Archives West Finding Aid

Thomas Leander "Lee" Moorhouse was born Feb. 28, 1850 in Marion County, Iowa. In 1861 the family emigrated on the Oregon Trail to Walla Walla, WA; Moorhouse spent the first year living with the Henry Bowman family, acquaintances from Iowa, in the Pendleton vicinity. He attended Whitman Seminary in Walla Walla. As a young man he traveled and worked throughout the west, prospecting in Boise, breaking horses in Helena, and droving cattle in Nevada. He studied at a Portland business college briefly.

Moorhouse returned to the Pendleton area in 1874, first using his surveying skills from the Oregon & California railway on behalf of the county. He was then employed by Lot Livermore, a prominent merchant. Moorhouse married Sara Ella Willis in 1876 and the couple moved to Umatilla Landing. He served as a field secretary to the governor during the Bannock War, and from 1879-1883 was assistant adjutant general of the third brigade of the Oregon State Militia. The rank of "major" stayed with him for the rest of his life.

Lee Moorhouse was a stockholder in Prospect Farm, near Stanfield, and served as its manager. From there Moorhouse went back to Pendleton and joined Livermore in the Lee Moorhouse and Company General Store. In 1889 Moorhouse became Agent for the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He oversaw a survey of the land, allotment to individual tribe members, and sale of the "surplus" land under the 1891 Allotment Act. Returning to business in 1891 he brokered wheat for a while and then entered into insurance sales. Moorhouse was very active in civic work in Pendleton, serving as mayor in 1885 and as treasurer and surveyor in 1888. He was a member of the Elks and active in the Repulbican party. Lee Moorhouse served on the Oregon Geographic Names board for several years. He was admitted to the Oregon Bar in 1900 but never practiced law. He served as clerk of the Eastern Division of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1901-1926. .

Lee Moorhouse was interested in photography early in life, possibly learning from Henry Bowman's cousin, professional photographer W.S. Bowman, and he served as president of the Pendleton Camera Club for several years. Moorhouse became a passionate and prolific photographer in the 1880s, photographing the people and events of the city of Pendleton, visiting the reservation, and making portraits of tribal members in the backyard of his home. During his life he also assembled a collection of Native American artifacts--baskets, weapons, regalia, bags and horse trappings--from a variety of tribal cultures. He exhibited the collection at local fairs and used it to adorn the tribal members who came to sit for photographs; many of the images in the collection contain a mixture of artifacts from different Native tribes.

Moorhouse considered himself an amateur, but mastered the equipment of professional photographers: gelatin dry glass-plate negatives, large cameras, and a tripod. His work appeared on postcards and in many publications. In addition to his work on the reservation and his composed tribal portraits, Lee Moorhouse was an enthusiastic participant and documenter of progress and events in the region.

Lee Moorhouse had three daughters (Celestine "Lessie", Augusta "Gussie" and LaVelle) and a son, Mark. Mark Moorhouse was a founder of the Pendleton Roundup. Lee Moorhouse died Jun.1, 1926.