Mispronounced

When pioneer, August Scherneckau, arrived in Oregon, shortly after the Civil War, he bought a farm in the north central part of the state. Let’s face it, Scherneckau is not an easy name to pronounce, and not surprisingly the Indians pronounced it Shaniko. The name stuck, not for August, but for the town that would likely have born his name, had it not been mispronounced, and so the town of Shaniko, Oregon was born.

The Scherneckau ranch was located along the stage route from The Dalles to central Oregon, so it quickly became a stage station. On May 23, 1879, the first post office was set up there, with August Scherneckau serving as the initial postmaster. Named Cross Hollows after the area’s unique topography, the post office operated for just eight years before shutting down on May 27, 1887. In 1900, some businessmen established an official community in The Dalles as the endpoint of the Columbia Southern Railroad. The station became a hub for gathering the vast wool production from central Oregon, a role it held until the 1940s. On March 31, 1900, the Shaniko post office was opened, and the Shaniko Hotel, initially called the Columbia Southern Hotel, was constructed the same year. Built with 18-inch-thick walls and handmade bricks, the hotel is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Also in 1900, a 10,000-gallon wooden water tower was built. Water was pumped from nearby Cross Hollow Canyon, piped through wooden systems, and stored in two large wooden tanks. Built in 1901, the three-room Shaniko School served kindergarten through high school students until 1946. After years of disrepair, it was restored in the 1990s and now functions as a community hall. It’s also one of the most photographed historic school buildings in Oregon. In 1901, Shaniko was officially incorporated. By that time, the town boasted a bank, two blacksmith shops, a two-story city hall housing the fire station and jail, three hotels, two newspapers, a post office, five saloons, two stores, and numerous other buildings. Church services took place in the schoolhouse.

Wool quickly became the commodity of the time, and Shaniko became a major trade center for the wool produced in central and eastern Oregon. Within a year, two financiers from The Dalles, B F Laughlin, and W Lord, constructed a huge wool warehouse in Shaniko, which was the largest in Oregon at the time. In 1903 Shaniko was referred to as the “Wool Capital of the World” after three wool sales brought in the largest total sale of wool on record. The next year, sheepmen sold an estimated five million dollars’ worth of wool to buyers in Shaniko.

In 1910, Shaniko boasted a population of 600, with what appeared to be a promising future ahead. But in 1911, the Oregon Trunk Railroad, connecting Bend, Oregon (70 miles south) to the Columbia Gorge, started diverting business from the more remote Shaniko. Then, a fire destroyed much of the downtown area, and there were no funds for rebuilding. While homesteaders, ranchers, and sheepmen remained in the region, Shaniko began to decline. These days, this near ghost town has only 20-25 residents but offers much to explore. There are still massive sheep sheds from that era and several Old West-style buildings with authentic boardwalks and false fronts. Many people consider Shaniko the best ghost town in Oregon. In addition to the other various buildings, there is still the old water tower, the City Hall complete with an old jail, the school, and the post office. The Shaniko Hotel is the town’s biggest attraction, mostly because it was restored to its former grandeur around 2000 by Robert Pamplin Jr. The hotel features an antique shop, the history of many families who once lived in Shaniko, and a café with home cooking said to be the best in the area. Unfortunately, due to a water rights dispute with the town council, the hotel closed again in 2009. The old Shaniko Livery Barn is now a museum featuring several antique cars in their original state. Next door is the Shaniko Sage Museum. All in all, it’s really a quaint little almost ghost town.