PLSO The Oregon Surveyor March April 2020

23 What Oregon town is the highest elevation, lowest population and was once home to a Lost Surveyor? Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon  |  www.plso.org The Lost Surveyor Question Continues on page 24 T Photo 1: The Fairbanks Schoolhouse. Fairbanks post office existed from 1905 to 1909. T he answer to this question comes from a thousand-mile four-day Oregon road trip over Fourth of July weekend 2019. Media sites are full of road trip ideas cov- ering everything you can imagine. Best burger joint; most scenic waterfalls; most popular mountain tops; most hidden porta potty road trip (OK…I might have made that last one up) and, finally, the one that sucked me in; the Oregon Ghost Town Road Trip. How can a surveyor possibly resist a ghost town tour full of history surveyors probably helped create? After seeing the ghost town tour map pop up on my social media numerous times, a plan was formed. With the car packed full we headed to The Dalles on the Fourth of July to begin the adventure. After a quick snack at Clock Tower Ales, we were off to visit Fairbanks before the fireworks started! Now that may seem like a real detour, but Fair - banks, Oregon lies just a few miles southeast of The Dalles and was named for Charles W. Fairbanks, the Vice President under Theodore Roosevelt. Originally, a stop on the Great Southern Railroad, the Fairbanks Post Office appears to have been in existence for only about four years. After that, the town fell into decline. A few houses and the school house are all that remain today. (Photo 1)