Clark was named for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. He graduated from high school in 1922. The school is where the John Day Junior High School is in John Day in 1990. He and Ramona bought the Jemima Allen property on November 8, 1939 and raised cattle until 1961. He later worked for the John Day Cleaners and then the Forest Service until his death in 1969.
As a young man he worked for the dredge along the John Day River dredging for gold. In the late 1930's and early 1940's he and his life long friend, Harold Herburger, operated a hunting camp in Grant County. Among one of their clients was Walter Brennan, movie star; George Alexander, the warden of the State Penitentiary, and many other prominent businessmen from the Portland area.
As a matter of necessity, Clark taught himself to be a silversmith. He made several silver mounted spade bits and spurs using silver coins at times for the silver mountings. He also repaired the silver mounted spade bits and spurs for numerous ranchers in the country.
He also made numerous rawhide ropes. He would cure the cow hide and then stretch the rawhide between trees behind the family home while brading the ropes.
Clark made many branding irons for the local ranchers. His shop walls are covered with brands from the irons he made. He made the first dehorning irons in the county. The shop still stands on the property in the barn lot and much of the original equipment is still there. Clark's son John has fired up the stove and air blower many times for welding, and iron work.
The following historical information was taken from a magazine article:
To answer the problem of how to provide stock with salt in the high areas surrounding Canyon City, OR, Clark Morris, Canyon City rancher, proved that he missed his calling. He might well have been a crack bombardier. By the mere expedient of dropping 50-pound or more blocks of salt from an airplane to his stock 1,000 feet below, Morris succeeded in accomplishing the impossible. Leastwise, neighboring ranchers maintained that the salt block would break if dropped to the ranges from such height. On riding over the area later, however, Morris found that but one block had broken and that each block had fallen within 10 feet of its objective. Making two trips, 800 pounds of salt were distributed in 40 minutes. It would take at least four days via team and wagon to distribute that much salt, if of course they could manage to circumvent the territory at all.
In the 1950's Ford cars were brought to John Day via rail from Seneca. They were then driven to John Day and the box car loaded with lumber leaving the Hines Lumber Co. in Seneca and on to Burns. One such car was driven to John Day by Gus Peterson of Monument and sold to Clark Morris.
Mary Margret (Morris) Davis Family
Mary Margret was born in Prairie City, OR on February 28, 1942.
As a young girl, Mary Margret enjoyed training horses and colts. She trained colts for ranch work, horse shows and for use on several of the fair and rodeo courts she held queen and princess positions on. In 1955 Mary Margret was a candidate for the 8th annual Eastern Oregon Junior Rodeo. She held a princess position of that Rodeo in 1955 and 1956. In 1957 she was a princess of the Prairie City Rodeo as well as holding a princess position that year for the Grant County Fair. Back in those days there was a member of the court from Prairie City, Seneca/Izee, Dayville/Kimberly/Monument, John Day, Long Creek/Fox. The queen was rotated around the 5 districts. In 1958 she was on the Spray Rodeo Court. In 1958 again, Mary Margret was a princess for the Grant County Fair. Then in 1959 she competed again for a position on the Junior Rodeo court and was awarded the Queen position. That year the Long Creek Bank was invited to participate in the Portland Rose Festival Parade and Mary Margret rode on the float as the Queen of the Junior Rodeo.
Mary Margret married Joe Davis on August 31, 1962 in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia. Joe and her met while they were both working for the Forest Service in 1961. The following spring he left John Day to return to Georgia to go into pilot training with the Air Force. He proposed via mail - the ring came in a model airplane box!!!!! It was determined that it would be more practical to get married in Georgia because he had to finish pilot training (until May 1963) and he had very little time off. Also, they would be living in Georgia until that time. They have two daughters, Deanna Lynn (Davis) Snyder born March 12, 1964, and Jodi Leigh (Davis) Roy born, June 8, 1965.
John Morris Family
John Morris was born August 9, 1944 in Portland,Oregon.
Dad has always had a loved for the ranch and rodeo. He started riding calves at an early age and competed in the Junior Rodeo in about 1951 when he tied for Calf Riding. He also rodeoed in high school as well as on the Oregon State University Rodeo Team and became a Bull Rider in the pro circuit.
John married Charlene Boyer (from Prairie City, OR). They were married June 23, 1973. They have three daughters: Misty Dawn born January 12, 1976, Sunny Tamara born August 21, 1977 and Tawny Lou born February 19, 1982.
John and Charlene originally lived in Long Creek, OR when they were first married, then they lived for a short time at the "Ranch" and then purchased a home and acreage in John Day on West Bench Road. They lived at that residence until 1994 when the moved back to the "Ranch" where they currently reside today.
While John and Charlene resided on West Bench Road, they began their own head of registered cattle that were used to provide 4-H projects and show cattle for their daughters.
While raising their daughters, family activities were centered around the animals and the ranch. All three daughters participated in various 4-H projects, and extracurricular school activities. John and Charlene, managed their own property on West Bench Road and helped manage the "Ranch" until they moved there in 1994.
Misty (Morris) Buckley
Misty Morris married Nathan Buckley on September 2, 2000. They reside in Klamath Falls, OR and have two children, Jordan Savannah born March 13, 2002 and Rylee Jane, born April 30, 2004. Misty, Nate and the girls have two horses and a pony that Jordan and Rylee use in Pee Wee Rodeos and Youth Timed Event Rodeos.
Sunny (Morris) Arbogast
Sunny Morris married Matthew Arbogast on December 31, 2007. They reside in Tracy, CA and have two boys, Tyler Aron, born on March 22, 2004 and Jamie Austin born on January 22, 2006.
Sunny moved to CA in 1999 after graduation from Oregon State University, she worked for a local feed mill and then for a computer IT consultant. Sunny is taking time off from work to take care of Tyler and Jamie. In 2000 prior to getting married, Sunny brought her horse down to CA. She kept Jet (her horse) with the Diamond Bar Arena and boarding stables. In 2003, Sunny moved Jet back to OR to stay at the "Ranch" and then was able to bring him back, the fall of 2007.
After graduation from University of Washington, Matt moved to CA in 1997 when he accepted employment with Lockheed Martin. Matt decided to take up archery hunting in 2002 and frequently makes trips to Oregon to enjoy his hobby. He typically hunts elk in the fall and killed a very nice bull the first year he started archery hunting. He has enjoyed trips to OR to hunt wild turkeys, trips to Idaho for deer hunting, and trips to Southern Central CA for wild pigs. He also enjoys fishing for salmon, steelhead and ocean fishing.
Tawny Morris
Tawny Morris currently resides in Kennewick, WA. In 2002 Tawny moved to Modesto, CA. Where she worked for an auto repair shop, then got her Cosmetology license for California and worked as a stylist in Modesto until the fall of 2007. She recently moved from Modesto, CA to Kennewick, WA and is working as a stylist in Kennewick.