Shaniko & Antelope

This past Saturday Bob, myself and the kids (sans Katya who was in San Diego for Spring Break) decided to get out of Bend for a while. I have been wanting to go to Seattle to visit my girlfriend, Michelle, but that didn't work out because of various car maintence issues. As an alternative day trip I wanted to go to Eugene to find a Trader Joes, but Eugene was having a rainy day so we didn't go West. Instead, we headed North East and found ourselves in the town of Shaniko.

Bob had heard that Shaniko was a really cool Ol' West town and was worth a visit. We had been driving for two hours and Alexis was starting to have a meltdown by the time we got there - but it was well worth the trip. We hit the local ice cream parlor where we had a wonderful conversation with the owners and got some yummy ice cream. I had a full scoop of black licorice ice cream in a waffle cone, YUMMY! I am always amazed at how friendly people are in Oregon. The owners of this little ice cream shop in the middle of seemingly nowhere were a lovely older couple (I'd say in their 70's). The wife came over and scooped up Logan when he started to fuss and bounced him all over the store and cooed at him. The husband, who was rather large and was wearing some equally large denim overalls, talked to Bob about some new bug that had lived through the winter and was proving to be a pest for the store owners. Alexis walked around the store and moved chairs around and the couple were quite nonplussed about it.

Evidently they were the only store open in Shaniko except for the candy shop. The rest of the town opens on April Fool's Day for the tourist season. Bob and I walked all around Shaniko - it is not all that big - and learned a lot about the place. It is a real ghost town. The train used to end in Shaniko before it was diverted to Bend many years ago. When the train bypassed Shaniko, the town basically died. There are all kinds of structures around that are over 150 years old and are all in various stages of renovation. There is also a large covered area that has a collection of wagons ranging from 100+ years old to more current ones. Very cool. Evidently Shaniko has all kinds of cool events from May through October. The next event is a 1950's car celebration with an outdoor street dance, fire house sale, BBQ, old cars and vendors. Then in June they have a gem show (Katya loves rocks, fossils and semi precious gems) as well as Pioneer days complete with gunfighters. We have plans to return for some of these events because it sounds like fun.

After cruising through Shaniko for a while we met a couple of locals that chatted us up for a while. One of them was telling us about the history of Antelope (just down the hill from Shaniko) and a crazy man from India that had taken over the town in the early 1980's. That really got my curiosity up. We ended up heading to Antelope and we had dinner at the town restaurant / grocery store. While we were there we learned more about the town's history. In the early 1980's a man from India named, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had purchased 65,000 acres just outside of Antelope and called the area Rajneeshpuram (formerly known as the "Big Muddy Ranch"). This was some kind of cult commune, although the details are available I am not sure what it was all about yet. After a few years, he decided to take over the town of Antelope by having some of his followers register to vote and have himself elected mayor. While mayor he had the name of the town changed from Antelope to Rajneesh. He was a bit of a loon and started having his followers (homeless people that he picked up in Seattle and Portland areas and moved to his commune), who dressed in pink & purple overalls, armed with M16 rifles. Needless to say, this upset the locals of the neighboring towns when his followers would visit. The government (who I am sure had been following this drama) found some IRS and immigration charges that they charged him with. I heard that he had died, but some internet sites say that he moved back to India. The town voted itself back to it's old name and the city offices were restored to locals. Eventually a billionaire from Montana purchased the land from the government and donated it to a church organization called "Young Life" for youth camps.

I must now learn all about this saga and the bizarre man known as Rajneesh. How a man from India picked the town of Antelope, Oregon (population 34) to create his own little commune is so wierd. But then again, the truth is always stranger than fiction.