Cattle, feed helped build Ontario’s foundation
Sunday, June 15, 2008 10:29 AM PDT
Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
ONTARIO - Perhaps unsurprising, cattle and cattle feed were among the first agricultural products around the Ontario area, and their presence had a great impact on the development of the community.
According to historical records and history published by the Malheur Country Historical Society and the Argus Observer, Louis Rinehart was the first white man to graze cattle in the grasslands north of present-day Ontario. That was in 1886, and a year later, David Dunbar started a wild hay ranch along the Snake River, to the southeast. They were followed by Brinnon and William Emison, who took up ranching along the Malheur River.
Before Ontario came into being, huge cattle drives came through Malheur County on their way to eastern markets, with some crossing the Snake River at the Washoe Ferry, while others spread up and down the Snake River to suitable fords.
However, the arrival of the railroad, with connections to the east, proved to be a boon to livestock growers in the interior to the west who diverted livestock drives from Winnemucca and other points, along the Overland Routes, to Ontario. The siding became a loading center for rail cars. In 1866, 673 cars of livestock were shipped, and in 10 years there were 1,039 cars hauled from Ontario. When there were not enough stock cars, cattle were herded in the vicinity until cars became available.
Large herds from Todhunter and Devine (Whitehorse Ranch), the French-glenn Company and Pacific LiveStock Company came to Ontario.
One of the largest shippers was Bill Hanley, Harney Valley, who started buying herds that he had shipped from Huntington or Ontario. He related that Ontario had six saloons, two stores, a blacksmith shop and a big livery stable.
According to one historian, when the cattle herds were in, many residents were kept awake by the bellowing cattle, and Ontario was an open town with 24-hour gambling games running in the saloons.
In the 1902 “History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney counties,” it is reported that the Oregon Short Line (Union Pacific) Railroad purchased 80 acres of land near Ontario and built the “most extensive stockyards in Eastern Oregon. This step was necessitated because of the heavy livestock shipments, cattle, horses and sheep being driven from the ranges of Malheur, Harney, Grant and Crook counties.”
Ontario was also the wool shipping center of the period.
In 1913 the Malheur Valley railway was extended through the Malheur Canyon, and Juntura became the main stock shipping point in the interior. Ontario became more sedate.
Later in the 1930s, the livestock shipping industry returned, as more cattle were raised on irrigated lands.
In 1935, a large livestock auction yard was established during the depression, when both livestock producers and buyers were willing to experiment with changes in buying and selling.
Morgan Beck, manager of the Ontario Livestock Commission Company, said almost overnight Ontario’s yard became the largest auction market in northwest. Business continued briskly for two decades but turned downward during the1970s.
In the1980s, large producers changed the way livestock was handled and marketed, and business continued to decline. A fire destroyed the business, and it was never rebuilt.
