The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 259

RALPH ORCOTT SMITH.

Ralph Orcott Smith, who is engaged in the cultivation of a forty-acre ranch five
miles west of Yakima, was born in Geneseo, Illinois, October 14, 1876, a son of
John and Kate (Orcott) Smith, who in the year 1884 made the journey to the
northwest, establishing their home in Union county, Oregon. Ralph O. Smith
acquired a public school education and when sixteen years of age left home in
order to start out in the business world independently. Coming to the Yakima
valley, he worked on a farm in the employ of others for fourteen months and
l4ter he made a prospecting trip in British Columbia. In 1900 he purchased the
Pete Taylor ranch on the Cowiche for ten dollars per acre and in 1904 sold that
property at thirty dollars per acre. He afterward spent two years in San Diego,
California, after which he returned to the Yakima valley, where he remained,
however, but a short time. He next went to La Grande, Oregon, and bought a stock
ranch of fifteen hundred acres, upon which he remained for two years. Later he
again spent a year in San Diego and on the expiration, of that period removed
to Highland, California, where he purchased an orange grove, but lost three
successive crops. He next established his home at Paso Robles, California, and
devoted five years there to the wheat and stock business. He still owns a six
hundred and forty acre ranch in that district. In 1917, however, he sold his
stock there and returned to the Yakima valley, where he invested in forty acres
of land five miles west of the city of Yakima, of which ten acres is planted to
fruit, while the remainder is given to the cultivation of alfalfa and corn.

On the 18th of November, 1900, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Viola May
Livengood, a daughter of R. A. and Letitia Livengood, who were pioneers of the
Yakima valley. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born seven children: Ervin,
Chester, Ira, Ivan, Harvey, Glenn and Katie May. While in California Mr. Smith
served as a member of the school board and has always been interested in the
cause of education. In politics he may be called an independent republican, for
while he usually supports the principles of the party, he does not consider
himself bound by party ties and at local elections when no party issue is
involved, usually casts an independent ballot. While he has made many changes,
he has steadily progressed in his business career and is today successfully
conducting fruit raising as well as farming interests in Yakima county.

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