A Frontier Town Still Standing

ELGIN, Ore. — It's show time at the old Elgin Opera House, and Sammy's come to town. But watch out: He's got the .30-caliber Ruger Blackhawk slung on his hip. The last time Sammy came to the opera house, the story goes, a John Wayne movie was playing. Sammy got so excited when an Indian sneaked out from behind a rock that he opened fire on the screen.

Asked to confirm the story, Sam Horrell only smiles. But the Ruger goes everywhere with him. And if you remember that fact, you will know most of what you need to know about Sammyville, Ore. Location: five miles up the road from Elgin. Population: 39. Motor vehicle count: approximately 155. Number of working vehicles: approximately three. Gun count: 150. And that's just if you're counting what Sammy packs. Everybody else likes to keep that sort of information quiet. If you know what they mean.

There probably have always been places like Sammyville: backwoods redoubts for those who prefer not having an address, shantytowns out past the end of the road with signs warning trespassers to stay out. (This one adds the words "will be shot" after "trespassers.") Folks in Elgin have always known about Sammyville, but most of them don't go out that way. And the people who live there at Sammy's place, well, they like that just fine.

Behind the big "Sammyville" sign here in northeastern Oregon is a place where the debates over gun ownership aren't much more real than the cowboys and Indians flickering across the screen at the Elgin Opera House.

Oregon legislators have already adopted some of the strictest handgun laws in the nation and are talking about tightening them even further with new background checks on sales at gun shows. But what goes on in Sammyville--an unincorporated collection of log cabins, shacks, old trailers and tents three miles back from the nearest paved road and 25 miles from the Sheriff's Department--depends on what Sammy says can go on in Sammyville.

Union County Sheriff Steve Oliver drove out recently to ask Sammy about a report that somebody was firing off a fully automatic AR-15 rifle in the woods. It was a semiautomatic, Sammy said. Then he wanted to inspect the sheriff's service rifle in the trunk and advised him on what he ought to buy. "Firing out here to the road, you need a little more oomph than a shotgun," he said. And that was the end of that particular discussion.

Fame Comes to the Backwoods