The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 190 
A portrait of Ellis Ragan appears in this publication.

ELLIS RAGAN.

With one hundred and twenty-two thousand acres of land under lease and running
eighteen thousand head of sheep, Ellis Ragan ranks with the most prominent and
prosperous sheepmen of the northwest. The story of his life is the record of
earnest endeavor crowned with successful achievement. He was born in Kentucky,
October 5, 1872, a son of Shelby and Lucetta (Shearer) Ragan. The father is a
farmer and stock raiser and both parents were early settlers of Wayne county.
Kentucky, where they still make their home.

Ellis Ragan acquired a public school education in his native state and was a
young man of twenty years when in 1892 he came to the northwest, settling at
Pendleton, Oregon. He was there employed in connection with the sheep industry
and in the fall of 1897 he removed to Prosser, Washington, where he continued in
active business as a sheepman. In 1900 he came to Yakima and worked with sheep
until 1904. He next entered the employ of C. H. Frye & Company of Seattle, whom
he represented as a sheep buyer all over the west. He thus continued until the
fall of 1914. In 1913, however, he purchased an interest in a band of sheep and
in the spring of the following year, in connection with Alexander Dunnett,
bought a band of sheep and has since been actively and successfully engaged in
sheep raising. He now runs eighteen thousand head of sheep and has sixty-six
hundred ewes. He ranges part of these on the reservation and a part at Cle Elum
and employs about twenty-three men. He has one hundred and twenty-two thousand
acres of land under lease and is today regarded as one of the representative,
progressive and successful sheepmen of this section of the country.

On the 18th of June, 1908, Mr. pagan was married to Miss Lillian Palmer. of
Yakima, and they have two children, Gladys and Lois. His political endorsement
is given to the republican party and he stands for progressiveness in public
affairs as he does in business life.

********************************
Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.