The Abandoned General Store of Millican, Oregon

03 October 2022

About 30 miles east of Bend, just beyond the Oregon Badlands, sits the small town of Millican.

The town is named after George Millican who, in the late 1880s, established a ranch on the land. By the time Bill Mellin bought the town in 1945, Millican had moved closer to the newly constructed US 20 highway and gained a post office, general store, and gas station. Mellin would be the last of the town’s owners to operate the store long-term.

I arrived in Millican about an hour before sunset. Just enough time to wander around and take a few photos.

The first thing that struck me was how utterly isolated Millican is. It’s possible to look at a map and know how remote a place is, but not know what that feels like until you’re standing there. Three hours earlier I was working my way through congested traffic in Salem. Now, nothing.

The wind rushing over the mostly flat landscape creates a strange, almost oppressive atmosphere, dampening the sounds of passing RVs and trucks. Not that many did pass; for most of my time spent wandering the general store grounds, I was completely alone.

The general store sits boarded up and crumbling. Before I arrived, I’d thought about trying to get into the building. I’d seen some older photos showing almost an entire wall opened up. The boards and the “no trespassing” signs must be relatively recent, and most likely the will of the few people living in small buildings around the town. Nobody bothered me while I was wandering the grounds; the least I could do was not try to break in.

Bill and his wife Helen ran this store together for a little over 30 years until the family was hit by a series of losses.

In 1971, Bill and Hellen’s daughter, Tina Cornford was killed in a car accident in Los Angeles, California. She was just 25 years old.

Five years later, in 1976, Helen Mellin suffered from a heart attack and died at age 60.

Then, in 1980, William Mellin Jr, their son and air force pilot, was killed in a plane crash aged 31.

Now alone, Bill Mellin continued to run the general store while listing the town for sale. Mellin never saw the town sold as, in March of 1988, at 70 years old, Mellin was shot and killed by 41 year old David Wareham, a man he had employed.

Mellin’s granddaughter temporarily took ownership of the town until it was sold.

Despite some good intentions, Millican remains a ghost town with its gas pumps removed long ago and its general store slowly collapsing in the desert.