Among the First Settlers in Central Oregon
By Steve Lent, Crook County Historian
David Wayne Claypool was born in Indiana in 1834 and came to Linn county, Oregon Territory with his parents in 1846. He married Louisa Elkins in 1857
In the fall of 1867 he accompanied some of his friends, William Smith, Elisha Barnes, Ewen Johnson, and Captain White on an excursion for settling Upper Ochoco Creek. They came over the Cascade Mountains by ox team. A log house was built on the Claypool claim.
In the spring of 1868 Wayne returned to the Willamette Valley to his family. While he was gone, Indians attacked his cabin and burned the building. At the time Ewen Johnson, George Barnes, and Captain White were living in the cabin while improving their own land claims. They managed to escape and return to the Valley.
In the fall of 1868 the Claypool cabin was rebuilt using the old stone chimney that was left standing after the original cabin was burned. He then brought his family to the Ochoco country.
The first school in Central Oregon was built on land donated by Wayne in 1868. The Claypool home was later used as a school in the same vicinity. Wayne died on January 30, 1899. His wife, Louisa, died in 1892.
Claypool Street in Prineville is named for David and his pioneer spirit.