An Illustrated History of Central Oregon, Western Historical Publishing Company, Spokane, WA. 1905, page 352-353. GEORGE W. RICE is practically a product of Oregon, having crossed the plains with his parents when only a year old. He was horn in Iowa, on January 7, 1850, the son of Horace and Eliza J. (Bolton) Rice, who are mentioned specifically in another portion of the volume. The journey across the plains was fraught with great suffering and trial, but our subject was too young to remember these incidents, and his earliest recollections are of the Web-foot state and with it his fortune has been linked since. When the weary immigrants arrived in the Willamette valley they were all recuperated and found work and our subject was reared and educated until about thirteen, the old donation claim in Lane county being the home place. Then he came east of the mountain with his father and in. this section completed the education he had begun in the west. He labored under the direction of a skillful father, one of the most prominent men of the county, and was well trained in the art of farming and stock raising. Until he was twenty-seven, he remained with his father and then he took a homestead for himself, about three miles southeast from his present home. This was the scene of his labors and successes until 1902, when he sold it and purchased the old home place from his father, -- the place where so much of his life had been spent and around which so many pleasant memories cluster. Here Mr. Rice is established and is manifesting the same sagacity that made his father successful. It will be remembered that this estate is the one where the first orchard of any size was raised in this county, where the elder Rice demonstrated that the up land will produce the best of grain, and with it are thus connected some of the most important items of Wasco history. It consists of one thousand acres, six hundred of which are tillable. Mr. Rice cultivates this year about four hundred acres, and the entire estate shows his care and thrift. At The Dalles, in 1880, Mr. Rice married Miss Ella Southern, the sister of Charles H. Southern, who is mentioned, elsewhere in this work. She was born in Delaware county, Iowa, on July 3, 1863. To this marriage one child has been born, Naomi, who first saw the light on February 15, 1901, in The Dalles. Mr. Rice is a Republican, but not especially active although he is often at the conventions. He is a man of stability and influence as his father before him, and stands well in the community. His wife is a well known lady and comes from an excellent family. They are popular and good people and have done much to assist in making Wasco county prosperous as it is today. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2005 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.