Any work which purports to give in review the leading points in the career of the prominent citizens of Wallowa County would be open to serious criticism were there failure to incorporate within it an epitome of the life of the esteemed gentlemen whose name heads this article, and who has labored here constantly from the time of the early settlement of the north part of Wallowa County until the present, manifesting, meanwhile, commendable intelligence, activity and energy, together with uprightness and sound principles, which have commended him to the esteem and confidence of his fellows in every respect, and it is with pleasure that we are now permitted to grant him space for the salient points of his life’s career.
The birth of George M. Cannon was in Jasper county, Iowa, on September 3, 1863, being the son of A. L. and Alice Cannon. In 1872 he accompanied his parents to Marion County, Oregon, and in the fall of 1877 he went with his mother to Anatone, Asotin County, Washington. At the early age of ten years our subject started into the battle of life for himself, his first occupation being riding horses, in which he became very expert. He followed this business for a number of years and soon left Asotin county and went to the scene of the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad from Thompson Falls, Montana, to Sprague, Washington. For a number of years he was found along this line in various occupations, and in 1882 he went back to Turner, Marion county, Oregon, and there attended the high school for two years and more, gaining thus a completion of his education, which had begun years previously. In the spring of 1884, he went to Sutter County, California, being occupied in various works until the fall and then visited his mother in Asotin County, staying there until 1885. In the spring of that year he came to Lost Prairie, landing here on April 1. He worked at various occupations in the county until he was twenty-one years of age, and then entered a homestead at his present place, which is five and one-half miles north of Flora, and one-half mile northeast of Arko. His capital when he came into the county consisted of two horses and one saddle, and an abundance of pluck and two willing hands for work. From that time until the present he has quietly and steadily pursued his way and is one of the prominent agriculturists of the county, having improved his farm with buildings, orchards and so forth, and he is now one of the well-to-do men of this section. His farm consists of two hundred and forty acres and is very rich, the soil producing abundant crops to reward his husbandry. When Mr. Cannon came to this section there were but four settlers on Lost Prairie and he was one of the early pioneers that opened it to the advent of civilization.
The marriage of Mr. Cannon and Miss Mira F., daughter of James J. and Mary E. Stanley, occurred on November 26, 1891, and to them have been born the following children: Christal, Everett L., Edna, Jetty and Verne. Mrs. Cannon’s parents were natives of Ohio, and came to the Wallowa valley in 1883, being pioneers of the county. Previous to her marriage Mrs. Cannon was engaged in the work of instruction in the county, and ranked with the leading educators of this section, having the distinction of teaching the first school in the northern part of the county; also, she worked in the printing office, setting type upon the first paper published in Wallowa county, the Chieftain. Although one of the younger citizens of the county, Mr. Cannon has already achieved a success very enviable and praiseworthy, having manifested during the time of his residence within the borders of Wallowa county both energy, thrift and industry, coupled with sagacity and wisdom and dominated by a spirit broad and interested in the welfare of the public affairs, while he has constantly manifested upright principles and stability that have commended him to the esteem of all his fellows.