Background
Thomas Leander Moorhouse was born in Marion County, Iowa and as a child traveled along the Oregon Trail to Walla Walla, Washington with his family in 1861.
Thomas Leander Moorhouse was born in Marion County, Iowa and as a child traveled along the Oregon Trail to Walla Walla, Washington with his family in 1861.
From 1888 to 1916, he produced over 9,000 images documenting urban, rural, and Native American life in the Columbia Basin, and particularly Umatilla County, Oregon. As an adult, he worked as a miner, surveyor, rancher, businessman, civic leader, real estate operator, and insurance salesman. In addition to acting as an Indian agent, from 1879 to 1883 he served as an Assistant Adjutant General of the Third Brigade of the Oregon State Militia.