Heppner was a small farming community
located where Shobe Creek, Hinton Creek, and Balm Fork all run together
into Willow Creek. Willow Creek never ran very much higher than ankle
deep water in most places and completly dried out some years. On June
14, 1903 at around five o'clock a fourty foot wall of foaming water hit
the town. The wall of water left a path of destruction and death in
it's path. Almost 250 people died because of the flood.
The spring of 1903 was one of the
driest in many years. On the 11th a thunderstorm rolled in and dumped a
large amount of rain. Ranchers were glad that there had been rain and
were hoping that their dry spell had been broken. The storm also sent a
surge of water through the dry bed of Willow Creek that caused
concern for those people who lived near the creek.
June 14 was also another dry and hot
day until in the afternoon thunder clouds appeared and lightning sruck.
Heppner resident Cora Phillips described the storm like this;
It began to rain so hard that we had to go in and we
watched the storm out of the sitting-room window and the baby had just
woke up and I had her in my arms nursing her and Mr. and Mrs. S. and I
went upstairs to watch it and pretty soon Bert camp up and watched too.
There are two creeks right close there and the smaller one, Hinton
Creek, was overflowing and running over the level ground all between
and flowing into Willow Creek. Bert started out and I said; "What are
you going to do?" and he said "I am going out to see how bad it is." He
put on his rubber boots and rain coat and went down to the bridge and
he said he saw the bridge go and the water came up so fast and he ran
back and motioned for us to come and we ran downstairs and just the
minute Bert got in the door the rush of water came and all these houses
came crashing by. It almost makes me sick when I think about it, for if
he had not gotten in just the minute he did, I feel that he would have
been swept away. When we met him downstairs, the water and mud rushed
into our house about two feet deep and I will never forget how cold it
was. Bert said give me the baby for he knew that she was the smallest
and most helpless and, of course, Margaret couldn't walk through it so
I picked her up and Bert told us to all go upstairs. I never will
forget how thoughtful and brave he was, and he had so much hope. I
never had the least ray of hope, I thought the world was coming to an
end. I just held the baby in my arms and kneeled on the floor and just
prayed and prayed. It seemed like an hour or two that we were up there
but I suppose it wasn't more than a half hour. So many two story houses
went just to kindling wood, and not one thing out of their house has
been found.
People who
witnessed the flood said that it could have been as high as fifty feet
tall while engineers who studied the aftermath of the flood said it was
only about six feet tall. The dangerous thing about the flood was what
it carried with it; houses, trees, and anything it went over were
carried with the waters. Most of Heppners residential district was
destroyed and about half of all homes.Main Street was blocked by homes
and businesses that had floated from their lots and rested on the
street, and all but three of the town's businesses were demolished. The
telegraph and telephone lines were out of operation, and the railroad's
spur line was destroyed from Lexington to Heppner. The only way in or
out of town was across badly damaged wagon roads.
While June 14, 1903, was a day of
sorrow for the town of Heppner, it is much to the credit of that day's
survivors that Heppner remains a pleasant and prosperous community,
better known for its Irish roots and St. Patrick's Day celebration than
the flood that nearly destroyed it. Shortly after the floodwaters
receded, Leslie Scott, a reporter for the Oregonian, commented: "The
beauty of Heppner is gone, but not its pride. No community could rise
more bravely under adversity." Today it is clear that both
the pride and the beauty have returned to Heppner.
Information taken
from:http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/105.1/denouden.html