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| 8/13/2009 3:09:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article
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Hector del Castillo/Chieftain
Cheryl Post warms up for the Maxville Loggers at a diamond on Bar-B Ranch. |
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| Loggers built the cabin around 1923, explains Scott Madison. |
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Maxville born again
More than 200 visitors tour site, hear stories, play ball at Gathering
By Hector del Castillo
Wallowa County Chieftain
Gwen Trice brought a ghost town back to life.
A crowd of about 200 visitors gathered Aug. 8 at Maxville, an abandoned town site about 15 miles north of downtown Wallowa, once home to an isolated community of loggers - including Trice's father, grandfather and their families - during the 1920s and '30s. Gwen founded the Maxville Heritage Project to collect, preserve and interpret that history. Her efforts produced the Maxville Gathering 2009, which offered later generations a chance to travel back in time.
The Gathering could become an annual event, Trice told the audience after several storytellers took stage and recounted their experience living in Maxville. In the future, year-round tourists might visit a permanent museum in Wallowa. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., recently initiated a bill calling for the city to assume control of an old U.S. Forest Service compound located downtown. It could transform into the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center.
The same morning last week's ominous clouds, repeated rainfalls and lightning storms had forced the postponement of the Joseph Junior Rodeo in Enterprise, crystal skies and sunshine graced the Gathering.
The event started with tours of the area, including a cabin, built about 1923, which still stands. Several booths presented photographs and images of Maxville during its days of operation. Then, speakers gave their first-hand experience of that era. They included Jack Madison of Maxville, Gene Hayes of Wallowa, Alan Dale Victor of Wallowa, Mike Brennan of Joseph, Shirley Doud of Lostine and Orvalla Haefer of Othello, Wash.
The afternoon concluded seven miles up Promise Road, where 22 men and women, boys and girls, split into a pair teams (the Maxville Loggers and the Promise Pioneers) for a game of softball at the diamond on the Bar-B Ranch. Before the first pitch, John McColgan of Joseph sang with guitarist Bill Cavanaugh of Enterprise as they performed a rendition of "Centerfield" by John Fogerty.
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