SECTION 3, PACE 12
ETHNIC BACK GROUNDS
U nusual Irishman
C ontinued from Page U
to America trom County
Clare, Ireland, of which coun
try they were natives. They
first settled in Illinois, where
our subject grew to manhood.
On account of the poverty
of his parents and the poor
school faculties in their
place, he attended school only
one day. He left home at
an early age and took up
a seafaring life, which he
followed for many years. Dur
ing this time he saw the need
of a better educational train
ing and set himself to the
task of gaining the same,
which be did to a fine de
gree, being aided much by
his travels. He has learned
to speak the German and
Spanish languages in addition
to his mother tongue and
is a well-read man, manifes
ting fine capabilities. During
his travels he visited all the
ports of any size in the en
tire world. He crossed the
plains in 1871 to California,
and in 1878 was employed
as scout by the government
in the Indian War. Since quit
ting the seas he has devoted
his attention to farming and
stock raising, in which oc
cupation he enjoys a very
gratifying financial remun
eration." Then, after two paragraphs
about Mr. Johnson's mar
riages and children and fra
ternal memberships, the
sketch concludes with this
appraisal, "He is a man of
sterling integrity and upright
principles, ever demeaning
himself in a praiseworthy
and commendable manner."
EARLY FARMERS
By the time Morrow County
farmers were getting well
Serving the Heppner
Area for 75 Years
V1
established and wheat was
becoming a major crop,
their tools had advanced
through manvstaces of horse
powered machines headers,
threshers, separators. Walk
ing plows pulled by two or
three horses were replaced
by gang plows nude up of
a 3-toottom 12" or 16"
share and were pulled by six
or eight horses. Farmers
needed to be blacksmiths to
care for this equipment. Be
cause few farmers could own
threshing machines large
custom threshing crews
moved through the area from
about 1890 for about 35 years
building piles of sacked
wheat and cones of straw.
Giles French covers this
period from pages 30 through
50 in Homesteads and Heri
tages. Heppner was a popu
lar Saturday night spot for the
men traveling with these
crews, and its bars saw great
activity during harvest.
After harvest, farmers
hauled the sacked grain to
warehouses in their wagons.
Sacks weighed 140 pounds.
Before the railroad came into
the county (1888) hauling was
so expensive and time con
suming that not nearly as
much wheat was sold as soon
after the R.R. came. The
flouring mill at Heppner han
dled small amounts of local
wheat.
i m m mm mr
ML- - X "'yiJ
as the
(An excellent look at early
day wheat farming is given
in This Was Wheat Farming,
a good-sized, full-of-pictures
book written by Mr. Klrby
Brumfield an Oregon "farm
boy" who is presently with
KATU television. The Brum
field book was an award win
ning publication of 1968.)
There were many publica
tions just before and just af
ter 1900 which pictured life
at that important date. Many
gave projections of future de
velopments. One of these
s mall "Brag Books' ' was pub
lished by the Morrow County
Booster Club. It paints this
word picture:
"It should be constantly
born in mind that Morrow
County is largely in an un
developed, or, at least, a tran
sitional stage. The era of
unlimited stock raising has
been followed by wheat far
ming on a scale of similar
magnitude. Land is still held
in immense areas. The stock
man thinks nothing of it that
he counts his holdings not
by the acres, but by the sec-
"7 E J nW-UW " E 'IT 4t .... kteii
i r i j m mew . - ti inrnn
So
Small fortune in wheat from one Morrow farm
Century
tions. The wheat farmer,
likewise, owns several
"quarter s," aggrega
ting, commonly, some thous
ands of acres of land. But
a new day is dawnlng-a day
of smaller farms and better
farming; a day of diversi
fied agriculture, with utili
zation of the by-products. In
all likelihood wheat will re
main the staple product, and
stock raising will continue to
receive a great deal of at
tention. But other products
fruit, vegetables, etc., are
being grown. The dairy cow
is beginning to find her place,
and stock are being fed on
We Started Long Ago
TURNER, VAN MARTER
and BRYANT
Insurance Agency
We've been servinq the Heppner-Morrow County
area for 45 year since founded in 1927 by Frank
Turner. .
Complete Insurance Needs
Auto
Crop
Liability Coverage
Farm Machinery
Boats
Bonds
Changes
the farm as well as on the
range. This means, of
course, the reduction of the
size of the ranches and an
increasing population. It
means, too, greater pros
perity both for the farmers
and for the communities. The
population of Morrow County
is not much above 5,000,
half of which Is represented
by the various towns and vil
lages. To say that the county
couldand should support a
population tun times that num
ber is putting the matter
mildly."
Continued on page 13