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Pete French and the P Ranch: Building an Oregon Cattle Empire

A California horse wrangler became the manager of a vast Oregon ranch, and died in a fence and water dispute.

Who Was Pete French?

Born John William French in 1849, Pete French became the best known cattle manager in the Oregon high desert. He started as a horse wrangler for a California rancher, and by his mid-twenties he was driving a herd north to found a ranch that would run across several valleys. The Oregon Encyclopedia calls the operation one of the best run and most profitable in the Pacific Northwest.

He was small and wiry, weighing no more than 135 pounds, but skilled with horses and cattle, according to the same source.

From California Wrangler to Foreman

French was born in Callaway County, Missouri, and grew up in California, first in Colusa County and then the Sacramento area, where his mother started a sheep farm. He moved south and went to work as a horse wrangler for Dr. Hugh James Glenn, a successful rancher and wheat farmer. He learned Spanish, earned the respect of the vaqueros and was made foreman. Around then he began using the name Pete.

Founding the P Ranch in 1872

By 1872 Glenn's operation had outgrown its home range, and California had begun letting wheat growers fence their land, which cut the open range available for grazing. Glenn sent French, about six vaqueros and a Chinese cook north with 1,200 shorthorn cattle to the bunchgrass slopes of the Steens Mountain region in eastern Oregon.

Near Steens Mountain, French bought the few cattle, squatter's land rights and "P" brand of a prospector named Porter. That became the P Ranch. He settled in the Blitzen Valley, which the Donner und Blitzen River waters on its way from Steens Mountain to Malheur Lake, and later expanded into the Catlow and Diamond valleys.

How Big Was the P Ranch?

The Oregon Encyclopedia puts the operation at roughly 150,000 to 200,000 acres, with French managing about 30,000 cattle and roughly 6,000 horses and mules for Glenn. Subsidiary camps included the Buena Vista, Diamond, Riddle, Roaring Springs, Barton Lake and Sod House ranches. These are reported figures, and the sources do not break down how they changed year to year.

He raised hay for winter feed, which was unusual in the region then. Cattle were driven about 200 miles south to Winnemucca, Nevada, the nearest railhead, for annual sales.

The Key to French's Success

French's results came from combining outside capital with hands-on management, plus control of the scarce thing in the desert: water and the meadows around it. The costs of that control are part of the record too.

Local history from the Oregon Historical Society's project notes that large Harney County operations were typically owned by distant investors and run on site by junior partners or trusted employees, and that dummy homestead claims by ranch employees placed valuable bottomland in the hands of wealthy operators.

  • He had a financier: Glenn supplied capital and partnered with him while French managed the ground.
  • He picked ground with winter water and meadow, settling the Blitzen Valley and extending to Catlow and Diamond valleys.
  • He put up hay, an uncommon practice that protected cattle through winter.
  • He built a chain of base ranches, which let him work a very large range.
  • He drove to the railhead at Winnemucca, about 200 miles south, to sell.
  • The cost: the sources report frequent disputes with small-ranch owners and settlers over water, and fences that settlers claimed enclosed open public land.

Marriage, Company and Conflict

In February 1883 French married Glenn's daughter Ella. They had a son, Harold Glenn French, but she did not live in eastern Oregon and they divorced in 1891. After Glenn's death, his agents incorporated the French-Glenn Livestock Company in 1893 and named French president.

French was described as driven and domineering, with little schooling but strong business and administrative skills. He was in a legal fight over fences settlers had built on land some claimed was open public domain.

His Death in 1897

On December 26, 1897, French was shot and killed at a gate on the P Ranch by Ed Oliver, a local settler angry about the fence dispute. French and the ranch hands with him were unarmed. Oliver was acquitted on grounds of self-defense. French is buried in Red Bluff, California.

What Happened to the P Ranch

In 1906 the P Ranch was sold to the Eastern Oregon Livestock Company, owned by Henry L. Corbett, who sold it to Swift & Company. In 1935 Swift concluded the land was unprofitable and sold it, including the P Ranch, to the federal government as part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Visitors today can see the Pete French Round Barn at Barton Lake, the 150-by-50-foot Long Barn and the Sod House Ranch, which keeps twelve original buildings. The area lies within the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Area. French's big frame house burned in 1947. For a list of other honorees, see the Wikipedia hall overview. For more on Harney County's ranching past, see the Oregon History Project essay A Hard Country to Settle.

Readers can find related stories on farm.FM, including the ranching section and a farm.FM story about Pete French.

Timeline

  1. 1849John William French is born in Callaway County, Missouri
  2. 1872Drives 1,200 shorthorns to the Steens Mountain region and founds the P Ranch
  3. 1883Marries Ella Glenn
  4. 1891The marriage ends in divorce
  5. 1893French-Glenn Livestock Company is incorporated; French is president
  6. 1897Shot and killed at the P Ranch on December 26
  7. 1906P Ranch sold to the Eastern Oregon Livestock Company
  8. 1935Swift & Company sells the land to the federal government for the Malheur refuge

Frequently asked questions

Who was Pete French?

Pete French (1849-1897) was a rancher who managed the P Ranch in Oregon's Blitzen Valley for California financier Hugh Glenn. His operation became one of the largest and most profitable in the Pacific Northwest.

How big was the P Ranch?

The Oregon Encyclopedia says it covered roughly 150,000 to 200,000 acres, and French managed about 30,000 cattle and 6,000 horses and mules for Glenn. These are reported figures.

How did Pete French die?

On December 26, 1897, a settler named Ed Oliver shot French at a P Ranch gate during a dispute over fences. Oliver was acquitted on grounds of self-defense.

Can you visit the P Ranch today?

Several buildings survive, including the Pete French Round Barn at Barton Lake, the Long Barn and the Sod House Ranch, within the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Area.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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