LET 'ER BUCK 



ica is the outstanding symbol, then the spirit of the peo- 

 ple of little Pendleton and hereabouts, laid in the lap of 

 Liberty at her first call over one million golden dollars 

 and consecrated their Round-Up to the Nation to 

 which it belongs and poured its proceeds into the cof- 

 fers of the American Red Cross. Thus, little wonder 

 is it that, altho the Round-Up is essentially a local insti- 

 tution, a civic possession just as much as is the school 

 system or fire department, it is more than that. Be- 

 cause of its significance and because of its spirit it be- 

 longs to all Umatilla County and the whole state of 

 Oregon, and has become a part of the great American 

 play-book. 



They were driving cattle out of Pendleton as late as 

 1888. From there they were driven across Idaho to 

 Wyoming and some clear to Montana, in herds of a 

 few thousand, where they were sold to some of the big 

 outfits. The biggest outfit was Ryan & Long. There 

 were also Ray & Steadman, the Swan Company, a big 

 English concern which came West, and others. These 

 big outfits would buy from ten to twenty thousand 

 head of beef cattle from Pendleton, by which is meant 

 cattle old enough and heavy enough to sell. 



Then the country changed over from a cattle to a 

 wheat country, and changed pretty quickly. But still 

 quite a lot of sheep are run, and there are still a few 

 small herds left, while horse ranges may be found in the 

 Crooked River and Harney Valley country; and there 

 is also a lot of open country around Camas Prairie, 

 where the Indians used to dig their camas, and from 

 the Pendleton point of view this means the region be- 

 ginning about twenty miles south and running to the 

 Nevada line. While this country is farmed some, it 

 really is range country for three hundred miles. 



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