The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1913-10-16
CATTLE Man TELLS OF
EARLY EXPERIENCES
w. o. Minor, Local Man Is
Sketched Historically By
Fred Lockley in Oregon
Journal.

Sometimes a little thing VIII
change the whole current of &
mans life" said w. 0. Minor,
one of the best known stockmen
in eastern Oregon. "Acout &c
years ago | drove 146 steers to
Butter creek as feeders. Butter
creek raises lots of alfalfa and
Echo used to be the great ship
ping point for cattle. When |
came to sell my cattle the buyer
offered me s25 a head for the
entire bunch. We could not
agree on the price as some Of
them were 5 and 6-year old steers
and thought they were worth
more than $25. | finally told
him that l would sell him 125 at
his figure and would pick out the
remaining q and ship them my
self. He agreed to this. | pick
ed out 13 5 and 6-year old short
horns which were practically pure
bloods. | shipped them to Port
land. where | found a buyer.
| told him that there were 13 big
steers and 8 small ones. The
buyer sized up the bunch and
said Which do you.call the small
ones? / pointed out the eight g.
year-olds and told him that they
would undoubtedly weigh much
less than the S or 6-year-olds.
He doubted it, so we put them
on the scales, and to my surprise,
! found that the eight small g.
year-old shorthorns averaged in
weight AZ pounds heavier than
the eight heaviest of the 5 and g.
year-olds. This set me thinking
pretty seriously. If a blooded
steer at 3 years old would weigh
AZ pounds more than ordinary
stock 6 years old, and if it aver
aged in cost SIS to winter a steer,
then | was out SIS on raising or
dinary stock.
Pure blood Shorthorn bulls
were hard to get 20 years ago, so
| took a pure blood Shorthorn
bull and some cows on shares
with Mr. Harris. Some time later
| bought Mr.. Harris cattle out
right and began to buy others.
| thought so we'll of my cattle
that | shipped some to the State
fair. When | got there, l found
/ was small fry among the big
fish. Right then l determined
that was going to win the
sweepstakes some day, and that
decision resulted in the founding
of the Minor herd. The hardest
competition | had were the cattle
from Oak Hill Stock Farm, owned
by Charles E. Ladd. Frank
Brown, his manager, was scour-
ing the United States and Canada
to get the best cattle that money
could buy. l sold off my grades
and began gathering a bunch of
the best stock that | could get.
/ travelled over 1000 miles-a
good part Of that way on horse
back, going wherever | could
hear of a good animal, and usu-
ally buying it, | paid 500, 800 for
II head. l paid $35O0 for a
Shorthorn yearling bull called
Golden Goods. later paid $500
for a heifer, expecting to take a
prize with her, and she was beat
en- by a heifer of my own raising.
Golden Goods proved to be one
of my best investments. He
took prizes wherever shown, and
l was offered $4,000 for him.
My price, however was $4,000,
as he was worth that to me. He
slipped on the frozen ground last
winter and hurt himself so badly
that he had to be killed.
One runs across many peculiar
in the stock business.
One of the most famous prize
winners, owned by Charles Ladd
was Elgitha 25th. Mr.. Ladd had
no success with her as a breeder. |
She was valued at $2500, and was
finally purchased by C. B. Wade, |
of Pendleton. At the dispersion
sale of the Wade stock some
years ago she was bought by
Mr.. Glide of Sacramento, for
$500, her low price being the re-
suit of the fact that they had no
success in securing any calves
from her. Either through the
change of climate or for some
other reason, she was successfully
bred by Mr.. Glide, and has had |
many calves since. / bought one
n ]