Collection is open for research.
Gift of Stiles T. Colwill, May 2007 (Lib. Acc. 27403).
The collection is arranged in two series: Series 1. Ranch activities and history; Series 2. Legal and financial records.
The area of Tuttle Ranch was on the edge of the Umatilla Reservation in the John Day Valley in Oregon, located approximately eleven miles up the John Day River from Prairie City. In 1844, during the Cayuse War, Major Henry A. G. Lee established a military outpost there, which became known as Lee's Encampment. The main building on the ranch was built in 1863 during the Canyon City gold rush. Before the area became Tuttle Ranch in the 1940s, it was known for its hot springs and was called Blue Mountain Hot Springs or Blue Mountain Springs Ranch.
Clarence Ewing Tuttle was born on May 17, 1884, in Hastings, Minnesota. He was a businessman who, over his lifetime, held many positions in various companies, mostly on the east coast. Among other roles, he was president of the Pittsburgh Terminal Railroad and Coal Company from 1923-1925, vice president of Payson & Co., a New York City bank, from 1928-1935, and president of Rustless Iron and Steel corporation starting in 1930. Tuttle was also an avid horseman. He owned Double Brandy, a foal that won over $130,000 in horse races. He began breeding Hereford cattle around 1938, and bought the Blue Mountain Hot Springs ranch in 1940. The first cattle on the ranch were shipped from Tuttle's Maryland farm in 1945. Due to his various business obligations, Tuttle was rarely at the ranch. Irving B. Hazeltine, the sheriff and tax collector of Grant County, oversaw the day-to-day activities of the ranch and corresponded regularly with Tuttle. Hazeltine died in November 1960; Tuttle died in October 1962 in Portland, Oregon, and was buried in Baltimore, Maryland.
Tuttle Ranch records, Coll 242, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Corners or edges were removed from documents that had been affected by mold; no information was lost.
Records of a horse and cattle ranch in Grant County, Eastern Oregon, owned by Clarence Ewing Tuttle and operated by Irving Hazeltine. The collection concerns the activities of the ranch from 1943 to 1962, as well as some history of the area prior to that time. Materials include correspondence, cattle advertisements, two photographs, writings, and financial and legal records. The correspondence with Irving Hazeltine, which includes communications to and from both Hazeltine and Tuttle, provides a detailed account of the daily activities of the ranch. The collection includes a history of the John Day Valley by an unknown author, as well as correspondence concerning the history of the ranch itself. Contracts, agreements, leases, and correspondence, usually concerning land, comprise the legal records, while statements and ledger volumes make up the financial records.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
Contains correspondence to and from Hazeltine and Tuttle.
Also contains history of John Day Valley.