Virgil Washington Viers and Lela Ethel (Brown) Viers (1965) at their ranch in Kingman Kolony area, Adrian, Malheur County, Oregon, where three rivers joined-Owyhee River, Snake River, South Fork of the Boise River. Ruts of the southern branch of the old Oregon Trail crossed the edge of the ranch and ancient Native American Indian summer campgrounds could be found that were used for many, many centuries to harvest large amounts of fresh water clams. As many as 10,000 head of sheep owned by Basque and Irish sheepmen wintered on the ranch, using the lambing sheds on the ranch. The original ranch had over 38 head of horses and ran 500 head of cattle. Some of the horses were wild horses brought in off the desert and broken to saddle or harness.

8. VIRGIL WASHINGTON VIERS

BORN: 12 Nov 1908. PLACE: Carmen, Alfalfa County, Oklahoma
DIED: 19 Jun 1979. PLACE: Ontario, Malheur County, Oregon
BURIED: 21 Jun 1979. PLACE: Nyssa Cemetery, Nyssa, Malheur County, Oregon.
PARENTS: Father: William Nathaniel Viers Mother: Della Jane (Jones) Viers

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Fire lookout spotter-Packer to sheep camps-Ranch hand-Box factory worker-Military base worker (Ft. Richardson, Alaska-1940-1941)-Machinist in Oregon Shipyards (Portland, OR, WWII)-Rancher.

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(click item to see copies of documentation)

• BIRTH CERTIFICATE
• CENSUS DATA (jumps to William Nathaniel Viers CENSUS DATA)
• DEATH CERTIFICATE/OBITUARY/CEMETERY

9. LELA ETHEL (BROWN) VIERS

Lela Ethel (Brown) Viers- Anchorage, Alaska-1941

BORN: 14 Sep 1912. PLACE: Butler, Deepwater Twp., Bates County, Missouri
DIED: 17 Jun 1993. PLACE: Ontario, Malheur County, Oregon
BURIED: 19 Jun 1993. PLACE: Nyssa Cemetery, Nyssa, Malheur County, Oregon.
PARENTS: Father: Clark W. Brown Mother: Lela Etherl (Shillinger) Brown

ANCESTRAL LINE: Brown, Shillinger, Hicks, Tyree, White, Brelsford (Bralsford)

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Domestic Engineer-Waitress/Cook-Fire lookout spotter-Shipyard steel plate cutter at Swan Island shipyards (Portland, OR-WWII)-Rancher.

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(click item to see copies of documentation)

• BIRTH CERTIFICATE/SOCIAL SECURITY#
• DEATH CERTIFICATE/OBITUARY/CEMETERY

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   MARRIED: 12 Sep 1929-Wheatland, Platte County, Wyoming

CHILDREN:

• 1. WILLIAM JOSEPH VIERS (click here for generation 1 profile)

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FOSTER CHILDREN: Volunteered and raised two State placed foster children for almost 12 years.

ALASKA-1940 and 1941

After a new home was flooded out in 1940, at Algoma, Oregon near Klamath Falles, Oregon, Virgil W. and L. Ethel Viers and 8 year old son, William, went to Alaska on the S.S. Mount McKinley (top left). Virgil purchased 10 acres in Anchorage and a one room log cabin (top right). He built some rentals on the property and in 1941, just prior to the war, sold the property for a very good profit and the family returned state side in 1941 on the S. S. Alaska (lower photo) The property where the cabin and 10 acres sat is part of downtown Anchorage, Alaska today (worth a very sizeable sum more than in 1941). Virgil Viers, his brother Nathaniel Frank Viers and a friend, George Krause, were on their way to Argentina to take possession of a very large ranch with thousands of acres and were ready to leave San Francisco when Pearl Harbor was bombed. This put a stop to that adventure. Later Virgil Viers and family and Nathaniel Frank Viers went to Portland, Oregon to work in the shipyards and then Frank went into the Army where he was involved in the landing at Normandy and was wounded and then went back to fight again in Germany. Meanwhile, Virgil Viers and family purchased a ranch in Adrian, Oregon and moved there in 1943. This ended the Alaska adventure and the big ranching Argentine adventure that got bombed out due to a war.