No list of the stockmen and substantial citizens of Wallowa County would be complete without an especial mention of the enterprising young man whose name is at the head of this paragraph, since he has made an excellent success in the stock business, and since he has also the credit of being one of the earliest settlers and was one who broke sod first in the section of Imnaha, where he has wrought continuously until the present for the up building of the county and its material progress.
Harry N. Vaughan was born in Mower County, Minnesota, on January 4, 1865, being the son of Harmon B. and Eliza (Schofield) Vaughan.
His father went to the west when he was three months old and his mother died when he was but one year and six months old. Then he went to live with Mr. and Mrs. J.F. Smith, an uncle and aunt. Mrs. Smith being a sister of his father. When Harry was nine years of age, his uncle removed to Nebraska, the southwestern portion, and there they remained until he was sixteen. At that time they removed to Pendleton, and there our subject took part in the various labors incident to frontier life, completing there also his educational training, after which he took up freighting.
This last he did for the contractors who were building the O.R.&N. railroad over the Blue Mountains. About this time, Mr. Vaughan made some excursions into the territory now embraced in Wallowa county and in 1883, he went to the vicinity of Imnaha and located on unsurveyed land. He gave his attention to farming and raising stock. To this latter he has devoted his talents since that time and now he is one of the leading men in skill in handling stock and producing paying dividends from them He has between three and four hundred cattle on the range, all being good grades of Shorthorns and Herefords. Mr. Vaughan disposed of his property on the Imnaha and is now located on the Snake River, where he has a fine homestead. He raises hay and handles his cattle on the range between the Imnaha and the Snake Rivers. The country is so favorably situated that he utilizes the uplands for summer pasture and the lower lands for winter, thus being able to graze much of the year.
Fraternally, Mr. Vaughan is affiliated with the M.W.A. of Imnaha and the A.O.U.W. of Joseph. In politics, he is a member of the Republican Party and while not partisan especially, he manifests an intelligent interest in the questions of the day. His uncle, Mr. Joseph F. Smith, came to Wallowa County in 1884, and there engaged in stock raising until 1900, the time of his death. His widow is still living in the Imnaha country. Mr. Vaughan has never yet left the charms of the single life for the matrimonial sea. He is one of the substantial men of the section, respected by all and has done much for the advancement of the county, and it is with pleasure that we are enabled to grant him representation in its history.