B2
History
Blue Mountain Eagle
Helen Elizabeth Ricco
Sept. 25, 1918 - April 6, 2017
H
elen Elizabeth Ricco
was born in Metzenseif-
en, Czechoslovakia, on
Sept. 25, 1918.
Leaving this politically
contentious area, her father
sought a better life for his fam-
ily in Cleveland. He worked
seven years to earn enough
money to bring his family to
the United States in 1929.
The United States, even in
the throes of the depression,
was a better choice than stay-
ing in Czechoslovakia, which
was about to be torn apart by
World War II in just a few
short years.
It seems Grandma main-
tained the careful thriftiness
learned during this time. For
many decades she would wash
plastic sacks that her produce
had been purchased in, to be
reused for storing various
items and worn-out clothes
were never just discarded, but
found a second life to be used
as rags or patches for other
clothes.
Helen was the second of
four daughters and spoke only
German when she moved to
Ohio with her mother, sisters,
one large suitcase and a will-
ingness to work.
Somehow, she and her
family made do. Her mother
cleaned the bakery owners’
house for unsold bakery items.
Her father worked in a steel
factory making nuts, bolts
and shovels. He became very
knowledgeable about various
tensile strengths of steel bolts
and could tell exactly how
much force it required to break
them.
The challenge of these ear-
ly years formed strong family
bonds. In 1993, as Helen com-
forted a granddaughter at the
loss of her mother, she encour-
aged her with the knowledge
that she herself still missed
her parents. In her room, you
would find a picture of her
parents.
Coming to Grant County
In 1943, Helen managed
Jan. 29, 1937
Blue Mountain Eagle
W
ord was received
here yesterday af-
ternoon of the death
that morning of Dan Morrow
of Long Creek, following an
Ing ‘Doc’ Hay
1863 - 1952
Life in Prairie City
Once again, Helen brought
her German roots and East-
ern European background
to fruitfulness as she moved
— our family has benefit-
ed from German strudels,
German goulash, German
chocolate cake, German
flat pancakes (I have read
somewhere how Germans
love their pancakes, and it is
true!) and chocolate mousse,
to name a few!
No one cooked or baked
like Helen! Her culinary
skill was invaluable as
she and Gene ran the Blue
Mountain Guest Ranch and
Hot Springs, beginning in
1967.
She was never one to be
idle. If she wasn’t cooking,
then she was cleaning, sew-
ing, doing books, yard work,
gardening or crocheting.
Yet somehow, she still
seemed to find time for her
family. Her grandchildren
recall many times that she
read them books, played
card games, put together
puzzles or pulled out board
games. She had a special set
of small pans, so that her
grandchildren could make
small pies if she was making
a pie or bake their own little
loaf of bread on bread-mak-
ing day.
Helen kept old beach
size towels so her grandkids
could make little tent houses
and a couple of apple box-
es filled with toys neatly set
in her library room, which
was the special spot for her
grandkids to play. When
the weather permitted, she
played croquet, baseball,
kickball or took the grand-
children for a swim.
At bedtime, her grand-
children begged her for sto-
ry after story of the real life
bear encounters she had ex-
perienced at the Blue Moun-
tain Hot Springs.
Eugene and Helen were
married until Eugene’s death
in 1978. They had four girls
and one boy.
She sadly passed away
on Thursday, April 6, 2017,
at the age of 98 at the Blue
Mountain Care Center in
Prairie City.
Dan Morrow
1841 - 1937
illness of several days. Uncle
Dan had been reported a day
or two before as on the road to
recovery, and his death came
as a shock to his many ac-
quaintances here. Mr. Morrow
was the last surviving Civil
War veteran in the county, and
his death wipes out the last
G.A.R. member in the county.
He was 95 years of age and still
retained a remarkably clear and
active mind. No information
was received up to the time of
going to press regarding funer-
al arrangements.
Helen Ricco
to take a trip with her friend,
Ruth, to Canyon City. They
arrived in time for the ’62
Days dance, where she met a
confirmed 33-year-old bache-
lor who only wanted to dance
with her.
Needless to say, at the age
of 25, Helen’s parents heard
from their friends about how
Helen had “over-picked” and
would most certainly be an old
maid for the rest of her life.
As Helen and the “old
bachelor” were dancing, one
of his acquaintances remarked
to them, “Oh, Eugene Ricco,
you have just bought your own
ranch and so now it’s time for
finding a wife, I see!”
Helen started to will the
floor to open up so she could
just disappear. It would be two
years before Eugene finally
proposed and married Helen,
and this only after a letter from
Helen wanting to know his in-
tentions.
If there were bumps and
hard times for Helen in tran-
sitioning from Cleveland to
Prairie City, I could not tell
you, for she rarely mentioned
it other than to say how she
had missed her parents.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Jan. 25, 1952
Blue Mountain Eagle
I
ng “Doc” Hay is dead.
With his death in Port-
land last Saturday, a symbol
of a past and colorful era in
Grant County history passed
on. Funeral services were held
Thursday from Driskill’s with
the Rev. Mrs. Bach in charge.
Interment was in the John Day
cemetery.
Doc Hay’s life in Grant
County is so interwoven with
the old mining history and the
history of the Chinese colony
in Eastern Oregon that there
are hundreds of stories and
anecdotes brought to light by
his passing. Because he al-
ways avoided publicity and
talked little of the past even
to relatives much of the lore
of his life has been lost. There
is enough, however, to make
interesting reading for new-
comers and to bring nostalgic
reminiscence to old timers.
His age was not exactly
known. Relatives believe he
was at least 89 and, for the offi-
cial record, give his birthplace
as Walla Walla in 1863. When
the Chinese exclusion act was
about to be enacted and Doc
had to prove residence to es-
tablish citizenship, he went to
Walla Walla and obtained an
elector’s certificate to establish
his status. This certificate bears
the date of July 31, 1897, and
attested that he had voted in
election there prior to that date.
His ability as a Chinese
herb doctor became legendary
in Eastern Oregon. Stories are
recounted of the early days
when he would travel as far as
Prineville by horse and buggy
to treat patients.
A remarkable, almost phe-
nomenal, memory was listed
among the Doc attributes. Rel-
atives tell of a huge volume
of Chinese medicine he pos-
sessed. He practically had the
contents memorized and, at
the mention of any reference,
would give the page number
and paragraph in which to find
the information. His eyesight
began failing in the late ’20s,
and for the past few years he
has been totally blind. In his
old historic quarters, among
the medicines, personal me-
mentos and relics he kept sev-
eral radios and kept abreast
of world and national news.
Ropes were strung for him to
use as guides when moving out
of the house.
Sometime in his youth
We make sure your
loved ones will be taking care of.
Quality Life - Beautiful Location
Giving excellent care 24 hrs a day
BLUE MOUNTAIN CARE CENTER
112 E. 5th St., Prairie City
541-820-3341
YOUR MONEY - YOUR COMMUNITY - YOUR CREDIT UNION
Where People Are More
Important Than Money
Since 1957
Proud to be part of Grant
County history
for the last 59 years. The
only locally owned
financial institution in
Grant County.
650 W. Main St., John Day, Oregon • (541) 575-0264
162 W. Front, Prairie City, Oregon • (541) 820-4601 • (541) 820-4725
he went to China to learn
the age-old precepts of herb
medicines. The time when he
started living regularly in John
Day is hard to establish. His
father, Orr Hogg, established
the Kam Wah Chung store and
herb center here in 1871. His
father had arrived in the valley
in the early ’60s with the first
rush of miners into the Canyon
City diggings. He returned to
China to spend his last year be-
fore the turn of the century and
nothing further was known of
him.
Doc Hay, according to the
best information available, set-
tled here permanently in the
early ’80s. He was not known
to have visited China during
this century, but on one of his
trips to China, he married and
was the father of a son he nev-
er saw and of whom no present
trace is known.
In the heyday of the Kam
Wah Chung business opera-
tion, it had a greatly diversified
stock of all kinds of merchan-
dise. Gold dust was brought
over the counter. A frontier
bank was operated, and at
one time or another, much of
the land of Grant County had
loans from this bank against it.
Most of the debts were paid,
but many were quietly written
off. Among the contents of
the old store where the Doc
spent his last years are pa-
pers, letters and un-canceled
checks, all of which provided
a rich storehouse of research
material in studying the early
days of the county. Among
this material are un-cancelled
checks, many of them dat-
ing back to the early 1900’s,
mostly in small amounts, and
written by many pioneers of
the county now gone. The
amount of the un-cashed
checks is estimated to total
close to $20,000.
Although the Doc was not-
ed for always offering a help-
ing hand to worthy needy and
making modest charges for
his service, he managed to ac-
cumulate a substantial estate.
When his eyesight grew poor,
he gradually discontinued his
practice, and the bulk of the
work has been carried on by
his nephew, Dr. Bob Wah. Oc-
casionally he would treat an
old-timer but gradually made
his retirement complete.
Doc Hay was a devout
Buddhist but with the decreas-
ing number of original Chi-
nese immigrants too few were
left to hold regular services.
He maintained, however, a
Buddhist temple in his quar-
ters where he worshipped reg-
ularly. Although the Chinese
colony here, which at one time
numbered above 600, did not
have any designated leader,
Ing Hay was regarded as a se-
nior statesman to whom many
went regularly for advice. His
business partner, Lung On, re-
portedly about the same age as
Ing Hay, died in 1940.
Mining camp gamblers at
one time tried to use Ing Hay
as an instrument in filching
money from the miners. Part
of his stock of merchandise
consisted of playing cards. At
one time he had approximate-
ly 1,000 decks on hand from
which the frontier places of
amusement regularly made
purchases for their games.
The gamblers offered Ing
Hay a substantial amount of
money for the cards: They
would only keep them for
several days and return them
to him intact. He refused the
offer, which obviously was
intended as a way to steam off
seals, mark the cards and then
return them to Doc Hay to be
sold for use in the games. The
cards, as a product of Doc
Hay’s place would have been
regarded as reliable, and the
miners would have been tak-
en to the cleaners more rapid-
ly than usual.
Members of the Chinese
colony of good repute could
always get credit backing
from Ing. Mrs. Margaret Her-
burger O’Brien, a native of
Grant County, knew Doc Hay
in the earlier days. Before her
death late in June she had writ-
ten several columns on the old
doctor in the Ukiah, California
Press which she owned. In a
column appearing in the issue
of March 24, 1942, she remi-
nisced:
“It is a long time since I
saw him last. His name is Doc
Hay and he is a Chinese doc-
tor. He lives on a famous plac-
er mining creek in Eastern Or-
egon and he had done a lot of
good. When you visited ‘Doc’
Hay he would not ask you
what ailed you. He would take
your hand and forearm and
place them on a small pillow.
Carefully feeling about the
wrist he would find out him-
self what the matter was. He
would then fuss around in a
pot of herbs, leaves and roots
– it looked like a woodrat’s
nest – and he would fix you
up some medicine that would
‘Catchem’. The Celestial was
a smart old coot, too. I recall
a cowboy who had a violent
toothache, went in to try and
fool him and told ‘Doc’ Hay
he was plenty sick, ‘Doc’ Hay
put his forearm on the pillow
and quickly jabbed his thumb
in the cheek of the patient
beneath the tooth which was
throbbing. ‘Pull him out’ was
the diagnosis.”
Hardware
Paint
Cookware
Garden Supplies
Home Decor and much more!