Situated on the upper reaches of the
Powder River at a shallow canyon, Baker City was
born on the Eastern oregon gold rush when Colonel
J. S. Ruckles had begun looking for a site with
access to water to operate an ore processing mill
which he located on the Powder River.
Baker City was
estalished in 1864 as a distribution trade center
and named for Colonel Edward Dickinson Baker, who
was born 24 Feb 1811 in Pennsylvania. Baker's
family left Pennsylvania and went to Indiana and
then to Illinois where he studied law and at the
age of 19 was admitted to practice. In 1831, he
married Mrs. Mary Lee, a widow, and the year
following served in the Black Hawk War attaining
the rank of a major. He afterwards removed to
Springfield and became a partner in the law firm
of Stephen T. Logan, J.D. Stuart and A.. Lincoln.
Between 1837 and 1845, he served in the Illinois
legislature. The follwing year he raised a
regiment of Illinois volunteers and served in the
Mexican War, and then returned to the state
legislature serving from 1849 to 1851. Attracted
to San Francisco, he removed there in 1852 and
became a criminal lawyer and orator, but seven
years later decided to go to Oregon and was
elected by the first state senate, but entered
the War of the Rebellion as colonel of a regiment
of volunteers and became the first northern
officer to die in the Civil War, the unfortunate
engagement having taken place at Ball's Bluff. He
died on 22 October 1861 and was buried in San
Francisco.
By 1864, Colonel
J.S. Ruckel had built a quartz mill, James W.
Virtue a store, and Rev.V. De Roo opened the
Arlington Hotel in Baker City. The town was laid
out In 1865 with the mail route being established
the following year, and Baker City being reached
by the overland stage five times a week.
The city's first
newspaper, The Bedrock Democrat, began printing
in 1870 and was founded by Lewis Linn McArthur
who was born in Virginia on 18 Mar 1843 and
educated at Brown University. In 1864, he was
admitted to the Rhode Island bar but then removed
to Oregon and married Harriet K. Nesmith,
daughter of Senator James W. Nesmith. While
there, he began working on the newspaper at
Umatilla Landing and then founded the newspaper
in Baker along with partner M.H. Abbott. Their
paper was filled with much of the colorful mining
life and was widely read, but they sold it two
years later to H.C. and J.M. Shepherd of Albany,
who then sold it in 1880. The local paper of
Baker City is now known as the Baker City Herald.
Incorporated in
October of 1874, Baker City for many years
thrived with the business of mining and during
the 1870's and 1880's was proably the most
colorful town in the Pacific Northwest,
accessible in 1884 by rail when the Oregon
Railway and Navigation Company arrived in Baker
City, stretching from Portland and connecting
with the Oregon Short Line which was built as a
subsidiary of the Union Pacific, thus providing
complete coast to coast transportation from Baker
City.
The rail became
another important factor when logging began in
Baker City in 1889 when David Eccles founded the
Oregon Lumber company. The company built the
narrow-gauge Sumpter Valley Railroad, nicknamed
"Stump Dodger" which ran from Baker
City to Praire City hauling lumber, passengers,
cattlemen, prospectors, and loggers. It continued
to carry passengers and mail until 1937, but
eventually handled only lumber, and then was
abadoned in 1947.
At the turn of the
century, Baker City housed elegant restaurants in
fine hotels, and the Baker Theatre was often
filled to capacity for road-show company
productions. All night saloons, gambling houses
and hurdy-gurdy dance halls were crowded with
gamblers, miners, ranchers, cowboys and
sheepherders. The town also had a sizable Chinese
population which had come to work in the mines,
and build water systems for the mills while
others worked as servants in homes, and still
others began restaraunt and laundry operations.
During Baker
City's second mining boom between 1890 and 1910,
many brick homes and commercial buildings were
financed by the mines and still stand today,
filling the city with historic charm in the 21st
century.
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