The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1909-09-23
BlGGS The DESOLATE
ITS DRIFTING SAND
Confined From Page -

tCOntlnntd FROM rage -
moving picture Of a town named
after him. He bad been member
of the Oregon Legislature. The peo'
pie of Wasco County had probably
heard of the wisdom he diplayed In
mining California, and realized he
was the right man to represent them
as Iswmaker. He introduced and had
passed an act compelling railroads to
build a sidetrack wherever anyone
built warehouse. Then he went
home and built Ia warehouse at the
mouth of the canyon down which the
road wound from Wasco. The y. X.
& N. as the law required, built side
track, which the sand promptly
buried. Then Governor Pennoyer sp-
pointed him Railroad Commissioner,
and the railroad management liked
him worse than it did before his
warehouse sidetrack law. They want
ed to do something mean to him, and
they did. They named the place
Biggs. 1t was low down sarcasm, tor
the place was little and could never
hope to be comparatively bigger. Ut
had plenty of sand, but that was Its
only resource, though 1t never quit
blowing about.
For time great quantities of wheat
we're hauled down to Biggs and
thousands of sacks we're piled there
for shipment, but the wind and the
sand stopped this.
1t was discovered on one occasion
that the wheat had blown out of In
Vulnerable sacks and the sand had
blown In. That was one OF the peoul
iarities of the Biggs sand. One could
never tell what it would do next.
Then the farmers began hauling theil
grain to a little town further east,
where vegetation grew and the sand
was not. Some faoetious raili oadeI
called 1t Rufus, because the vino
was always whistling there, but that
has nothing to do with Biggs, neither
has anything else that can avoid It,
Il. h. Lytle started the Columbit
Southern Railroad from Biggs, pro
bably thinking that anything thai
could would start from BigRs anC
keep on going. 1t appealed to Lytle
they we're similar In their tastes
Neither of them ever quit moving
and all either OF them had as stock il
trade was sand; hut they both haC
plenty of that. All Lytle had to dt
was to raise the wind. lie did. ii,
raised more Walter Moore. Ih.
Ianohers wanted the road, and they
turned out with their big teams anc
graded 10 miles of road for him,
while he hustled the 0. Il. & N. fol
rails aud ties and 16 candle. power
engine, and finally he blew into
Wasco, the county seat of Sherman
County, and tapped the finest whe I,
belt along the Columbia.
lie had 100000 bushels of whea
to handle on a do wn.hill grade t.
Biggs.
Then he bonded his little dinke,
road and built Is miles more of /
with the money, Walter Moore anC
some others standing with him, unit
he had Moro on his line, and 1t con
nected with Wasoo and also will
Biggs. Then, like the sand, Lytl,
rested little while, but in tn,
Spring he extended the road to Graz
Valley where Hill and Hartman al
now at swords points, and then oil
to Kent and finally to Shaniko, Z
miles from no place, that is from
Biggs.
Shaniko is the exact opposite G
Biggs; there Is no sand there. 1t
down to bed rock and too poor /
afford 1t. The wind blew just O
hard, and just as stes dily, but ther
WAS nothing for it to blow that wa
loose; that had already blown ava
oil except the pungent odor of sheer
That was Indigenous; 1t was blow
In the bed rock and couldn't bio
out. Like Biggs, Shaniko was bett,
than 1t looked. 1t had to To to-we
no matter why, and it was much biI
ger than Biggs. 1t Is built aroun
a square, that is, 1t lie partly hui
around it, the houses are some di
tance apart. They had to be locat,
that way so there would be enough