MCDERMITT - Alfred and Harriet Wilkinson were married on April 21, 1870, and a month later left their home in England, sailing to Hancock, Del.
By 1874, they had moved west, to Winnemucca, Nev., with three young children, and while it is not certain how they traveled from the East Coast to Nevada, the railroad had reached Winnemucca on Sept. 20, 1868, making it possible that they could have came by rail.
Alfred was hired on at the McConnell Ranch and by 1877 had saved enough money to buy the Cane Springs Ranch, located between Winnemucca and Orovada. In 1879 he purchased and moved his family to the 10 Mile Creek Ranch north of the border town of McDermitt, Nev. There he had sheep, raised Percheron draft horses, and ran a freight line into Winnemucca.
Eventually he switched from sheep to beef cattle - branding with the H2 brand he registered in 1885. In 1906 their son, George, leased the Vance Ranch for a few years before moving his 200 cows to the nearby Little Meadows Ranch, which he bought from his older brother, Bob, along with the Callahan Place, 52 miles out on the Owyhee Desert.
Jessie Staheli came from southern Utah to visit her sister (Hilda Reeves) in McDermitt, and there met and married George Wilkinson in 1930. In the late 1930s they put up a house purchased from Sears and Roebucks for about $900 that still stands today.
Their two sons, George Edward and Fred, grew up on the Little Meadows Ranch and have lived all of their lives on the Wilkinson ranches except to go to Utah, where they stayed with relatives to go to high school.
Ernest and Stella (Cripp) Tanner lived near St. George, Utah, and raised vegetables to sell in the area. Their daughter Annetta went to high school with George and as soon as the pair graduated they married, returning to the high desert north of McDermitt to live and raise their family.
As there was only the Sears and Roebucks home on the Little Meadows Ranch, they lived in a house in town located behind the Quinn River Merc.
McDermitt Combined School alumni Kimble Wilkinson was the first of their five children, born Oct. 18, 1950, and has five generation pictures as a baby with Annetta, his grandparents, his great grandparents, and his great-great grandparents on both the Cripp and the Tanner sides.
Kimble was the first Wilkinson to graduate from MHS in 1968, followed by brothers Doug (MHS 1971) and Ned (MHS 1972) and little sister Penny (MHS 1977). He also has another sister, Sharon.
Kimble started first grade in the "new" school, which consisted of the four grade school rooms, the old gym and two high school rooms that are junior high rooms now. His favorite grade school teacher was Leora Lund. Junior high was in the building that houses the McDermitt Library, with Uncle Fred as his teacher.
He remembers that Fred told them that it was difficult for him to speak in front of people and so he had his students give oral book reports to promote confidence in public speaking.
- See ALUMNI, Page 28 -
Kimble said Fred had new ideas and was a fun teacher. He also enjoyed the softball games that they got to play against Arock and the sockhops that Fred and his wife Judy organized. Kimble often stayed with them during junior high basketball season as Fred was the coach.
High school was in the "new" addition of the new school that was added on the southwest. Jack Cook, the science teacher was a favorite. Kimble started playing basketball, track and football but was sidelined when he broke his leg in a home football game against Carlin.
Kimble began haying at home when he was eight years old with four-by-four blocks on the brake and clutch pedal of the tractor for short legs. By high school he worked at the ranch, and spent part of the summer haying for Dora Lasa on area ranches, such as the UC Ranch.
He said Dora hired high school kids and they learned to run a lot of equipment including a backhoe. During high school, they made two trips a year out to the desert with cattle. In February he would go with his dad, and again in March helping Gary Minor turn out. It was always fun with Gary as he hired a bunch of kids to help.
He remembers one time at the Potomac Place with Bruce Easterday, Mike Mentaberry, and Alan Albisu, to name a few, when Bruce set coyote traps around their tack and they all got "snapped!" To get even they waited until Bruce was in the outhouse and then tipped it over on its side! "We all laughed until our stomachs ached."
After graduating with 21 kids in 1968, Kimble and his dad decided they were going to be using less horsepower and more machinery so he set off for Wyo-Tech in Laramie, Wyo., to develop mechanical skills to use on the ranch.
He stayed in a house across the street from the school and ate in the Sawyers' Boarding House next door. The Sawyers' granddaughter Susan Reese helped them serve meals and when Kimball finished his course in November he couldn't come back to the ranch without her!
Married on Nov. 23, 1968, they settled into the little house in town where Kimble had lived as a child. Susan took classes to earn her GED under MHS principal Gordon Gumke, while Kimble worked at the ranch and part time at the Chevron station for Lee McDonald.
In 1969 Kimble became the only Wilkinson to ever be in the military when he enlisted in the National Guard. Sent to Louisville, Ky., for training, he was a guard at Fort Knox when his first daughter Misty, (Houghton) (MHS 1988) of Nampa, Idaho, was born in Laramie.
Kimble spent four months in basic training and continued with a weekend of training every month for the next six years, with two weeks every year with regular army - usually in Boise, Idaho.
One year he went to Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas, and recalls going to Juarez, Mexico, with a bunch of guys. When a farmer, who stopped very fast at an intersection, was rear-ended by a vehicle in front of them, the police said it was the soldiers fault and fined them $20. They decided to get out of Mexico before they really got into trouble!
During this time Kimble and Susan moved into a beautiful new home at the Little Meadows Ranch and their family grew to include Stacey (Wright) (MHS 1990), a teacher and homemaker in Klamath Falls, Ore.; and sons Brandon (MHS 1993), a computer drafter for an engineering company (they designed the new Boise State Library), of Kuna, Idaho, and Barry (MHS 1996), who along with his wife Tammy are at the ranch.
In 1977, Kimball, who was working part time at the McDermitt Mine, began working at the ranch full time and was made a partner with his dad and Uncle Fred when they added the McCormick Place in 1983. Later the Minor Place was added to the Wilkinson Brothers holdings as well. In 1999 Kimble's dad George decided to retire and the decision was made to split Wilkinson Brothers. Fred and his son Nick kept the McCormick Place, while Kimball and his family stayed on at the original Little Meadows Ranch and the Minor Place.
George and Annetta split their time between the ranch and Nampa, Idaho, and sadly the family suffered a terrible loss this past winter when Annetta passed away.
Barry came back to the ranch in 2001 and is the fifth generation of Wilkinsons on the same place. Barry and Tammy have three children-Riley, (8 years) a 3rd grader at McDermitt, and Reese (6 years) in the 1st, and little brother Chasen (2 years). There has now been a Wilkinson in the McDermitt Combined School every year since Kimble started 1st grade in 1956. The children are the sixth generation at Little Meadows Ranch, where they brand with the same H2 brand that Alfred registered in 1885. It is the oldest registered brand to still be used by the same family on the same ranch in Oregon. They were awarded a centennial plaque in the 1990s.
Kimble's other grandchildren include Misty's two boys, Tristen, who recently graduated from high school, and Trenton, a sophomore; Stacey's three Cody (15 years), Braydon (13 years} and Peyton {10 years}; and Brandon's daughter Hayden (7 years).
Kimball says that he loves working on the ranch and that when he is ready to retire he will let Barry take over and only work when he wants to!
He does have some advice to the students at McDermitt today: "Don't get too wrapped up in technology! Keep in tune with actual physical work. Today you need computers but remember to keep your feet on the ground! Common sense and thinking for yourself is still the path to success!"
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