Pioneer Freighted From The Dalles and Shaniko to Prineville
By Steve Lent, Crook County Historian
Jesse Pratt Yancey, Jr. was born in Carson City, Nevada on Sept. 5, 1857. His younger brother Stephen Wood Yancey was born on Feb. 18, 1870 in Pleasanton, Kansas. Their father had migrated to Nevada and freighted supplies from Nevada to Fort Klamath, Oregon. Jesse moved to Prineville in 1880 where he began ranching. The rest of the family briefly moved to Prineville. They later moved to Lake County, Oregon. Steve remained in Prineville to work on ranches and assist Jesse in his ranching operations. They later began a partnership in the ranching business.
Jesse also operated a horse freight outfit and hauled freight from Prineville to The Dalles. Jesse and Steve partnered in the freight business. When the Columbia Southern Railroad built a line to Shaniko in 1900 they changed to shipping freight between Shaniko and Prineville. The freight teams were driven with a jerk line and the well trained horses responded well to the jerk line or whispers from the drivers. Freight had to be loaded onto the large wagons then the wagons traveled over rugged and steep roads. Steve was skilled in driving 10 and 12 horse teams over the rugged terrain.
They were contracted to move the first electric power plant to Prineville in 1906. The heavy power plant and equipment was shipped by rail to Shaniko. It took several round trips to move all of the equipment. Overall the weight of all items freighted amounted to about 200,000 pounds. The old wagon road went from Shaniko to Antelope then to Hay Creek Ranch and over a pass near Grizzly Mountain and then into Prineville. They were paid $3,000 for the freighting of the plant.
The freighting partnership ended with the arrival of some motorized vehicles. Steve had married a local pioneer Joan Adams on October 12, 1893. Jesse married local pioneer Celia Foren on October 1, 1883. Both Jesse and Steve had large sheep operations at separate ranch locations. Steve became active in local affairs and served as Crook County Sheriff from 1924 to 1928. Jesse died on April 23, 1932. Steve passed away on January 3, 1946.