Structure Built to Secure Famous Racehorse from Theft

If you have driven to John Day on Highway 26 you probably have noticed a stone structure in a field surrounded by a short fence. It is just north of Clyde Holliday State Park. The structure was on the ranch of David W. Jenkins. Jenkins was born in Scotland, on August 22, 1811. As a young man he immigrated to the United States and worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yards until 1844. He then moved to Galveston, Texas and worked in shipyards there for two years before moving on to Mexico working in the same profession until an uprising almost led to his death.

Desiring a safer location, he moved on to the Pacific Coast to the site of present San Francisco in 1848. He did some mining near Stockton as a gold rush was about to begin. . He had married Anna Riley in 1861, and they had three children They moved north to Eureka, California and followed the new gold rush to Canyon City, Oregon in 1863.

He filed a pre-emption land claim west of Canyon City in 1864 and began raising stock to sell at the nearby mines. He became enthusiastic about racing horses and acquired a sorrel mare from a traveler. From this mare a black stallion was born, which Jenkins named Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon became a rather famous racehorse, and it has been stated that he only lost one race.

Fearing theft of the horse by Native Americans in the area, Jenkins had a stone fortress constructed to protect his valuable racehorse. The structure is built of dressed stones and features rifle portals, indicating its purpose as a defensive structure. During the Bannock War in 1878 settlers took refuge in the barn for safety alongside the horse.

Jenkins: acquired some land nearby and established a post office at his ranch which he named Mount Vernon after his famous racehorse. Eventually a small community developed around the post office. Mount Vernon — the horse — achieved fame for many years competing in trotting races throughout the state before being sold when he was 17 to a Portland man in 1893. He died in 1917 at age 41. David Jenkins passed away on April 11, 1904, and his wife Anna died a few years later in 1908. Both are buried in the Canyon City Cemetery.

Contributed by Steve Lent, Historian