Antone started out as just a post office,which was supplied with telephone connections, and a small grocery store. It was situated on Rock Creek about 60 miles from Fossil.

Antone may have been small, but the area around it was alive with mining and raising livestock. As early as 1862, gold miners were in the areas called Spanish Gulch and Mule Gulch. Soon, quartz rock claims were filed. Mining was a major part of that region for about three quarters of a century.

Antone was on the main road between Mitchell, Dayville, and John Day, a position which the town enjoyed. Then in the 1930's, roads ended the movement between the three communities and destroyed Antone.

In1941, the post office burnt down. It was housed in the store until a new building was constructed. Then, in 1950, the post office was closed. Mail is now delivered to the Antone area by the Mitchell post office 3 days a week.

Antone had three school houses.. The first school was built in the gulch below "flat ranch." In the summer of 1908, school was held for two months and the next year, it was in session for 10 weeks. School was held at that small building until 1908.

The second school was in Antone east of Rock Creek at the bottom of the first canyon on the left hand side of the road as you drove up to Trosper ranch up the creek. Later the building was moved into Antone and used as the blacksmith shop.The third and last school was on the knoll up on the Antone road. It was used from 1918 to 1939. Behind the schoolhouse was a shed for the horses that the children rode to school. In the fall of 1929 a basement was built under the school house and a new flue and cement poured for the basement so that a wood furnace could be built. Water was piped in for a new drinking fountain and wash bowl.

During the winter, several dances were held in the school house. Music was provided by the Louglin orchestra.

In the south east corner of Wheeler County, was a little town called Barite. It was founded by Rueben Fields in 1901. Besides a post office, there was a saw mill and a semi-weekly stage. The sawmill and post office were both owned by Fields. The post office was closed August 20, 1906.

In about 1862, two prospectors named Shoeman and Wadley left California for the gold fields of Oregon. They reached a little stream, and they built a bridge across it out of juniper logs, hence the name "Bridge Creek." In 1868, a post office was established on the location and named Bridge Creek. The first Postmaster was Alfred Sutton, an Oregon Pioneer. The post office was actually on the Sutton ranch. It was shut down in 1882.

A stage station was created near Bridge Creek and it was considered the first white settlement in what came to be know as Wheeler County.

Bridge Creek became famous later. Sometime during 1917-1918 a covered bridge was built over Bridge Creek. According to Ned Norton, only two bridges went across Bridge Creek-one near Canyon City and one across Bridge Creek four miles from Mitchell, in use until the the 1950's.

Timber for this section of the state was cut by a small mill on Mountain Creek, 25 miles away, and hauled by team and wagon to the site.The bridge's length was 60 feet and concrete piers were placed at each end of the bridge. Despite the efforts to save the bridge when the Prineville-Mitchell road was changed, it was razed and all that remained are the concrete piers.

Burnt Ranch is situated on the southern bank of the John Day River at the western edge of Wheeler County. James Clark decided that he would homestead the site.He maintained a stage station for The Dalles-Canyon City Stage Line.

Clark and his brother-in-law, George Masterson, were chased by Indians and then sacked and looted of 4 horses worth $600 and all their belongings. The house was burned to the ground. Luckily, Clark's wife had left to visit family in the Willamette Valley and had escaped certain death.

Caleb, another small town that was located in Wheeler County, was 50 miles from Fossil and 15 from Mitchell, on Mountain Creek near the present Barnhouse ranch. Established in the 1890's , Caleb was named after Caleb N. Thornburg who had stock at Spanish Gulch at one time. The town included a post office, a livery stable, a hotel, a blacksmith shop, a general merchandise store and a meeting hall. The town included no school and the population gradually moved to Mitchell, which had the closes school facility, and other populated areas.

At one time, the Indians were only attacking with hit-and-run raids. But the raids were not insignificant, with 100 people counted dead from raids and how many lone persons and small parties that were killed will never be know.

Attempting to stop these raids, the military department established Camp Watson at the center of the trouble on The Dalles- Canyon City Road. Company B, Oregon Volunteer Calvary , located the Camp in July of 1864. To build Camp Watson, the men of Company B had to work in 5 feet of snow that winter to build the camp big enough for two companies of calvary and infantry.By March, over half of the men were sick from lack of food and medicine.

In 1866, after the Civil War, the Oregon Volunteers were replaced by the Company I of the regular calvary, which stayed until 1869, when the threat was seemingly over. Protests from the Dalles merchandise caused this to be one of the last posts abandoned. The structure was later burned as a fire hazard: the only physical evidence of the post is the remaining military cemetery.

Clarno was a small town on the John Day River , near the bridge. It was named for one of the earliest white settlers on the John Day, Andrew Clarno, who settled in the John Day valley in 1866. The post office was established in 1894 on September the 15th, with Nannie Chichester as the postmistress. The post office, at the time, was actually in Gilliam County, as Wheeler had not yet been established. In these early days, people didn't care for close nieghbors. It is said that Andrew Clarno heard that a friend of his had his homestead near Fossil - about 20 miles away- he saddled up, rode over and said, "Don't ya think your crowdin' me a little?"

Clarno, never a townsite, is an area renowned for its color and history. Charels Clarno,son of Andrew, greatly admired the steamboats on the Columbia River and constructed one in minature, dubbing it the 'John Day Queen'. This served as a ferry and pleasure-cruise boat and had a fire boiler.

The bridge at Clarno was constructed in 1908 and in the late 1920s oil exploration sparked man area residents to invest in stock at $10 per share. No oil was found in this exploration or in others that followed but Clarno has given a share of wealth to the area by the many major geological discoveries made in the area by OMSI's Camp Hancock.

Near Clarno there was another post office called the Huntley post office. It was established Febuary of 1876 with Joseph Broughton as postmaster. No one has been able to learn why it was named Huntley , but there was a pioneer family near there on Pine Creek named Huntley. It is possible the post office was named for this family. However, in june of 1876 the name was changed to Pine Creek after the creek named Pine Creek which runs into the John Day.The name was again changed in December of 1877, to Crown Rock for the rimrock formation that is domanate in the area.

Kinzua was not a pioneer town, but was a fairly recent one. It was a company-owned lumber townwith the post office established in 1928. The place was named the Kinzua Pine Mills Company for a place in Warren County, Pennsilvainia. The name, Kinzua, is said to be of Senneca origin and means "place of many fishes."

The town, founded in 1927 by E.D. Wetmore, is located at the head of Thirty-mile. At one time,as many as 330 workers were employed by the Kinzua Mill and Factory. This corporate-owned town had everything for its emplouees- both their basic needs as well as their recreational ones.

The mill operation was moved to Heppner and the town and mill were removed from Kinzua in 1978. No remain as an effor was made to return the land to its natural state by the Kinzua Corporation.

Richmond, a pleasant little town almost in the very center of Wheeler County, was once the business center for all of the Shoofly country. It had a store, a hotel, a livery stable, a good public school and a number of residences. At one time it was a very prosperous and thriving community. A post office was established at near by Waldron in 1879, but was closed and moved to Richmond in the July of 1902.

In 1889, the Shoofly area was inhabited by Gilliam, Donnelly, Keyes, and Walters families, the first in the area. After they had decided to establish a town, they set out to build a school. Where to build the school, however, became a major question. In fact, William Walters rebelled vehemently at all suggestions made by R.N. Donnelly. Donnelly called Walters 'Jeff Davis' because of his rebellious attitude. Donnelly said, "We're all just a bunch of johny rebels, why don't we name it Richmond." So because of Donnelly's suggestion, and Walters attitude, the town was dubbed Richmond.

The community was not long lived. Richmond's earliest claim to fame occured when it hosted an annual meeting of the Wheeler County Pioneer Assocation in 1901. The meeting lasted a week and attracted some 450 people.

An attraction now at Richmond is the old Methodist Church, which has been renovated and is used in marriage ceremonies and special occasions; an added attractions to the popular 'ghost town'.

The SErvice Creek post office was established in May of 1918. May Tilley was the first post mistress. Early indicate the name was once Sarvis Creek. Some say it was thus named for the sarvis berries, which gres along the banks of the creek, but Donald Sterling, Jr., editor of the Oregon Journal, wrote that he, after careful investigation, could find no record of the sarvis berry- only the srevice berry also know as the Juneberry.

Service Creek empties into the John Day River and the community never achieved town status. There is no longer a post office here, but there remains a service station, restraunt and store, recnetly renovates and making Service Creek a popular place to dine.

Twickenham, about 20 miles south of Fossil, was situated in a rocky area on the John Day River, surrounded by red-brown hills dotted with blue-gray sage and crowned by huge rimrocks of different hues. Because it ws reasonably level here with an easy grade, a road was built and Twickenhamgrew into a typical western stage town.History has it that Twickenham was formerly called Contention, commemorating a quarrel between Anthony 'Pike' Helms and Jerome H. Parsons, both residents of the area.The Contention psot office was established July of 1886 with Edward F. Horn the first post master. Frankie Parsons, the daughterof Jerome Parsons, objected to the name to the name 'Contention' claiming that it was un dignified. In her studies, she became familar with the poem, 'Twickenham Ferry' the setting for which is a western suburb of London called Twickenham (prononced Twicknam). She was apparently successful in her bids on June 6, 1896, the Twickenham post office was established with Anthony Helms as the post master.Records still aren't clear whether the name of the former post office was simply changed its name or the entire post office was.