Editing Shaniko, Oregon

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Shaniko, Oregon
|settlement_type          = [[City]]
|nickname                 = Oregon's Best Known Ghost Town
|motto                    = 
|image_skyline            = 2017-07-15 Shaniko 18.jpg
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = City name written on barn in Shaniko
|image_flag               = 
|image_seal               = 
|image_map = Wasco_County_Oregon_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Shaniko_Highlighted.svg
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location in [[Oregon]]
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             = 
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Oregon]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Oregon|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Wasco County, Oregon|Wasco]]
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = [[Mayor]]
|leader_name              = Donald Treanor<ref>{{cite web|title=Incorporated Cities: Shaniko|url=https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/local/cities/s-y/shaniko.aspx|work=Oregon Blue Book|year=2013|publisher=Oregon Secretary of State|access-date=April 10, 2025}}</ref>
|established_title        = [[Municipal corporation|Incorporated]]
|established_date         = 1901
<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="TigerWebMapServer">{{cite web|title=ArcGIS REST Services Directory|url=https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/5/query?where=STATE='41'&outFields=NAME,STATE,PLACE,AREALAND,AREAWATER,LSADC,CENTLAT,CENTLON&orderByFields=PLACE&returnGeometry=false&returnTrueCurves=false&f=json|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=October 12, 2022}}</ref>
|area_magnitude           = 
|area_total_km2           = 1.29
|area_land_km2            = 1.29
|area_water_km2           = 0.00
|area_total_sq_mi         = 0.50
|area_land_sq_mi          = 0.50
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.00
|population_footnotes     = <ref name="USCensusDecennial2020CenPopScriptOnly"/>
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_est           = 
|pop_est_as_of            = 
|population_note          = 
|population_total         = 30
|population_density_km2   = 23.28
|population_density_sq_mi = 60.24
|timezone                 = [[Pacific Standard Time Zone|Pacific]]
|utc_offset               = -8
|timezone_DST             = Pacific
|utc_offset_DST           = -7
|coordinates              = {{coord|45|0|11|N|120|45|11|W|type:city_region:US-OR_source:gnis|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
|elevation_ft             = 3343
|website                  = http://www.shanikooregon.com
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 97057
|area_code                = [[Area code 541|541]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 41-66700<ref name="wwwcensusgov"/>
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 2411876<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2411876}}</ref>
|footnotes                = 
|pop_est_footnotes        = 
}}
'''Shaniko''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|æ|n|ᵻ|k|oʊ}}, {{respell|SHAN|i-koh}}) is a city located in [[Wasco County, Oregon|Wasco County]], [[Oregon]], United States, on [[U.S. Route 97 in Oregon|U.S. Route 97]] and about {{convert|8|mi|km|0}} north of [[Antelope, Oregon|Antelope]]. The population was 30 at the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]].

== Geography ==
Shaniko is in Wasco County, in north-central Oregon, at the intersection of [[U.S. Route 97 in Oregon|U.S. Route 97]] and [[Oregon Route 218]].<ref name="DeLorme">{{cite book|title=Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer|publisher=DeLorme|location=Yarmouth, Maine|page=76|year=2008|edition=7th|isbn=978-0-89933-347-2}}</ref> The city is {{convert|69|mi|km}} north of [[Redmond, Oregon|Redmond]] and {{convert|131|mi|km}} east of [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Shaniko Community Profile|publisher=Infrastructure Finance Authority|url=http://www.orinfrastructure.org/profiles/Shaniko/|year=2009|access-date=August 8, 2013}}</ref> According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the city has a total area of {{convert|0.50|sqmi|sqkm|2}}, all of it land.<ref name="Gazetteer files">{{cite web|title=U.S. Gazetteer: 2010, 2000, and 1990|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/gazetteer.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=August 13, 2013}}</ref>

The city is at an elevation of {{convert|3343|ft|m}}.<ref name="gnis"/> On the high plateau on which Shaniko was built, the soil is thin and the vegetation sparse, consisting mainly of [[sagebrush]], [[bunchgrass]], and occasional [[juniper]]s.<ref name="Shaniko District nom form"/> Many peaks of the [[Cascade Range]], including [[Mount Hood|Hood]], [[Mount Jefferson (Oregon)|Jefferson]], [[Mount Adams (Washington)|Adams]], [[Mount St. Helens|St. Helens]] and [[Mount Rainier|Rainier]], are visible from the city.<ref name="HistoryCentralOregon"/>

== History ==
The first [[European American]]s came to the Shaniko area after the discovery of [[gold]] in [[Canyon City, Oregon]], in 1862.<ref name=Rees>{{cite book  | last = Rees  | first = Helen Guyton  | title = Shaniko: From Wool Capital to Ghost Town  | publisher = [[Binford & Mort]]  | year = 1982  | location = [[Portland, Oregon]]  | isbn = 0-8323-0398-4}}</ref>  The route to Canyon City started at the early settlement of [[The Dalles, Oregon|The Dalles]], {{convert|190|mi|km}} away.<ref name=Rees/> Camps were made wherever water could be found.<ref name=Rees/> One camp, which became the farming community of [[Bakeoven, Oregon|Bakeoven]], was closely associated with the future town of Shaniko, while another camp, Cross Hollow, was within the present Shaniko city limits.<ref name=Rees/> In 1867, following complaints of hostile [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]] and fear of robbery of those transporting gold, the [[Government of Oregon|State of Oregon]] received a grant from the United States government to build a [[The Dalles Military Road|military wagon road]] from The Dalles to [[Fort Boise]] in what was then [[Washington Territory]], (now [[Idaho]]).<ref name=Rees/> Following this road, homesteaders began claiming land in [[Central Oregon]] that previously had been fairly inaccessible.<ref name=Rees/>

One of these settlers was August Scherneckau, who came to the area after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]],<ref name="OGN">{{cite book | last = McArthur | first = Lewis A. | author-link = Lewis A. McArthur |author2=Lewis L. McArthur |author2-link=Lewis L. McArthur | title = [[Oregon Geographic Names]] | orig-year = 1928 | edition = 7th | year = 2003 | publisher = [[Oregon Historical Society]] Press | location = [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], [[Oregon]] | isbn = 0-87595-277-1 }}</ref> in 1874.<ref name=Rees/> The spelling of the town's name reflects local Native American pronunciation of Scherneckau's name.<ref name="OGN"/> The town was originally called '''Cross Hollow''', and a post office by that name was established in May 1879 with Scherneckau as postmaster.<ref name="OGN"/> Cross Hollow post office closed in 1887, and Shaniko post office opened in 1900.<ref name="OGN"/> An application to incorporate the city was submitted February 9, 1901, and the first official meeting of the Shaniko city council occurred on March 16, 1901.<ref name=Rees/>

The town's heyday was the first decade of the 20th&nbsp;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, Oregon|Biggs Junction]] to a terminus in Shaniko.<ref name=Rees/> That branch was completed in May 1900.<ref name=Rees/> At the time, the city was known as the "[[Wool]] Capital of the World", and it was a regional center of {{convert|20000|sqmi|km2}} of wool, wheat, cattle and sheep production, with no other such center east of the [[Cascade Range]] in Oregon.<ref name=Rees/> The region served by the city even stretched into [[Idaho]], south to [[Klamath Falls, Oregon]], and beyond, because of rail connections to the main line.<ref name=Rees/>

The residents of Shaniko voted to incorporate Shaniko and elected a mayor, F. T. Hurlbert, and other city officials on January&nbsp;1, 1902. It was Wasco County's fifth largest city, boasting the largest wool warehouse in the state, from which {{convert|4|e6lb|lk=out}} (2,000 [[short ton|tons]]) were marketed in 1901. It was surrounded by cattle ranches, which produced livestock for shipment that filled 400 railroad cars that year.<ref name="HistoryCentralOregon">{{cite book |last=Shaver|first=F. A.|author2=Arthur P. Rose |author3=R. F. Steele |author4=A. E. Adams | title=An Illustrated History of Central Oregon Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam, Wheeler, Crook, Lake and Klamath Counties | year=1905| publisher=Western Publishing Co.|url=https://archive.org/stream/illustratedhist00shav#page/170/mode/2up| location=Spokane, Washington|pages=169&ndash;71|oclc=5436491}}</ref> In 1903, when Shaniko gained the nickname, "Wool Capital of the World", they shipped 2,229 tons of wool and 1,168,866 bushels of wheat. They made $3,000,000 in wool sales in 1903.<ref name=Rees/> The second sale of that year one warehouse deposited a million into the bank. There was a third sale that year as well. In 1904, total annual sales were five million dollars.<ref name=Rees/>

By 1911, the [[Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company|Oregon&ndash;Washington Railroad and Navigation Company]], another Union Pacific subsidiary, began using an alternate route linking Portland to [[Bend, Oregon|Bend]] by way of the [[Deschutes River (Oregon)|Deschutes River]] canyon. The new line, advertised as the "direct, quick and natural route",<ref name="Culp"/> diverted traffic from the Columbia Southern, and Shaniko began to decline. Passenger rail service to Shaniko ended in the early 1930s, and the entire line was shut down by 1966.<ref name="Culp">{{cite book|last=Culp|first=Edwin D.|title=Stations West, The Story of the Oregon Railways|pages=100&ndash;01, 125|publisher=Bonanza Books|year=1978|oclc=4751643}}</ref> By 1982 Shaniko was nearly a ghost town.<ref name=Rees/> Shaniko was first called a "ghost town" at the Oregon Centennial Exposition in Portland in 1959.<ref name=Rees/>

In 1985, Jean and Dorothy Farrell of Salem, OR bought the [[Columbia Southern Hotel|Shaniko Hotel]] which was deserted at that time.  They invested their retirement savings to remodel the Hotel before it was reopened in 1988.  Jean later became the Mayor of Shaniko and continued to own and operate the renovated hotel until he sold it in July 2000 to businessman [[Robert B. Pamplin Jr.|Robert Pamplin Jr]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Brian |date=July 28, 2000 |title=Prime Purchase Is Part of Historic Ghost Town |url=https://www.globest.com/2000/07/28/prime-purchase-is-part-of-historic-ghost-town/?slreturn=20240404015027 |work=Globest |access-date=July 29, 2001}}</ref>  Pamplin purchased the hotel and several other properties in Shaniko with intentions of bringing life back to this once thriving ghost town.  Pamplin renovated some buildings and planned to build new houses for workers who would cater to tourists.  But in 2008, the Shaniko City Council and the state of Oregon denied Pamplin an easement from a well on one of his lots to supply water to the hotel and restaurant bypassing having to purchase the water from the city. He ultimately shut down the hotel, cafe, RV park, and capped off the well.  He eventually listed the properties for sale over an 8 year period before taking them off the market in 2016.<ref>{{cite news |last=Anderson |first=Taylor |date=July 12, 2016 |title=After 8 years, Pamplin takes historic Shaniko buildings off market |url=https://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/after-8-years-pamplin-takes-historic-shaniko-buildings-off-market/article_cdb3feb0-d944-5059-8bab-ebdab2b52b5f.html |work=The Bend Bulletin |access-date=July 12, 2016}}</ref>  In August 2023, Pamplin reopened the Shaniko Hotel once again to the public.<ref>{{cite news |last=Myron |first=Drew |date=November 1, 2023 |title=A Ghost Town No More |url=https://www.wascoelectric.com/a-ghost-town-no-more/|work=Wasco Electric Cooperative |access-date=November 1, 2023}}</ref>

Shaniko attracts ghost town tourists, but a wastewater issue still prevents any large scale tourism efforts from forming.<ref name="Sheepish">Craig, L. (2007). Don't Be Sheepish Shaniko. Columbia Gorge Magazine, unknown(unknown), 19–23.</ref> Local businesses operate seasonally from April to September to accommodate the tourists, including those in "Shaniko Row".<ref name="Sheepish"/>

== Demographics ==
{{US Census population
|1900= 72
|1910= 495
|1920= 124
|1930= 100
|1940= 55
|1950= 61
|1960= 39
|1970= 58
|1980= 30
|1990= 26
|2000= 26
|2010= 36
|2020= 30
|footnote=source:<ref name="wwwcensusgov">{{cite web|title=U.S. Census website|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|url=https://www.census.gov|access-date=August 8, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Moffatt|first=Riley Moore|title=Population History of Western U.S. Cities and Towns, 1850–1990|location=Lanham, Maryland|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=1996|page=215|isbn=978-0-8108-3033-2}}</ref><ref name="USCensusDecennial2020CenPopScriptOnly">{{cite web|url=https://api.census.gov/data/2020/dec/pl?get=P1_001N,NAME&for=place:*&in=state:41&key=5ccd0821c15d9f4520e2dcc0f8d92b2ec9336108|title=Census Population API|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=Oct 12, 2022}}</ref>
}}

As of the [[census]] of 2010, there were 36 people, 17 households, and 11 families residing in the city. The [[population density]] was {{convert|72|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|1}}. There were 24 housing units at an average density of {{convert|48|/sqmi|/km2|1}}. The racial makeup of the city was 75% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 8.3% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], and 16.7% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 8.3% of the population.<ref name="wwwcensusgov"/>

There were 17 households, of which about 18% had children under the age of 18 living with them, about 53% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, about 6% had a female householder with no husband present, about 6% had a male householder with no wife present, and about 35% were non-families. About 29% of all households were made up of individuals, and about 18% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.55.<ref name="wwwcensusgov"/>

The median age in the city was about 55 years. About 17% of residents were under the age of 18; about 3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19.5% were from 25 to 44; about 28% were from 45 to 64; and about 33% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was about 58% male and 42% female.<ref name="wwwcensusgov"/>

==Points of interest==

Shaniko and environs contain an individual historic building and two [[Historic district (United States)|historic districts]] listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] (NRHP):
* [[Columbia Southern Hotel]]<ref name="NomColSoHotel">{{cite web | last = Luckman | first = Katharina L. | title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Columbia Southern Hotel | date = January 1979 | url = {{NRHP url|id=79002150}} |publisher=National Park Service| format = PDF|access-date=August 13, 2013}}</ref>
* [[Imperial Stock Ranch Headquarters Complex]]<ref name="NPS nom form">{{cite web|last=Carver|first=Jeanne|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Imperial Stock Ranch Headquarters Complex|url={{NRHP url|id=94000808}}|publisher= National Park Service|date=November 22, 1993|format=PDF|access-date=August 13, 2013}}</ref>
* '''Shaniko Historic District''', including the Columbia Southern Hotel, the city hall and jailhouse, a schoolhouse, and 42 other properties, some of which have been renovated. The NRHP nomination form for the district provides historical details, references, images, and descriptions.<ref name="Shaniko District nom form">{{citation | last = Almquist | first = Leonard | date = February 28, 1980 | title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form: Shaniko Historic District | url = {{NRHP url|id=82003754}} | format = PDF | access-date = August 13, 2013 }}.</ref>

<gallery>
File:Shaniko City Hall.jpg|Shaniko City Hall
File:Barn and Tractor in Shaniko Historic District.jpg|Barn and tractor
File:Museum and wagon in Shaniko Historic District.png|Museum and wagon
File:Wagon yard and barn in Shaniko Historic District.jpg|Wagon yard and barn
File:Shaniko Post Office in Shaniko, Oregon.jpg|Post Office
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==
*{{Commons and category inline|Shaniko Historic District|Shaniko Historic District}}
*[https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/local/cities/s-y/shaniko.aspx Entry for Shaniko] from the ''[[Oregon Blue Book]]'', including a link to a [http://egov.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TDATA/gis/docs/citymaps/shan.pdf local road map] (in [[Portable Document Format|PDF format]]) from [[Oregon Department of Transportation|ODOT]]
*[http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOBOX1=shaniko&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=all Historic photos of Shaniko] from the [[Salem Public Library (Oregon)|Salem Public Library]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110207234405/http://horseoutofthegate.com/ Official site of The Last Days of Shaniko]

{{Wasco County, Oregon}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cities in Oregon]]
[[Category:Cities in Wasco County, Oregon]]
[[Category:Ghost towns in Oregon]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1879]]
[[Category:1879 establishments in Oregon]]
[[Category:Railway towns in Oregon]]