David
(Allen) "Jiggs" Catterson (1915-1978)
Widely known as Alan or Jiggs Catterson, he was born in Lawen Oregon, twenty
Miles Southeast of Burns, OR on December 16, 1915 . He grew up in the Lawen
area and attended High School at Crane, OR. He had two brothers, Bill and
Buster. His Grandparents were pioneers in the area, they started a homestead
at Lawen in 1886.
Alan married Grace Ann Sebring in November, 1934. They had two children,
Allene (Mrs. Larry Dunn) and Frank and they both live in the area.
In his early years Alan rode a horse almost every day to earn a
living. He owned two saddles in his life time; one a D.E. Walker
and the other, a Hamley. He used a J.S. Garcia made spade bit, spurs
with big rowels and Mexican Pesos for conchos on the spur straps,
made in the 1800’s. Alan always used a rawhide reata. He also
made rawhide reatas, quirts and hackamores. He worked for Miller
and Lux ranches in his early years and worked for Bill
Thomson (Buckaroo Hall of Fame inductee, 1997) at the Island
Ranch in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, then for the
Mann Lake Ranch and area around Diamond, OR in the 1940’s.
He ran wild horses for the Bureau of Land Management (in the days before
they used planes or helicopters) in the Skull Creek area. The Stinking Water
area had big horse corrals there and he spent a lot of time in that area
gathering wild horses. Some he rode as saddle horses and some he broke to
work and sold to area ranchers. Wild horses were abundant on the Steens Mtn.
and around Harney Co. area.
One time he won the bronc riding at Diamond, OR and received a palomino horse
and $75. If ranchers had any horses that would buck, he would buy them. He
soon put together a string of bucking horses, and put on rodeos in Vale,
Lakeview, Burns and Sisters OR. Later, he was able to to buy his own ranch
near Lawen.
Alan liked drawing horses and western sketches. He was an all-around buckaroo.
Horses were his life, he could ride them and work them too. He died in Burns,
OR, June 3, 1978. He was inducted into the Buckaroo Hall of Fame September
2007.
Compiled for the Buckaroo Hall of Fame by Dorothy Hammond and Frank
Catterson.
|
