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JAMES F. MAHON – It is especially gratifying to be enabled to chronicle in this
volume of the history of Harney county the salient points in the career of the estimable
gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch, since he has done so much
for the development and advancement of this county, has demonstrated his ability
as a financier and to handle successfully large interests, of which he is happily
possessed at the present time, being doubtless the largest grain farmer in the county
and also a leader in raising fine horses and mules; while individually, Mr. Mahon
is a man of marked ability and integrity, always dominated by sound principles and
possessed of an executive force and practical judgment that array him on the side
of success, and his moral virtues and untarnished reputation for honor and uprightness
are commensurate with his other qualifications of high order. The account, therefore,
of Mr. Mahon’s operations in the county would form an important parts of its history,
and it is but right that such giants of achievement, whose labors have wrought such
advantage to all, should be granted a position which their sagacious conduct rightly
marks as their own.
Reverting more particularly to the personal history of our subject, we note, which
accounts for his indefatigable energy and the boundless resources of his personality,
which demonstrate him equal to any emergency, that he comes from stanch Irish blood,
his parents being natives of the Emerald Isle. He, himself, was born on April 29,
1855, in Syracuse, New York, to Patrick and Catherine Mahon, who had come hither
while young. James F. was reared on a farm, gaining his education from the schools
of his vicinity, and early he manifested the precocity which later produced the
success winning talents which have characterized him in his entire walk. At the
budding age of nineteen, James F. started out for himself, and soon we see him in
the far west in the vicinity of Stockton, California. He engaged on the farm of
Jacob Grundike, as a laborer. The estate of this worthy gentleman consisted of two
thousand five hundred acres of land devoted to grain and stock. Mr. Grundike was
a man of keen perception and sound judgment and withal of a kind and dissrminating
spirit and soon he discovered that in his employee, he had a man of no ordinary
ability and trustworthiness, and he did the wise thing both for himself and out
subject, -he placed him in the position of superintendent of the entire estate,
which was a very responsible incumbency. For two years in that capacity and also
as renter of the entire property for five years, Mr. Mahon remained with Mr. Grundike;
and the only outcome that could resolve itself to the skill, energy, industry, and
excellent judgment of Mr. Mahon was the unbounded success that attended his efforts,
both to his own and Mr. Grundike’s financial advantage. During these years, Mr.
Mahon’s father had come to join his son and in 1879 they disposed of their interests
in California and came thence to central Oregon, settling in Harney valley. Let
it be said to the honor of the kind benefactor of Mr. Mahon, Mr. Grundike, that
he willingly placed to the credit of our subject the financial backing necessary
to start this young man on a career that has won a most brilliant success. Space
forbids the details of the years since the first settlement in Oregon to the present,
but a brief summary of the present will manifest plainly the talent with which Mr.
Mahon has wrought. For a time his father remained in partnership with him and then
the son bought his interest and now he is one of the heaviest property owners in
the state. Coming early, and being a practical farmer, Mr. Mahon secured the choicest
farms to be had in Harney county. He has five different well improved ranches in
the county. Two of them, aggregating two thousand five hundred acres, make the finest
grain farm in the county. The other three amount to four thousand acres, which Mr.
Mahon has a number of sections of fine grazing land. His home place is at Steins
mountain, and the postoffice was named by Mr. Mahon, Mule, from the fact that he
handles so many of these animals. Mr. Mahon makes a specialty of raising horses
and mules and is the largest owner of these quadrupeds in the county. On his home
place he has twenty-six miles of fencing and utilizes it as the breeding ranch for
his entire stock. His horses are all well bred black Percherons and he owns a Dexter
Prince stallion, Thomas H., which paces in two-fourteen, and many other horses of
fine blood, as Clydesdale, and so forth. Mr. Mahon is a noted nimrod and has some
fine animals for the chase consisting of Chesapeake hounds and Blue Dane; and many
exciting chases he participates in.
The marriage of Mr. Mahon occurred in 1881 and his wife died in 1886. He contracted
a second marriage and has four children by this union, Emily F., a graduate of Oxford;
Iva J., attending school in California; Pearl R., and Stella M., deceased. Fraternally
he is well connected, being a member of the Masons, the Elks, the I. O. O. F., the
K. of P., the A. O. U. W., and the M. W. of A. Politically he is allied with the
Democratic party and is active in the interests of good government. Mr. Mahon is
a fine expert with horses and an admirer of that beautiful animal. He is a leading
man in the county, and has done much for the advancement of its interests. From
the time his faithful labors attracted the kindly notice of his worthy employer,
Mr. Grundike, who promptly placed him on the road to brilliant success, which he
has achieved, Mr. Mahon has always been faithful, upright, progressive, dominated
by wisdom of a high order, and he has made a name and place for himself among men
that is worthy of emulation, and the prestige which he now enjoys is the result
of his intrinsic worth wrought into crowning achievements. Mr. Mahon is taking great
pains and sparing no expense to grant his children all opportunity to gain a first
class educational training. He has recently given his son, Ira J., an interest in
the business. The young man is proving his ability and mettle by making a success
which is a credit to himself and his father.
Transcriber’s Note: The original text has an incorrect plural in the first paragraph,
discriminating is misspelled in the 2nd paragraph and references his
son’s name as Iva in one place and Ira in another, thus I have transcribed the above
exactly as originally printed.
Transcribed from Pages 672-673 of Harney County Biographies from “An
Illustrated History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties with a brief outline
of the early history of the State of Oregon”, Published 1902 by Western Historical
Publishing Company
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