Shaniko, the wool capital that emptied out

In 1901 Shaniko shipped more wool than anywhere else in the world: the railhead ended here, and everything off the eastern Oregon range came through it. Then in 1911 the line pushed up the Deschutes canyon to Bend, the freight went with it, and the town simply stopped. What is left is a hotel, a schoolhouse, a jail, a water tower and a population you can count on two hands, standing in open country with the wind moving through it. People report the schoolhouse and the hotel; the honest attraction is a real boomtown caught mid-sentence. PUBLIC townsite on Highway 97, about 90 minutes north of Bend. Respect the private homes, people still live here.