Multnomah-Crook-Statewide County OR Archives Biographies.....Edwards, J. G. July 13, 1855 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 10, 2011, 10:13 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 613 - 614
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     J. G. EDWARDS, now living retired in Portland after long connection with
the sheep raising industry in Oregon, was born in Aberdovey, Merionethshire,
Wales, July 13, 1855. His father R. E. Edwards, was a merchant and ship owner
who had a fleet of vessels, some engaged in coastwise trade and others sailing
the deep seas. The son attended the local schools, afterward continued his
studies in the Shrewsbury school in Shropshire and ultimately was graduated from
high school in Liverpool. In 1869 his brother, Griffith Edwards, came to the
United States and three years later J. G. Edwards crossed the Atlantic, making
his way to Evanston, Wyoming, where he joined his brother, who was then engaged
in the cattle business. He soon found employment in the Union Pacific store at
Carbon, Wyoming, and thus made his initial step in the business world on the
American continent. Subsequently he went to Salt Lake City but in 1875, upon his
father's death, he returned to Europe in order to settle up the estate. When he
again came to this country he joined his brother in the cattle business in
Wyoming as part owner of the Circle-0 ranch and at a later period engaged in the
cattle business independently. He took up a claim near Ashley's Fork, Green
River, Wyoming, but the winter of 1879 was a very severe one and through the
intense cold and the depredations of the Ute Indians, who were on the war path,
he lost all of his stock. However, with determined purpose he continued in the
cattle business and also began raising and dealing in horses. At a later period
he turned his attention to sheep raising and gradually increased his holdings
until at one time he ran about one hundred thousand head of sheep, being the
largest individual sheep owner in America. Afterward, because of range troubles,
he sold his ranch and sheep in Wyoming and came to Oregon. Here he purchased the
property of the famous Hay Creek Land & Sheep Company in Crook county, which had
been founded by Dr. D. M. Baldwin, who sold his interest there to C. A. and J.
P. Van Houten and H. Longcoy, who were thoroughly acquainted with Merino sheep
and were range men, having had much experience in breeding. The ranges in
eastern Oregon in the early '80s were beginning to attract the attention of
sheep men, and a large number of sheep ranches were established with the result
that there was a heavy demand for range rams. With the desire to buy additional
land with water frontage on creeks and increase their sheep holdings, they
formed a new company in 1887 of which C. M. Cartwright became president, A. H.
Breyman the vice president, John Summerville the treasurer, C. A. Van Houten the
manager and James B. Cartwright the secretary, while J. P. Van Houten and H.
Longcoy retained their interest in the company. Large tracts of land were added
to their holdings and rams were purchased from the finest flocks of the entire
country. It was the reports concerning the Hay Creek Land & Sheep Company which
Mr. Edwards had received that caused him to come to Oregon with a view to
looking over the country and purchasing some rams, securing five hundred head at
fifteen dollars each. In 1898 he acquired a half interest in the Hay Creek Land
& Sheep Company, with Mr. Cartwright owning the other half, and when he acquired
Mr. Cartwright's interest in 1905 the company's holdings included fifteen
thousand acres and more than twenty thousand sheep. Mr. Edwards then sent a
representative to France to buy the highest type of Rambouillet rams, for which
he paid between one and three thousand dollars each, and the progeny of these
rams sell today as high as three thousand dollars. The improvement in his own
flocks was soon manifest and his sales covered California, Washington, Nevada,
Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, South America and
South Africa. The largest prices ever paid for rams in the United States were
paid for the progeny of rams bred on the Hay Creek ranch, with which Mr. Edwards
was continuously identified until he disposed of the property in 1910, having
made notable contribution to the improvement of the grade of sheep raised
throughout the country.

     Mr. Edwards was married to Miss Elizabeth Justice Bell and they reside at
600 Buena Vista drive in Portland. At the time of the World war Mr. Edwards went
to France with the Red Cross and there had many interesting, sometimes amusing
and sometimes thrilling experiences. He was responsible for the disposition not
only of car loads but of train loads of Red Cross supplies and finally secured
three large warehouses in which to store these. Captured German officers and
several thousand German soldiers who were held prisoners were quartered near
these warehouses, so that the enemy would not bomb the headquarters.

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