Mail order house

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Don Fischer
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Mail order house

Post by Don Fischer » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:17 am

I went out to a local ranch yesterday and got some photo's of a homestead from the late 1800's. The guy that built the house was the Great Grandfather of the present owner. The present owner's Grandfather and Father were born in the house.

The sister runs our post office and I stopped and talked to her and she told me the house was a mail order house from a business like Montgomery Wards! The house was shipped by rail to Shaniko, Ore, which was a very busy town back then. It was the sheep shipping center of the world then. Once in Shaniko, the house was picked up with a wagon and team of horses and hauled to it's present location.

Hauling the house was no small task. The hill down to Antelope was a steep winding dirt road. Today that road has been moved a bit so it's a steep winding paved road! Once in Antelope, the house went about eight miles out of town, all on dirt roads. To get into it yesterday, we had to go in off of a gravel road 1 1/2 miles up a 4 wd dirt road. beautiful trip in.

I found a place I'd love to live, absolutely beautiful in there. I didn't know they ever made mail order houses but I guess the lumber had to come from somewhere. The pile of rubble in the first photo is all that remains of the barn and the white thing is the old wood cook stove.

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camodup
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Re: Mail order house

Post by camodup » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:59 am

i love history like that and good old stories to tell, just love em
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one hunting fool
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Re: Mail order house

Post by one hunting fool » Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:09 pm

great story thanks for sharing
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ABert
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Re: Mail order house

Post by ABert » Fri Feb 06, 2009 7:17 pm

I never get tired of seeing old buildings out in the country. I've run across a few now and then when up in the mountains and always wonder what the story is behind them.
It ain't the size of the gun but the placement of the bullet.

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MuleyMadness
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Re: Mail order house

Post by MuleyMadness » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:14 pm

Very cool, thanks for the history lesson. Didn't know of mail order houses either.

NONYA
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Re: Mail order house

Post by NONYA » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:51 pm

Nice pics,time to dust your sensor,UFO in upper left corner.Probably cost effective way to build a home if you lived in an area with no timber or sawmills.

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killerbee
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Re: Mail order house

Post by killerbee » Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:38 pm

very cool don!
FUNNY: i was thinking while reading the part about it being a long winding road to antelope " man they didn't fix it much, that road is still very windy", then the next line-- a long winding paved road lol
very cool pics, thanks for sharing that part of oregon has a long history

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79Ford
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Re: Mail order house

Post by 79Ford » Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:42 pm

Very cool! I love to see old houses and hear the stories behind them. I always think what if those walls could talk. I'm sure they'd have some stories to tell about the past 100+ years.

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