17
GRAB BAG
AN ASSORTMENT OF
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
SEPTEMBER 15�22, 2021
Roadside
fortress
tells a
historic
horse tale
Find the site
along Highway 26
By Cheryl Hoefl er
GO! Magazine
M
OUNT VERNON — Old
barns and buildings are
scattered across the Eastern
Oregon landscape.
Ever wonder what tales they
would share if only their walls
could talk?
A simple, small stone struc-
ture near Mount Vernon in Grant
County bears an unlikely story
— and a slice of local history to
go with it.
The building was erected to
protect, of all things, a prized
racehorse.
As the story goes, in the late
1870s local settler David Jen-
kins took possession of a sorrel
mare from a traveler. From this
mare a black stallion was born,
which Jenkins named Mount
Vernon — and who happened to
have racing talent in his blood.
Some years later, fearing theft
by Native Americans in the area,
Jenkins had a stone fortress
constructed to protect his valu-
able equine possession. As it
turns out, no harm or threats
ever came to the horse.
In 1877, a post offi ce was
established at the nearby com-
munity of Mount Vernon, named
after the noteworthy animal.
Mount Vernon — the horse —
achieved fame for many years
competing in trotting races
throughout the state before
being sold when he was 17 to a
Portland man in 1893. He died in
1917 at age 41.
The unmarked stone barn
stands today — now protected
by a fence — a couple miles east
of Mount Vernon on Highway 26.
Cheryl Hoefl er/Go! Magazine
This stone structure was built to house a prized racehorse named Mount Vernon, near the animal’s namesake town of
Mount Vernon in Grant County.
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