A piece of the Old West

The Imnaha Store & Tavern sits in the heart of Imnaha — population 14.

Ever since Dave and Sallie Tanzey began thinking about retiring some eight years ago, people began sticking dollar bills on the ceiling with their name and phone number, to be called for a big retirement party.

Today the ceiling is virtually covered with dollar bills. Most are folded around a quarter used for weight behind a thumb tack.

Well, the dollars are finally going to come down soon. The Tanzeys have sold the establishment to Dave and Margaret Turner of Imnaha. The Turners have worked there the past three years.

Dave Turner has managed the Fence Creek Ranch the past four years. Prior to that he lived in Virginia where he managed farms.

Dave Turner had been to the Imnaha area hunting and decided to move there.

Margaret had managed a computer office for Circuit City in Virginia. Before that she had her own computer repair business there.

Dave proposed to Margaret before a full house in the Imnaha Tavern on a Thursday Night (Dinner) Special.

They were married Aug. 11, 2007, at Indian Village with the Seven Devils in the background.

“We just wanted to do something different,” Dave Turner said about the couple buying the establishment that is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

“It’s like an old store out of the West — that’s what attracts the tourists,” Dave Turner said. “We plan to keep it basically the same.”

However, they have drug it into the 21st century by adding a Wi-Fi connection. They have also added a big screen television and now accept debit and credit cards.

The Imnaha Store and Tavern has also long been known as the local watering hole and information center, Dave Tanzey said.

Hunters often stop and ask for information on conditions.

“If there’s an emergency or someone wants information, they call the store,” Sallie Tanzey said.

It’s more than just a store and tavern, and a place to shoot a game of pool. It’s a social center for the little town that has a population of 14 “when everybody’s home.”

All kinds of gatherings have been held at the store, from Bible studies to celebrations such as bridal showers, Sallie said.

The two school buses from the two-room school stop there after school for the kids to get a treat to tide them over on the long trip home upriver. It’s legal. The Imnaha Store and Tavern has a special grandfathered license not available anymore to allow minors to shop at the only store for 30 or more miles around.

The old building has quite a history. Sallie thinks it’s the oldest business in Wallowa County. It was built in 1904 when the population of Imnaha was more than 60 people. The Findleys operated it.

One day in recent years, the Findleys’ daughter came in and told the Tanzeys that she was born in the living quarters in the back of the store.

The Tanzeys have operated the store and tavern for 29 years.

For 18 years, up until 2004, the Tanzeys had an annual bear and rattlesnake feed. One year they prepared four bear and more than 300 rattlesnakes.

It drew 300 people. Then someone put it on the Internet and it jumped to 900 people the last couple of years, which proved to be a bit too much for the tiny berg.

The grill has a broad menu that even includes gizzards and frog legs.

The store draws people from the Wallowa Valley 30 or more miles away. Sallie says that sometimes people find a better price on an item at Imnaha, and people come for the sausage gravy that they can’t find elsewhere.

Tourists come from all over the world.

“It’s the last stop on the way to Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge in North America,” Dave Tanzey said.

People find a personal connection. The walls are lined with a clutter of memorabilia and jokes. Typical are people’s old hats hung from trophy antler mounts, and patches from people’s work. Someone put their license plate on the wall. “All of a sudden I had 40,” Dave Tanzey said.

The Tanzeys said that most of all they will miss the people and the experiences, which then turn into stories.

Sallie remembers a hunter who came in sneezing and continued to sneeze until he sneezed his false teeth out, which went clattering across the floor. “He was the only one not laughing,” she said.

The Tanzeys live right around the corner and they plan to remain regular customers.