shaniko Portland Salem Corvallis Eugene Coos Bay Bend Redmond Shaniko The Dalles Pendleton Ontario Hood River Roseburg Grants Pass Medford Klamath Falls WASCO COUNTY diverting traffic and commerce away from Shaniko. In 1959, as the town’s population dwindled, the Oregon Centennial Commission named it Ghost Town of the Year, cementing its reputation as a destination for ghost-town aficionados and attracting the attention of those interested in preserving historic buildings. Efforts to revive Shaniko have their own history: In the Shaniko Hotel lobby, articles (not unlike this one) are on display from the 1960s and ’70s in which writers — all of them likely dead now — herald Shaniko’s imminent comeback. Maybe this time it will stick. — Ellee Thalheimer PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN Ernie Martin owns many of Shaniko’s buildings. His father organized the first Shaniko Days 50 years ago. 47
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