[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 162 (Wednesday, October 24, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CROOK 
                             COUNTY, OREGON

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GREG WALDEN

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 24, 2007

  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay special 
tribute to the citizens of Crook County, Oregon who are celebrating the 
125th anniversary of the establishment of their county this month.
  The Enabling Act, creating Crook County from the southern portions of 
Wasco County, was approved and signed by the Governor of Oregon on 
October 24, 1882. He appointed 10 officials to govern the county: 
County Judge; 2 Commissioners; Assessor; County Clerk; Coroner; School 
Superintendent; Sheriff; Surveyor; and Treasurer.
  Prineville, the county seat, is the oldest community in Central 
Oregon. In 1868 Barney Prine came to the Crooked River Valley and set 
up a blacksmith shop, saloon, and primitive country store along the 
banks of the Crooked River, A Post Office was established in 1871 and 
was named Prine in Barney's honor. The name of the Post Office was 
changed to Prineville in 1872.
  The county is named after Major General George Crook, U.S. Army. 
General Crook was an 1852 graduate of the United States Military 
Academy at West Point, a hero of the Snake Indian Wars, and, at the 
time of his death in 1890, was Commander of the Army's Department of 
the West.
  When it was founded in 1882, Crook County encompassed an area of 
8,600 square miles and had a population of only 2,500. In 1914 and 1916 
Jefferson and Deschutes counties were carved out of Crook County 
leaving it at just under 3,000 square miles today, with a population of 
approximately 23,000.
  Some of the more noteworthy events in the county's early history 
include: the building of the first county courthouse in the county seat 
of Prineville at a cost of $5,474 in 1886; the first electrical service 
in Prineville in 1890; the first telephone service in the county in 
1899; the opening of the first high school in 1905; and the first movie 
theater in 1909.
  Between 1930 and 1940 Prineville became the nation's largest shipping 
point of pine lumber; in 1934 the Prineville Airport was dedicated; in 
1940 the first dial telephones were installed in the county; and in 
1952 the late Les Schwab opened his first tire store in Prineville, the 
very beginning of what is now one of the leading independent tire 
dealerships in the country with more that 7,000 employees and 400 
stores throughout the western United States.
  Today, Madam Speaker, the citizens of Crook County celebrate 125 
years of rich pioneer heritage in their Central Oregon home, and look 
forward to an increasingly bright future in a growing and revitalized 
county. I am proud to represent the citizens of Crook County in the 
U.S. House of Representatives, and look forward to county's continued 
success.

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