Lumber-Mill Shutdown Sparks Real-Estate Boom

MAUPIN, Ore. - Residents in this quiet mill town thought the closure of the Mountain Fir Lumber Co. meant the doom of their small community, but the publicity brought a real-estate boom instead.

"You should have seen it," builder Randy Klettke said of the rush for property after the mill shut down in March 1992.

"When that mill closed, for the next two months there were people walking all over this place."

A lot of people were hoping to pick up property in the picturesque town at desperation prices, he said. But prices began climbing, not falling.

Ironically, publicity about the mill closure boosted profits and became a marketing tool, said Mickey Snodgrass, of Ketchum Real Estate.

"People learned about our town," Snodgrass said. "We were the biggest tourist-kept secret in Oregon."

The housing market continues to climb steadily, Snodgrass said. Lots overlooking the Deschutes River have tripled in price in two years, she said.

The city of Maupin itself may profit as the owner of several lots with a river view. Klettke, representing a Portland engineer, asked the city last summer to sell them.

Other hopes for the land, however, include a possible city-owned bike trail, Snodgrass said.

Maupin Mayor Sherry Holliday crows about the real-estate boom. She had predicted when the mill closed that tourism could be the town's salvation.

The character of Maupin is changing from a mill town to a tourist and retirement community, Snodgrass said, but the town still has a solid core of families. Many unemployed millworkers chose to stay, she said.

Instead, they turned to other interests, many tourism-related. "We're not going to die," Snodgrass said, "because we're fighting and scratching."