Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Plummer, O. M. 1869 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 26, 2007, 5:25 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     O. M. PLUMMER.  Among the men who are making history in the Pacific 
northwest is numbered O. M. Plummer, a Portland citizen, who is doing notable 
work as manager of the Pacific International Live Stock Exposition, with which 
he has been prominently identified from the time of its inception. In this 
line of activity he ranks with the foremost men of the county and also figures 
conspicuously in other connections, possessing the attributes of the leader 
who erects the guide-posts of progress and success. A native of Bradford, 
Maine, he was born in 1869 a son of Benjamin Franklin and Ellen (Heywood) 
Plummer. The former of whom passed away in 1872. The mother came to Portland, 
Oregon, in 1886 and remained a resident of the city until her death in 1927.
     O. M. Plummer was educated in the public schools of the east and attended 
a Portland business college. For six months he worked for a shipping firm and 
was next connected with the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Lines. 
Later he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, with 
which he remained for ten years, and in January, 1897, became identified with 
the Union Stock Yards Company, of which he was elected secretary and treasurer 
in 1902. The business was enlarged in 1909 and he continued with the company 
until 1917, when he disposed of his holdings therein. During the World war he 
was connected with the food, administration and devoted much of his time to 
work of a patriotic nature.
     In 1911 Mr. Plummer and others had established what is now known as the 
Pacific International Live Stock Exposition. It was started as a stock yards 
activity and during the first two years of its existence was a fat stock show, 
of which Mr. Plummer was the manager. In 1918 a program of enlargement was 
mapped out and plans were formulated for the erection of a substantial 
structure to house the exhibits. Offices were opened in the Northwestern 
National Bank building and the organization was established upon a permanent 
basis. Over a half million dollars was expended upon the exposition building, 
which covers ten acres and is the largest of the kind in the United States. 
Each year live stock, valued at over two million, eight hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars, is exhibited here and this has become one of the best and 
most noted stock shows in the United States, attended annually by more than 
one hundred thousand persons. It is also the most varied, featuring a very 
high class industrial exhibit and the largest horse show in this country. 
Special trains from the east, running on passenger service schedule, bring the 
stockmen and their cattle and horses to the exposition, which is attended on 
Saturdays by school children, who are admitted without charge. Since the war 
Mr. Plummer has given his entire time to the management of the exposition and 
its success is largely due to his untiring efforts, his carefully matured 
plans and expert administration. The United States department of agriculture 
established Camp Plummer, which has been fostered by the Pacific International 
Live Stock Exposition and affords young people throughout the west an 
opportunity to show their stock to advantage in Portland. The exposition has 
been developed along constructive lines and now has more than three thousand 
members, all of whom are animated by that spirit of harmonious cooperation 
which makes for the best results. Mr. Plummer is a member of the national 
committee on boy and girl club work, of which President Coolidge is honorary 
chairman. As the donor of the Plummer trophy he has stimulated an interest in 
farming operations throughout the United States by rewarding the boy and girl 
doing the best club agricultural work each year. To the young person making 
the highest record in that branch of activity Mr. Plummer also gives a 
scholarship to any college in this country and the association which he 
represents awards gold, silver and bronze medals to deserving young people 
throughout the United States.
     In 1890 Mr. Plummer married Miss Jessie Kribs, of Portland, and for 
thirty-five years they have made their home at the corner of Fifteenth and 
Thompson streets, in Irvington, one of the attractive residential districts of 
the city. Their family numbers three children. Doris, the eldest, is the wife 
of Frank Scott Barnes, of Portland, and they have three children. Ruth is Mrs. 
Paul Terry and lives in Taft, California. The son, Roger Sherman, connected 
with the Carnation Milk Products Company, resides in Colorado and has a wife 
and one son.
     Mr. Plummer is a member of many of the Pure Bred Live Stock Associations 
and takes an active interest in most of the organizations of this character in 
the United States. He is one of the members of the Oregon Cattle & Horse 
Breeders Association and a member of the executive and economics committees of 
the American National Live Stock Association and represents that association 
as a director of the National Live Stock and Meat Board. In 1912 at the State 
Fair in Salem he established the exposition of eugenics for judging babies and 
this has now become a feature of most state fairs throughout the United 
States. His name also appears on the membership rolls of the Portland Chamber 
of Commerce and the Rotary and Advertising Clubs, while his fraternal 
affiliations are with the Masons and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In 
politics he is a republican and from 1913 until 1920 was a member of the 
Portland school board, the only public office which he has ever consented to 
fill. Throughout the period he acted as chairman of the building committee and 
during that time an extensive program of construction was carried out. A 
public speaker of note, Mr. Plummer has delivered addresses on various 
subjects, appearing before audiences in many parts of the country, and is 
famed for his humor and ability as a raconteur as well as for his honesty of 
purpose.
     Said Fred Lockley in the Oregon Journal of October 13, 1919:  “If you 
want to know where O. M. Plummer gets all his good stories, I can tell you. He 
gets them from his wife. A few nights ago Mr. and Mrs. Plummer entertained 
some of their friends, of whom I was one, at a dinner at the Hotel Portland. 
Something was said about the beauty of the Columbia River highway, which led 
to a discussion of the beauty of the inland passage to Juneau and Sitka. Mrs. 
Plummer has made numerous trips to Alaska and we began comparing notes about 
our experiences there.
     “‘One of the most desolate places in all Alaska,’ said Mrs. Plummer, ‘is 
the graveyard at Skagway. From a city of several thousand, Skagway has 
dwindled to a mere handful. As a consequence the road to the graveyard is 
overgrown with brush and the cemetery has fallen into ruin. “Soapy” Smith’s 
headstone is still standing, but many of the tombstones stand drunkenly awry 
or have fallen face down on the sunken moulds. Have you ever noticed how many 
of those who died in Alaska ask to have their bodies shipped to the family 
burying grounds in the States? For years they have been looking forward to 
going “outside” and they do not want their bodies to lie in a forgotten and 
neglected grave, far from their friends.
     “‘The last trip I made to Alaska the captain of one boat said to me, “On 
my I last trip down I had a peculiar experience. Just before we pulled out 
from the wharf at Ketchikan a man hurried up the gang-plank and asked for the 
captain. He was directed to me, and when he had located me said: ‘How long can 
you wait? We want to ship a corpse to Seattle.’ I told him we wouldn’t pull 
out for an hour and to hurry the body of his friend aboard. He said: “I ain’t 
right sure we can have him here in an hour. Couldn’t you possibly wait any 
longer on him?’ I said, “Why can’t you get the corpse here in an hour? That 
ought to give you plenty of time.” The man coughed rather apologetically and 
said, ‘He’s taking so much time to die he may not croak quite that soon. He’s 
been dying for several hours, though, and it looks like he ought to finish the 
job by that time. Still you can’t tell, and we don’t like to hurry him.’ “I 
told the man I had to go over to Metlakatla and if his friend finished dying 
within the next few hours to bring him out in a small boat and I would stop 
and take him aboard as I passed Ketchikan on the way down. Sure enough, he 
hailed me a few hours later and said, ‘He’s made good O. K. We’ve got him 
here, ready to be shipped.’ “It may be all right to speed the parting guest, 
but I have always wondered what method they employed in this case.
     “‘On one of my other trips, while returning from Alaska, a sourdough at 
Wrangell came aboard to go “outside” for the winter. The captain told him 
every berth was taken, so he could not sell him a ticket. The sourdough 
said, ‘I want to go on this boat. I am willing to pay first-class fare and if 
you can feed me I will sleep on deck in my sleeping bag.” The captain agreed 
to take him. Toward evening a rain squall blew up and the sourdough decided 
not to sleep on deck. He foraged around and found a room where he could spread 
his sleeping bag on the floor. During the night several of the men on watch 
came into the room to get out of the rain. The sourdough was unaware of the 
fact that he had put his sleeping bag next to the bodies of three men who were 
being shipped to the States for burial. One of the sailors stumbled over the 
sourdough and said, as he lighted a match to investigate: “One of the stiffs 
has slipped his cable or broken from his moorings and is adrift on the deck.” 
The lighting of the match awakened the sourdough, and getting up, he said in 
an exasperated voice, “What do you fellows think you are doing? I’m dead”—He 
started to say “I’m dead tired and want to sleep,” but they never heard the 
rest of the sentence. They all hit the doorway together and nearly tore the 
sides of the door out getting on deck.’” 


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Pages 325-327

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