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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The following is a news article which appeared in
the Ontario Argus Observer on July 1, 2003. Permission was given to use
this article as long as credit is given for its source.
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>LOOKING BACK - EARLY YEARS OF NYSSA'S
HISTORY</STRONG> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>Editors Note: Nyssa celebrates its
Centennial July 24 through July 27. This week, the Us section will feature
a series of historical articles and photographs submitted by Judy Barnes.
These originally appeared in Nyssa's "Gate City Journal" during the 1970's under
a series titled, "Out of the Past". </EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>NYSSA</STRONG> - The city of Nyssa was
incorporated in February 1903, with Daniel Ehrgood as mayor and Sanford Emison
as city recorder. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Events leading up to this
action revolved around the arrival of the Oregon Short Line railroad which
reached Malheur County from the East in December 1883, while the Oregon Railroad
and Navigation company was building railroad eastward from Portland.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> A man by the name of
Lennox Boyle, born in Canada, had a stock of goods in a tent city on the east
side of the Snake River. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> The tent city was
populated by families whose husbands and fathers worked on the railroad.
Boyle had followed the construction with a supply of groceries and dry goods.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> As soon as he knew the two
railroads were soon to connect and his store would no longer be needed, Boyle
settled on a homestead on the west side of the river where a section house and
water tower had been built at what was the future site of Nyssa. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Boyle ran the little
grocery in a building about 10-by-12 feet with a cold storage in the rear -
walk-in cellar with walls about four feet thick, made of sagebrush with dirt and
with railroad ties and more dirt on top. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Mr. Boyle applied for a
post office, the application being signed by Albert Finch, who was the Parma
Postmaster at that time, Parma being the closest post office to Nyssa.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> The Nyssa Post Office was
established June 15, 1889. The first Postmasters were Kate Whelan, June
15, 1889, Lennox Boyle, July 15, 1895, and Sanford Emison, January 12,
1898. Kate Whelan's husband was James Whelan, a railroad section
foreman. It is probable that the post office was the section house.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> James Whelan was on the
first Nyssa School Board </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> The Whelans left Nyssa and
lived in Payette for many years. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Lennox Boyle died Nov. 23,
1897, and is buried in the Evergreen cemetery, Ontario. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> During his residence in
Nyssa he taught school for a time in 1897, at the Lackey residence. Though
he was not a trained teacher, he knew the "3R's". </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Holiver Megorden and
family moved to Nyssa between 1892 and 1895.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> He purchased part of
Lennox Boyle's homestead and opened the second store in town. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Mr. Megorden shot and
killed his wife, March 28, 1905, resulting in the first murder trial in the
county in which the death penalty was given. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Megorden was hung in Salem
in 1907.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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