GUIDED TOUR OF JOHN DAY & CANYON CITY CONTINUED
Greenhorn Jail
Next to the Oliver Museum, Canyon City
This building has also been resited next to the Oliver Museum. It is a small, one story, wood building. Greenhorn was a mining camp with a mailing list for about 2,000 people and a resident population between 500 and 700. For a time, the highest town in Oregon -- 7,500 feet -- today it is a ghost town nestled in the Blue Mountains about 15 miles south of Granite and north of the middle fork of the John Day River.
Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum
Adjacent to the City Park, John Day
This is a unique vernacular historical building. Now a most extraordinary museum containing a large collection of Chinese artifacts, it was constructed as a trading post on The Dalles Military Road in 1866-67 and also served as a general store, doctor's office, Chinese temple, and center of the Chinese community. The 1862 gold rush brought over 2000 Chinese to Eastern Oregon including Ing Hay [known as Doc Hay] and Lung On, a businessman, who lived in the building until the 1940's.
Joaquin Miller Cabin
Next to the Oliver Museum, Canyon City
This small wood frame cabin has been resited near the museum. It was built in 1865 and still contains many original furnishings. Cincinnatus Hiner [Joaquin] Miller was a writer, lecturer, and newspaper correspondent. He served as the first Grant County Judge from 1866 to 1870. His book of poetry "Speciments" was written while in Grant County. "Crossing the Plains" and "The Yukon" are his best known works.
The Johnson Building [Mosier's Home Furnishings]
N.E. corner of N. Canyon Blvd. and Highway 26, John Day
This is another of the Romanesque buildings that are characterized by the use of massive walls and common in the John Day/Canyon City business district. It is a two story brick building with eight bays on the front elevation of the second story. Constructed in 1902, the original store contained a hardware store, a dry goods establishment, and a bank with a spacious hall on the second floor and was built by T.T. Kelly for a whopping $10,000 for the Johnson brothers. When the two brothers had a disagreement, there was a wall built down the center of the building to divide it into two separate businesses. The wall has since been removed.
This concludes the tour of Canyon City/John Day historical buildings.
