As you drive through the Steens Mountain area you will see many places with the name "French" attached to it! Well you may be wondering to yourself why this is such a popular choice to name! You may also be wondering why there are so many cattle is this neck of Oregon! The answer to both questions is Peter French!
John William French was born in 1849. He was California boy who started out working for Hugh Glenn, a wheat grower in California. Glenn took a liking to the French boy and made him a foreman right away and John William oversaw the livestock portions of Glenn ranch. The spanish speaking ranch hands had a difficult time with John William's name so he became Peter, or to the Mexican vaqueros, he was Pedro!
Mining began to slow, land ownership in California was getting hard to come by, and on top of all that grazing for cattle were creating many problems. In 1873, Glenn decided it was time to move up north to Oregon, and Peter French became man-in-command. Not long after entering the Steens Mountain area, a prospector named Porter came across Peters camp. Much to Peter's good luck, the prospector was quite discouraged and decided to sell his P brand and grazing rights on Steens Mountain to Peter.
Mr.
French, being the determined soul that he was, got to work buying land
and equipment. He built buildings, explored the land, started
a fencing program and an amazing irrigation system. most notably
he started selling cattle. In fact his cattle soon became the best
on the market. Peter was the first ever large cattleman in the West
to cater to the consumer. Quite an eye for business, although most
of the time dirty business.
Years went by and Peter married Ella Glenn in 1883, the daughter of Hugh Glenn. More for business reasons then anything else, it was just a paper marriage. Ella didn't even spend much or her time in Oregon. Just days after they married, Hugh Glenn was murdered, and in turn left behind a great debt for Peter. Peter's empire was rapidly crumbling in front of him. Ella filed for divorce in 1891. Everyone around him sucked everything right from him. Many lawsuits over land had taken valuable land from him. Then in 1897, the day after Christmas, Peter French was murdered, in clear view of his cowboys, by Ed Oliver. Now there is much gossip about the reason for his murder, but it has also been said that dispite his vast contribution to the Steens area, he made many enemies on his way up to fame.
: