Frank Leon "Jumper" Jones
(1885-1958)
Frank Leon "Jumper" Jones was born February 26, 1885 to
Ben and Ida Gray Jones at Jamieson, Willow Creek, Oregon.
Jumper was a true Vaquero, working for cattle ranches throughout
his life like Miller and Lux (PLS Co) from Harper to Burns, Oregon.
He went on trail drives for “The PLS” to Winnemucca, Nevada and
from the “Island Ranch” out of Burns to Brogan, Oregon where they
shipped at El Dorado to the Miller and Lux Ranches in California.
He first worked for the “PLS” at Harper, Oregon under Frank Newman.
Benny Jordan of Vale, Oregon and Jumper also worked for the Eastern
Oregon Land and Livestock Co. at Ironside after Miller and Lux shut
down in the 1920’s. They worked together there “breaking out” horses.
Benny said Jumper taught him a great deal about horses, especially
how to get on and off horses. These were big strong horses that
could really buck if given the chance. Jumper showed him how to
put his knee in their shoulder and “ease up” real slow. This probably
saved him from many wrecks.
Lena McKinney McHargue said her Uncle Frank (Jumper) was working
at Cow Valley, Oregon in the 20’ and 30’s. He would bring a string
of bucking horses into the Vale rodeo. Benny Jordan said that on
the way back to Cow Valley they would ride the bucking string.
Val Gene Dice remembers seeing Jumper in the late 1930’s working
for his Uncle ‘Pink” Becker at Westfall.
In his later years (1940) Jumper went to Nevada and started working
for Paul Sweeney at the Squaw Valley Ranch owned by Ellison’s Ranching
Company (The Pitchfork). Pete Pedroli called Paul on the phone and
told him he had a Buckaroo there that Paul should hire. Pedroli
had worked with Jumper when they were with Miller and Lux, Paul
said he could tell right away when he saw him and talked to him
awhile, that he was a real “Old Time Buckaroo”. So he hired him
right there and took him out to the ranch. Jumper was happy there,
as he told his niece Lena, and he stayed there about 15 years.
Paul let him pick his own string of horses (all sorrels) and he
was breaking his own colts when he was in his sixties. Paul said
he was a wonderful bridle man who had a way with colts. (Meaning
that Jumper could handle a horse in any type of bridle with ease).
They never seemed to want to buck. Their mouths were so light the
way Jumper started them. All he had to do was barely touch the reins
and he could lift their heads up.
He would start the day at sun-up with the other Buckaroo’s and ride
all day sitting “straight up” on his horse in the Old Spanish Vaquero
style and come in late still sitting the same way, never complaining
about the very hard work in the everyday life of a Buckaroo.
He was a small man who wore a narrow brimmed hat, Levi’s and Levi
jumper jacket. This is how he got his nickname. He had a small foot
and wore custom-made “Hyer” boots. When he got a new pair he gave
his old ones to the Sweeney's kids.
Gene Gabica remembers Jumper being very quiet and calm when working
with cattle, horses and children. One day, Gene and another little
girl spooked some cows Jumper was moving through a gate. These cows
were kind of wild and they scattered. The little girls ran thinking
they were really in trouble. They hid and watched, but Jumper never
overreacted, he just sat on his horse for awhile until the cows
quieted down, then he moved them on through the gate. He never said
a word about it. Gene thinks her parents didn’t know about it until
much later.
Whenever he was working cows, he and his horse were always quiet.
He never separated a cow/calf pair, whether out of a rodear or in
a corral. He had great timing and it was uncanny the way he could
read a cow and anticipate its moves. He could make a very dangerous
situation look easy. His horses were never “chargie”.
Others thought Jumper only rode gentle horses, but this was because
they handled so well in the bridle for him. One day, while he was
“repping” at the “25 Ranch”, a Buckaroo and his Boss needed a couple
of horses to ride back to the Spanish Ranch. Two of Jumper's horses
were there so they decided to ride them... both horses bucked them
off!
Paul said Jumper was one of the few Buckaroos he never saw get bucked
off. If a horse ever did buck with him, he just sat straight up
in the middle of his horse with a loose rein. He has such a natural
feel for a horse and such a good head set that he didn’t have to
pull him.
One day Paul asked him when he was about 70 years old why he didn’t
retire and take it a little easier. Jumper said “no, he was going
to ride until he fell off his horse”.
Finally.... One day, after many in the saddle, Jumper did fall off
his horse when he suffered a stroke.
He told Maxine Sweeney and her daughter, Lynn, when they came to
visit him in the hospital in Winnemucca that he was getting better
and wanted to back to work. He was in the hospital for quite awhile
and they would come regularly to see him and bring him ice cream
to eat. But, sad to say, he didn’t get better. He was taken to the
nursing home in Ontario, Oregon and then to the Ontario hospital.
He passed away there in 1958 and is buried in the Ontario cemetery.
Jumper, a true “Old-Time Vaquero", gone to rest after many
years riding “straight up” in the saddle. Frank Leon “Jumper” Jones
was inducted into the Buckaroo Hall of Fame in September 1998.
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