An Illustrated History of Central Oregon, Western Historical Publishing Company,
Spokane, WA. 1905, pages 274-275.

HON. W.H. HARRISON DUFUR is a man well known by his labors, both in business
life and in the political arena. He has achieved remarkable success as the owner
of a magnificent estate, five miles up from Dufur on Fifteenmile creek. He is
one of the leading men of this part of the state and has made a brilliant
success in every line in which he has operated and without doubt is to be
classed as one of the builders of this prosperous section. His influence has
been felt far and near and his work bears the stamp of sagacity and executive
ability. He was born in Williamstown, Vermont, on February 22, 1854. His parents
and the balance of the family are named in the biography of Andrew J. Dufur,
Jr., which appears in another portion of this work. Our subject came to Oregon
with the rest of the family in 1860 and for many years they all remained
together. He received his educational training in the district schools in and
about Portland, in the high school under Professor Johnson and in the Portland
Academy under Professor T.M. Gatch. After this, he was in the employ of Bradley,
Marsh and Company and other large firms, then second assistant manager of the
Northwest Storage Shipping Company, two years. In 1876, he moved to Fifteen-mile
creek with his brother for a time and rented ranches. Two years later, he bought
two hundred and ninety-four acres and kept adding to it until he had nearly
fifteen hundred acres. He has sold considerable and still owns over one thousand
acres, six hundred of which are tillable. He does general farming, raises cattle
and horses and Poland China hogs. He has been very successful in his labors here
and has accumulated a fine fortune. On November 11, 1902, Mr. Dufur leased the
Columbia hotel in The Dalles and furnished the same at an expense of over four
thousand dollars and on October 22, 1903, the same burned to the ground.      

The political career of Mr. Dufur is worthy of especial mention and it is with
pleasure that we are privileged to append a review. He has been a life long
Republican and one of the prominent men of his party in this part of the state.
He is one of those unswerving, progressive men, who have made Republican
politics what it is today, the most powerful influence in the grandest nation on
earth. In 1882, he was chosen a member of the state legislature at a special
election at the Dolph Mitchell contest, he belonging to the Mitchell faction.
Under Harrison's administration, Mr. Dufur was commissioner and disbursing agent
for the Warm Springs and Colville Indian commission. The object of this
commission was to settle the disputed line between Indians of the Warm Springs
agency and the white settlers and to purchase lands from the confederated tribes
of the Colville Indians. Mark A. Fullerton of the supreme bench of Washington
was chairman of the committee and Hon. James F. Paine of North Carolina was the
other member. In 1898, he was appointed forest supervisor of the northern
division of the Cascade reserve and of the Bull Run reserve, which supplies
Portland with water. For four years he did excellent service in that capacity.
He is always at the county and state conventions where he is an influential and
leading figure.      

On July 16, 1876, at Portland, Mr. Dufur married Mary L. Alexander, who was born
in Topson, Maine. Her parents were both natives of that state and came from old
colonial families. The father died some time since and the mother married
Richard H. Holmes and they are now dwelling with our subject. They came to
Oregon in the early fifties and for many years he was a contractor and builder
in Portland. He is a veteran of the Rogue river and Cayuse and other Indian wars
of the fifties. Mrs. Dufur has one sister, Nellie, the wife of William Humbert,
in the government employ at Los Angeles, California. Two children have been born
to our subject and his wife, Blanche, the wife of R. E. Batty of Grangeville,
Idaho, and Andrew B. at home. He was married on July 9, 1903, to Iva Williams
who was born on Eightmile. Her father, W.H. Williams, is mentioned elsewhere in
this work.      

Mr. Dufur is a member of the A.O.U.W., the W.W. and the United Artisans. He is a
sturdy up-to-date man dominated by sound principles and guided by a keen
foresight and wisdom that stamp him as a leading figure in the county.

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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.