Enterprise, Oregon
The Wallowa Mountains in northeastern Oregon, as seen from across Wallowa Lake. Percy and Pluma, together with their daughter Lela and her husband Wayne and their four children, bought an acreage on the lower slopes of Ruby Mountain, seen here on the right. The town of Enterprise, visible from their home, is a short way down the valley, to the right of this scene. Photo by Peter Brunette.
“Gramps” Percy at home on Spring Creek Road with year-old granddaughters Karen and Kay Limbaugh, 1948.
The stopover in Promise did not last long. Percy soon began to scout the area for property where Lela and Wayne would live in their own home to raise their children, but Percy and Pluma would live nearby to help. He found just the place on Spring Creek Road, 43 miles southeast of Promise, just a few miles up the base of Ruby Mountain near Enterprise and Joseph, Oregon.
There were two houses on the property. One, in decent shape, would make a home for Lela and Wayne and their four children, and the other, a short walk down a dirt road, would do for Percy and Pluma, being like the many rustic dwellings they had lived in through their years together. It had a kitchen with a window beside the door, and a living area with a window facing towards the valley. Wall cupboards, a work table, a refrigerator, and a stove furnished the kitchen; their bed, table and chairs, and Pluma’s old White sewing machine furnished the living room.
There was a small barn on the property where their cow was milked and winter feed was stored for her and the Limbaugh’s couple of horses. There was a chicken coop, and Percy and Pluma dug out a large garden area with raspberry bushes lining the fence around it. Lela remembered her dad telling her that he borrowed $60 to buy a pig and wheat seed when they first moved up to Spring Creek Road, so that they were once again almost self-sufficient.
There were two houses on the property. One, in decent shape, would make a home for Lela and Wayne and their four children, and the other, a short walk down a dirt road, would do for Percy and Pluma, being like the many rustic dwellings they had lived in through their years together. It had a kitchen with a window beside the door, and a living area with a window facing towards the valley. Wall cupboards, a work table, a refrigerator, and a stove furnished the kitchen; their bed, table and chairs, and Pluma’s old White sewing machine furnished the living room.
There was a small barn on the property where their cow was milked and winter feed was stored for her and the Limbaugh’s couple of horses. There was a chicken coop, and Percy and Pluma dug out a large garden area with raspberry bushes lining the fence around it. Lela remembered her dad telling her that he borrowed $60 to buy a pig and wheat seed when they first moved up to Spring Creek Road, so that they were once again almost self-sufficient.
Lela’s and Bob’s children playing together at the acreage on Spring Creek Road, 1948. L. to r.: Judy Limbaugh, Karen Limbaugh, Bob Haverfield Jr., Kay Limbaugh, Greg Haverfield, and Gary Limbaugh.
Bob and Bea’s family visiting the Limbaughs and Pluma and Percy at their acreage in 1954. Standing (l. to r.): Bob Jr., Judy behind Kay, Gary, Pluma behind Karen, and Bea. Seated (l. to r.): Percy, Verna, Bob, and Kathleen.
Percy and Pluma loved their life on the side of Ruby Mountain. The surrounding scenery was inspiring, with forests, fruit trees, a free-running creek, and many deer and other mountain wildlife. Now they were living on the side of a real mountain, 8,848 feet high. By comparison, the Turtle Mountains north of Dunseith, North Dakota, where Percy and Pluma first met, are only a 300 to 400 foot climb above the surrounding plains.
The winter months were not easy, though; sometimes the Limbaugh family was their only company during those cold months. For entertainment, they listened to the radio and later watched television, and every night Percy and Pluma played Chinese checkers before retiring.
One winter there was so much snow that they couldn’t get out, so it was decided to start spending the coldest part of the winter in southern California or Arizona. They bought a small trailer they could hitch to their pickup truck that would provide indoor accommodation for cooking and sleeping.
During the summer months, Percy and Pluma enjoyed their garden and their raspberry patch, as well as daily visits with their grandchildren who they adored. They also enjoyed corresponding with their other children, and considering that Ruth, Edna Fern, Lyman, and Bob lived with their families as far away as North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Arizona, and Washington, Percy and Pluma had a surprising number of visits from them and so were able to watch their grandchildren growing up over the years.
The life they had lived on Rock Creek was successfully transplanted for the fourteen years they spent together on the side of Ruby Mountain, from 1948 until Pluma’s death in 1962. Pluma died of congestive heart failure when she was approaching the age of 72 and was buried in an Enterprise cemetery. Percy was buried beside her 22 years later.
The winter months were not easy, though; sometimes the Limbaugh family was their only company during those cold months. For entertainment, they listened to the radio and later watched television, and every night Percy and Pluma played Chinese checkers before retiring.
One winter there was so much snow that they couldn’t get out, so it was decided to start spending the coldest part of the winter in southern California or Arizona. They bought a small trailer they could hitch to their pickup truck that would provide indoor accommodation for cooking and sleeping.
During the summer months, Percy and Pluma enjoyed their garden and their raspberry patch, as well as daily visits with their grandchildren who they adored. They also enjoyed corresponding with their other children, and considering that Ruth, Edna Fern, Lyman, and Bob lived with their families as far away as North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Arizona, and Washington, Percy and Pluma had a surprising number of visits from them and so were able to watch their grandchildren growing up over the years.
The life they had lived on Rock Creek was successfully transplanted for the fourteen years they spent together on the side of Ruby Mountain, from 1948 until Pluma’s death in 1962. Pluma died of congestive heart failure when she was approaching the age of 72 and was buried in an Enterprise cemetery. Percy was buried beside her 22 years later.
