French

Next weekend likely is to see a few real live cattle barons in town, along with a whole lot of folks who enjoy the prospect of an event that reminds them our roots are indeed a part of the real West and the history that goes with it.

But one person who won’t be there is perhaps one of the most famous cattle barons of all – the legendary Pete French. But while the famous cattle king has been gone for well over a century, he has descendants in Pendleton.

Annie French Livingston, who runs the Sylvan Learning Center, is the daughter of another Pete French and a distant relative of the original. And there are more kinfolks around Umatilla and Morrow counties.

Annie is not without some personal cattle roots of her own and now, after a long hiatus, she and her husband, Clayton, are back in the business.

Annie’s dad, who was named for the original Pete French, had a pretty good-sized operation of his own, running about 1,000 cows (give or take a few) on a 40,000-acre holding between Vinson and Ukiah before he died suddenly in 1992.

As Annie is quick to point out, that was a great ranch where they could drive the cows from Vinson, through Gurdane, down to Ukiah while never leaving their own property. Those kinds of places are hard to find.

The ranch was sold after the death of

Pete French and now Clayton and Annie are summering their cows in Long Creek and wintering them near Juniper Canyon and the Vancycle area. Clayton’s mom, Sharon Livingston, who lives in Long Creek, is the immediate past president of the Oregon Cattleman’s Association. Her husband, Fred, died in 1992, the same year the local Pete French passed away.

Trying to track the entire French clan can become a bit confusing. The original Pete French operated his giant ranch in Harney County and his round barn still is a tourist attraction. He had come to the Diamond area from California where his partner – and future father-in-law – Hugh Glenn asked him to form the French- Glenn Cattle Company.

When they ran out of pasture in California, Pete French came north with 1,200 head of Shorthorn cattle.

Upon his arrival in the Catlow Valley, French and his men came upon a poor prospector named Porter. Porter sold his small herd of cattle to French and with the sale of his cattle went his squatter’s rights to the west side of the Steens Mountain and his “P” brand. As French ventured further, he found the Blitzen Valley where the Donner und Blitzen River snakes northward 40 miles to Malheur Lake. This became his favorite spot, where he set up his base camp. He built shelters for his herd, line cabins and bunkhouses for his men. Thus, the P Ranch was born.

Today, Annie and Clayton are using the P brand that

old Pete French acquired in about 1872.

At one time, French’s empire encompassed approximately 160,000 to 200,000 acres. But individuals who acquire such vast holdings also acquire enemies along the way and, on Dec. 26, 1897, French was shot in the back by Ed Oliver, a man with whom he had had several disputes.

Oliver was brought to trial in Harney County but was never found guilty.

The branch of the French clan that settled in this area actually begins in Callaway County, Mo., with the birth of John Harold French, an uncle of the original Pete French. John H. came first to Roseburg and then to Big Butter Creek where he married Irene Hamer and settled near his father-in-law and not far from the Vinson Post Office.

John H. is the father of Dillard French, born in 1869 in Oregon, who married Susie Doherty, the member of another pioneer Umatilla County family. These are Annie Livingston’s great-grandparents. Dillard is the father of Jack who in turn was the father of the second Pete French, Annie’s dad. Ironically, Jack had been born the same day the original Pete French was murdered.

With such a large family, the connections with other ranching pioneers began to grow. Jack’s sister was Agnes French Walton, who was part of another large ranching interest between Meadowbrook and Ritter. The Walton Ranch still is a landmark just north of Ritter Junction on Highway 395.

Along the way, the holdings of the French family began to grow in both Umatilla and Morrow counties and eventually, partly through the efforts of the second Pete French, in Grant County.

Annie’s father was born in 1935 and, after his death in 1992, his ranch was sold at auction to the Cunningham Sheep Ranch.

Even though the ranch was sold, Pete’s death in 1992 didn’t end the interest of his two daughters in the cattle business. Annie, as we already noted, is back in the cattle business in this area. Her sister, Mary, and her husband, Clay West, have a massive ranch in the Butte Valley of Nevada in a location so remote it’s 90 miles to drive for a gallon of milk.

It’s now been 111 years since Pete French met his untimely death south of Burns and all that remains of his vast holdings in that area are several tourist attractions.

And yet, in another part of Oregon and in a remote Nevada Valley, the legacy of his namesake lives on.

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George Murdock is editor & publisher of the East Oregonian. He can be reached at 278-2671 or gmurdock@eastoregonian.com.