View XML QR Code

McGregor Land and Livestock Company Records, 1887-1949

Overview of the Collection

Creator
McGregor Land and Livestock Company
Title
McGregor Land and Livestock Company Records
Dates
1887-1949 (inclusive)
Quantity
126 Linear feet of shelf space, (288 Boxes)
Collection Number
Cage 16 (collection)
Summary
Business correspondence, ledgers, account books, payrolls, insurance records, title abstracts, tax records and all types of daily business records of the McGregor Land and Livestock Company, an Eastern Washington company involved in wool growing, land, agriculture and mercantile enterprises.
Repository
Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection is open and available for research use.

Languages
English
Return to Top

Historical Note

The grandsons of Scottish immigrants to Ontario, Canada in the 1840s, Peter and Archie McGregor moved to Washington Territory in the United States in 1882. Settling in the Palouse region of the Columbia Plateau, Peter and Archie began to operate a business in the open range sheep trade in the mid-1880s and owned 22,000 sheep by 1890. Peter and Archie were joined by brother John McGregor in 1886 and another brother, Alex McGregor, in 1900.

In 1905, the four McGregor brothers established the McGregor Land and Livestock Company. Through this corporation, the McGregors leased, cultivated, and pastured tens of thousands of acres of grazing land and created a general merchandising business through which they could buy and sell cattle, sheep, hogs, wheat, apples, and farm equipment. In 1908, the McGregors purchased the Bar U cattle ranch and created the Taylor Land and Livestock Company to manage it, and in 1917, they purchased the Palouse Irrigation and Power Company and incorporated it as the Hooper Realty Company. To house and supply employees, the McGregors bought up property in the town of Hooper, including a hotel, general store, blacksmith shop, and lumberyards.

In 1956, the McGregor Company was created as a separate company to operate the McGregor fertilizer and farm equipment ventures. As of 2018, the McGregor Company remains in operation and serves over 35 Pacific Northwest communities, with McGregor descendants serving as chairman and president of the company.

Return to Top

Content Description

The McGregor papers are a large collection of the early business records of the McGregor Land and Livestock Company, one of the oldest sheep ranches in the Palouse region. Both the historians and the economists at WSC are enthusiastic about the potential use which the collection has as source material for the history of the livestock industry in eastern Washington; wage and price studies for the cattle business at a given time; and general economic conditions. The collection is extensive enough to permit studies of this kind since the ledgers, account books, business correspondence, payrolls, insurance records, abstracts of title, and many other types of daily business documents were preserved.

One unusual part of the collection is material concerning the Palouse Irrigation and Power Company, a private irrigation company formed in 1912. The articles of incorporation and some financial accounts have been kept, and since records are extant for very few of the private irrigation companies, these represent a unique feature which has added importance because of its scarcity.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions apply.

Preferred Citation

[Item description]

McGregor Land and Livestock Company Records, 1887-1949 (Cage 16)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is ordered into two main series by type of material. Series one, papers, is ordered chronologically, and then alphabetically by subject matter within each year. Series two, bound journals, seems to have been maintained in their original order.

Acquisition Information

In 1959, Mr. John McGregor of Hooper, Washington, presented to the WSC Library the McGregor papers.

Related Materials

McGregor Land and Livestock Company and McGregor Family Records, circa 1886-1968 (Cage 902)

Preliminary Guide to the McGregor Land and Livestock Company Records, 1962-1976 (MS 1982.04)

Unprocessed accessions MS. 1980.12, MS. 1982.39

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Agriculture -- Washington (State), Eastern
  • Cattle -- Washington (State), Eastern
  • Real estate business -- Washington (State), Eastern
  • Sheep -- Washington (State), Eastern

Corporate Names

  • McGregor Land and Livestock Company -- Records and correspondence
  • Palouse Irrigation and Power Company -- Records and correspondence


2022

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

Loading...
Loading...