PROFILES in AGRICULTURE

By Loyal Baker

DAYTON–From truly humble beginnings, by dint of hard work, the descendants of pioneer and progressive farmer and livestock producer Grant Low are continuing the family farming traditions in Columbia County, with their eyes on the horizon for upcoming generations to continue raising wheat.

This year's Dayton Chronicle "Profiles in Agriculture" special edition spotlights the families whose names are well known around Dayton and Columbia County, the Covello area in particular: Low, Thompson, Nelson, Laib, Thronson, Russell.

"It's amazing," observed the pioneer's granddaughter Jean (Thompson) Nelson. "Grant Low was an orphan and came here with just a couple of dollars in his pocket."

Today Low's great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren are battling the dust and heat to bring in the 2021 wheat crop on the approximately 2,000 acres of the original family farmstead in the Turner District, some which surrounds the Covello Cemetery.

"We're pretty proud of our family heritage," Jean says.

The ranch is in good hands with family in place and time and ample opportunities for succession plans to gel and continue the family legacy.

Grant Low was born in North Carolina and orphaned at 10 years of age. He and his brother, Renslow ("Renz" or "Rens," depending on which book is referenced) Low, were, shall we say, disaffected by the foster homes in which they lived and ran away, coming to the Covello area after spending three years in Missouri, according to "Covello," by Ward Rinehart.

According to Wilma Fletcher's "Early Columbia County," the Low brothers arrived in "Dayton before the turn of the century with only five dollars between them. But it wasn't long before Grant Low had land, cattle and horses."

Low would've been 19 when he arrived in this neck of the woods.

"They worked on farms for three years when Grant got the opportunity to buy 160 acres without any money to pay down," Rinehart writes in "Covello." "He had it paid for in five years and continued to add to it until he owned 1,240 acres in the Covello area and a total of 4,400 acres (1,800 farm land) near Starbuck. He also farmed the Dwelley place of 640 acres."

According to family lore, Low harvested the volunteer wheat and made the land payment.

Fletcher's account details Low's accomplishments.

"He married Orril "Ora" Monnett, whose brother [Albert] ran a hardware store in Dayton," she writes in "Early Columbia County." "The Lows had five children: Don, Harry, Nel, Alberta and Josephine. The family lived on a large ranch at Covello.

"It took nearly a hundred head of horses to operate the harvest. He had large cattle drives to the Blue Mountains in the springtime for grazing on the Reserve. He was allowed-at that time-600 head on the Touchet and 900 head on the upper Tucannon area. Low had 2,800 head of cattle at one roundup. He rented the Lyon's pasture of about 3,000 acres on the Snake River for winter. Sometimes in winter the river froze over and ice would have to be broken for the cattle to drink. At times the cattle crossed the river on the ice.

"Low also bought a large ranch near Starbuck, and he owned the Hudson Bay Ranch, of several hundred acres, on the border of Washington and Oregon. There he raised hay, but it was easier to take the cattle to the hay than haul it to the cattle, so he drove the cattle the 60 miles to the ranch. The cattle drives took lots of cowboys, horses and dogs, as there were few fences and the way was long. The cattle could only travel about 20 miles a day.

"Grant Low, with a partner, went to Oregon and bought about 1,500 head of wild horses. At that time horses were used to trade for land or cattle and Low did a lot of trading in his day. He raised lots of horses, purchasing his breeding stock from Missouri.

"To handle the cattle, horses and farm land as well, it took a lot of hired help. Grant treated his men well and it is said that men needing jobs hung around the ranch until they were hired.

"Grant Low was a very successful stockman and farmer."

Grant and Ora had five children: Harry, Nelle, Josephine, Alberta and Don. Harry died at age 6 when he was run over by a wagon. It's notable that Nelle and Josephine both attended the University of Washington. Alberta married Herrick Thompson and the couple had a son and a daughter, Myron H. "Mike" Thompson, born in 1933, and Jean Thompson, born in 1937. The youngest, Donald, lived to 84 years of age, passing away in 1995.

Grant Low lived 70 years, passing in December, 1940, his legacy of hard work and accomplishment not lost on his daughters and son. Nelle Thronson and Alberta Thompson, according to family history, were oriented to continuing their father's legacy, and devised an estate plan which essentially skipped their children, placing holdings into trust for the benefit of their grandchildren, while assuring lifetime income to Mike and Jean, executed at a time when both were operating viable and prosperous family farms.

Mike Thompson graduated from Dayton High School in 1952, served in the Army for two years and returned to Dayton. In short order, Mike was thrust into responsibility when his uncle Carlos O. Thronson died at age 54 in March of 1955. In 1956, he married Delores Russell and they moved to the Keystone Place near Covello. His aunt, Nelle (Low) Thronson, built a house and moved into town.

Daughter Linda came along in 1957, son Don was born in 1959 and a second daughter, Michele "Binky" was born in 1962.

Linda relished her childhood and years growing up on the Keystone Ranch. The ornate mansion her great-grandfather Low had built was tragically lost in a fire, but she could saddle up her horse and ride all day. "I'd run into different farmers," she remembers. I knew them and they knew me. I felt completely safe. They were all great neighbors. It was a great way to be raised."

Mike's sister Jean married Gailord "Pep" Nelson Jr. and they farmed the Berryman Place with Pep's father, Gailord Sr. and brother Dale in the Prescott country, seven miles south of Prescott, along State Route 125. Pep and Jean have a son Mike Nelson and daughter Carolyn Nelson Laib.

Tragedy struck in the mid Seventies when Mike Thompson was diagnosed with cancer. He succumbed on August 13, 1974, in the midst of wheat harvest. As this community is likely to do, scores of farmhands, 23 combines and 28 wheat trucks converged on the Thompson ground and made quick work of putting the grain in the bin.

During the harvest bee after Mike's passing, son Donny drove the ranch's combine and daughter Linda drove truck alongside their neighbors combines and trucks.

The new situation pressed Pep's and Jean's operation into service on the family's ground between Turner Road and Lewis Gulch, ballooning the acres they were responsible for to around 6,000.

Over the years, those operations have been divided between Pep's and Jean's son Mike Nelson, and their son-in-law and daughter, John and Carolyn (Nelson) Laib.

Linda still holds an inherited share of the ranch and brother Donny did for a spell before selling to his aunt and uncle, the Nelsons. Their sister Michele "Binky" passed away in 1992. Her son Jason Eslick, who farms with his father Jim in Dayton, has an interest in agriculture and could someday fulfill that part of the family legacy. Linda's and Jim's daughter Lindsay Lockard lives in Touchet with husband Spike. Both have established non-agriculture careers.

Linda and the late Jim Johnson include in their blended family Danny Johnson, who manages a Coca-Cola bottling company in Wilsonville, Ore., and Lynn Foster, who is married and works as a substitute teacher in Pendleton.

"I never take what was passed down to me for granted, ever," commented Linda. "I am so fortunate. I'm one of the lucky ones.

"I don't know what the future holds," Linda continued, "whether they [her son and daughter] will maintain ownership or sell to family members. That's not my decision to make. I've made my decision."

Grant Low is smiling down on the branches of his extensive family tree, the roots of which he so carefully tended during his lifetime. The land is still in the family, farmed by grandsons and granddaughters of Alberta, and grandnieces and grandnephews of Nelle, per their well-thought-out succession plan.