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Note from JWR:
I recently had the opportunity to do some on-site consulting with a client
that owns an elaborate retreat in Eastern Oregon. I really like the region,
since it is wonderfully remote. The upper elevations have copious timber and
wild game, and fairly plentiful water.
Half of the fun of my Oregon trips is poking around county history museums
and graveyards. I'm distantly related to David
Lawson Shirk, one of eastern Oregon's early cattlemen. (See the book "The
Cattle Drives of David Shirk.") Shirk was involved in a much-publicized
range war with cattle baron Pete
French (of the famous "P" Ranch), in the
Steens Mountain country--in the southeastern corner of the state. The whole
affray started with a quarrel over the affections of a young lady, Miss Frances
Crow. (She was my great-great aunt.) David Shirk won the lady's heart, secured
his stock watering rights, and a few years later he won a gunfight with one
of Pete French's hired men. (Later, Pete French died in an unrelated gunfight.)
One could conclude that for serious social interactions--involving ladies and
lead--that there are no second place winners.
