GEORGE W. SWAGART. – Mr. Swagart, identified since 1853 with the interests of our coast, and now one of the “cattle kings” of Eastern Oregon, was born May 1, 1848, near Galena, in Joe Davis county, Illinois. In 1853 he came with his parents to Oregon, locating in Lane county, where he received a common-school education, and became inured to the hardships of an early pioneer life, in the saddle, and to the arduous labors of farming, until, in 1865, he branched out for himself in the stock business, driving a band of sheep across the Cascade Mountains to the ranges of Umatilla county, in the vicinity of the old Centerville stage station between Pendleton and Walla Walla. There he laid the foundation for the success which had crowned his efforts. The following five years were spent in the mining camps of Nevada, and in following the various speculations which a rapidly developing country offered to the speculator.
In 1878 he returned to Umatilla county, and embarked in the stock business and other outside interests. There he has remained ever since, raising a family of five children, having been married in 1871 to Miss Mildred Clark, his present wife. Mr. Swagart is interested in raising Clydesdale horses and shorthorn cattle, as well as securing a moderate holding of sheep. He now lives at Heppner, Morrow county, Oregon, where he has made his home for the last eleven years; and he is fully content with that magnificent region.