Wallowa County Chieftain
wallowa.com
THREE
minutes with ...
ERL
MCLAUGHLIN
Farmer
Erl McLaughlin was born in Steamboat Springs, Colo., to
Hope and Harold McLaughlin in 1950. His folks were cattle
ranchers during a time when Steamboat Springs was a rural
community.
News
May 16, 2018
“We lived next to the Continental Divide, and it was
pretty hard to raise much other than grass and cattle at that
elevation,” McLaughlin said. “People ask me what we
raised in Steamboat Springs and I say, ‘A good crop of
snow.’”
He went to Steamboat Springs High, graduating in
1969, and then on to Western State College of Colorado,
graduating in 1973 with two undergraduate degrees, one in
business administration and one in economics along with
almost a minor in psychology and sociology.
His family had moved to Enterprise in 1972 after LTV
Aerospace Corp. moved to Steamboat Springs and the pop-
ulation boom began. The landscape in Steamboat Springs
allowed for almost unlimited development
Erl followed his parents to Enterprise. Wallowa County
reminded the family of the beauty of Steamboat Springs
and they began farming there. Erl turned his attention to
learning how to farm.
He now farms 550 acres of dark northern spring wheat.
He met Maryann Blankenship in 1979 and the couple mar-
ried in 1981 and had two children, Tyson and Tonya Cas-
tilleja, both of whom still live in Wallowa County.
Maryann passed away in 2016 at 55. Since his wife’s
death, Erl has been relying on and providing support for
the family as they deal with the sudden loss. She was an
integral part of running the farm that Erl said he is still
struggling to manage on his own. His 92 year-old mother,
Hope, has picked up much of the bookkeeping and domes-
tic chores, he said, and although he is grateful, he wants to
remedy that situation given his mother’s age.
Erl is best known in the county for his hobby of col-
lecting old agriculture-related equipment at Sunrise Iron,
where he holds an open house each year. He also “hunts
new iron,” enjoys artwork, church activities and “figuring
out what the good Lord wants me to do in my personal life.”
A7
Q. Why did you stay in Wallowa County?
A. I can make a living farming, and I really enjoy my farm-
ing, and my kids are right here, living in Enterprise. It’s
a friendly place and a good place to raise a family. And
it’s a beautiful area. God has blessed this place with the
mountains and the scenery around here — people would
give their eyeteeth for the view that we have. Just because
you live in a place for 45 years, you shouldn’t take it for
granted. You should wake up every day and praise God.
Q. What has Wallowa County taught you?
A. I guess it’s taught me to be considerate of other peo-
ple. When people go through some adversity then it’s up
to somebody to go alongside and encourage them. We’ve
all got some adversity in our lives and some days things
are really well and the next day things aren’t not so well,
and you’ve got to supply emotional support for people that
are going through some kind of tragedy or a life-chang-
ing event.
Q. Can you remember an early book that meant a
lot to you and can you recommend a book you’ve
read recently?
A. When I started school I went to school in a one-room
schoolhouse with one teacher for all eight grades and we
didn’t have a library. My dad used to read me lots of books.
He used to read “Old McDonald’s Farm” and he used to
tease me a little bit and read something else into that and
I’d say “that doesn’t say that,” because he’d read it to me
so many times. A book I’ve read recently that I can rec-
ommend is the “Encyclopedia of American Farm Trac-
tors.” You’d have to be fairly narrow-minded to get into
that kind of literature; Tom Butterfield, Reed Kooch and
Dennis Hendersen and me would enjoy that kind of read-
ing material.
Wallowa County’s food scene in for some changes
Kathleen Ellyn
As many of you know, the
landmark Hydrant Restau-
rant and Bar at 100 S. Main
in Joseph has been for sale for
some time.
Alejandra
Zamudio,
cousin of La Laguna owner
Angelica Zurita, purchased
the business in conjunction
with her in-laws and part-
ner, Wade Moore. Zamu-
dio worked at La Laguna for
five years and is experienced
in the restaurant industry and
can also rely on the advice and
assistance of La Laguna own-
ers. Moore, who has a back-
ground in construction, has
been shadowing to learn the
ins and outs of the business
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
The transformation of The
Hydrant is nearing comple-
tion as new owners remodel
and apply fresh paint.
and has taken on the remodel-
ing chores.
In addition to applying new
exterior paint on the old land-
mark Hydrant, the extended
family has been busy giv-
We received a great update
on another food business
recently when Hatch Oregon
year,” she said. “These last
couple weeks have been off the
charts for me. We went to the
Good Food Merchant’s Guild
trade show last week (Arrow-
head Chocolates is a member
of the Guild as well) and rep-
resentatives from retail busi-
nesses came through and sam-
pled products.”
As a result, Goodman said,
her bars will be sold in Market
of Choice by next fall. They
are already sold in New Sea-
sons Market Slabtown (the
Pearl District of Portland) and
the bars will be featured in
more New Seasons Markets
soon.
Goodman continues to
receive great press and her bars
will be one of several featured
released the great news that
Judy Goodman of Joseph is
the first Oregon business to
provide a return to investors
under the Community Pub-
lic Offering program, which
allowed ordinary folks to
invest in Oregon products.
Goodman, who created
“BGoodBars” (Artisan Choc-
olate Energy Bars), recently
delivered interest checks to the
23 Oregonian investors who
invested a total of $20,000
during her CPO campaign
2016-2017.
Goodman put that invest-
ment money to work and it
has paid off for investors and
BGoodBars.
“I’ve doubled or increased
sales by 30 percent every
in Seattle Magazine in June.
”I’m getting orders every
day, it’s exciting,” Goodman
said.
She owes much of her suc-
cess to her networking abil-
ities and her courage to be
among the first Oregonians
to take advantage of the CPO
program – using the money
raised to modernize her busi-
ness and develop her advertis-
ing strategy.
She will be attending the
Regards 2 Rural Conference
this month with North East
Oregon Economic Develop-
ment District representatives
Lisa Dawson and Sara Miller,
who will be speaking about the
process of raising community
capital in rural communities.
G E T M O R E W I T H O U T PAY I N G M O R E !
ALL NEW
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BIZ BUZZ
ing the place a deep clean.
The goal is a Memorial Day
opening.
Visitors can expect to see a
modernized tavern, new furni-
ture and a level of cleanliness
in keeping with what visitors
to the La Laguna restaurants
in Joseph and Enterprise have
come to expect.
“If you’re going to change
things, change them right,”
said Zurita.
Some things will remain
the same: Expect to see a “reg-
ular American bar with good
drinks and fattening food,”
Zurita said.
The old Hydrant signs will
be raffled off when the new
Rusty Spur opens.
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