Tougher than John Wayne

by Larryann Willis

Son Porter Lynn and wife Larryann

Real cowboys eat pistachios shell'n all. When Porter Lynn Willis and I were first married and moved to Clatskanie, OR to help Porter A Willis run Columbia River Associates, I remember how awed I was by my father-in-law. It was just like having John Wayne as your father-in-law, except that Porter A. Willis was for real...not some make believe movie star cowboy. He had the same effect on everyone. Especially the neighbor boys Steve, Mike and Ricky James who used to hang around and help, Steve, in particular.

One night we were shipping cattle off of Tenasillahe Island in the middle of the Columbia River. We started before daylight and had to gather the cattle off of the 1200 acre island, then barge them across the river and drive them up the road a ways to some makeshift corrals where we loaded them onto cattle trucks for the trip to the CRA feedlot in Payette, ID.

It was late at night and raining. We were drenched and trying to load cattle by car headlights into dark cattle trucks. Needless to say, the cattle didn't want to load. Everybody was exhausted and hungry because we had not been able to stop for dinner. The James brothers had come down to watch the excitement and 10 year old Ricky James was sitting on the fence eating some red pistachio nuts that were still in the hard shells. My father-in-law saw that Ricky was eating something and jumped his horse out to where Ricky was sitting. Slid to a stop and side passed over. He held out his hand and said, "Hey kid, give me some of those peanuts." Ricky said, "But, Mr. Willis, they're not...." Port cut him off and growled, "Come on kid I'm in a hurry. " So rather than argue with his hero, Ricky just pours him a handful of hard shelled pistachio nuts. Port stuffed them all in his mouth and Ricky finally got out, "But MR. WILLIS! They're NOT peanuts. They're pistachios!" Port sat there on his horse, looked Ricky right in the eye and crunched up the pistachios shells and all. You could hear the crunching clear across the corral. Ricky was awe struck. Port leaned over to him and said, "Kid, if you wanna be a cowboy, you gotta learn to be TOUGH!" Then he turned his horse and rode over to me. He was sure it was out of the light and dark enough where the boys couldn't see him and he spit out all those pistachio shells and said, "Damn, I thought those were peanuts." The James boys never got over the show. Pretty soon it was all over town that Porter Willis was so tough, why he even ate pistachio nuts shells and all!

That was my father-in-law.

Rank Stud horse, steals saddled mare - Dean and all One of the scariest things I ever saw was when we were moving about 600 head of cattle at the Emmett Lynch Ranch near Walla Walla, WA. My father-in-law always preferred to ride stallions. They suited his personality better and were tougher than mares and geldings.

He had been using his stallion Drifting Sands and had worn the stud horse out, so he switched horses with his wife Averyel, and gave her the stud to ride and he switched to a nice, fresh gelding. His youngest son, Dean, had come along for the cattle drive. He was about 8 years old and was riding a dark chestnut mare called Winema. I was on a young 3 year old stud colt that was out for one of his first rides. We had to take the cattle through a field where an unbroke and undisciplined older stallion lived with a few mares. That particular stallion didn't think he had enough mares and was on the prowl for more to ad to his harem. The greedy stallion spotted little Dean riding along on a very attractive mare that he wanted. The stud horse swooped down the mountain ,cut Dean and Winema out and started driving them up the mountain to his little band of mares. Dean couldn't stop the mare because she was more afraid of the stallion than she was of a little boy. Winema was going to go where that big, rank stud horse told her to go. Averyel saw what was happening and was instantly in "save my son mode". She was closest and went charging after Dean and Winema whom the rank stallion was herding away... not realizing that she was also now mounted on a stallion. I yelled at Averyel that she was on a stallion and to keep away. I don't think she ever heard me. All she cared about was getting Dean back. That big, rank stud horse whirled around and saw Averyel and Drifting Sands coming after the mare he had just stolen, so he attacked Drifting Sands. (two mature stallions will fight to the death)

Big Port had been on the far side of the cattle when the wreck started. He came whipping and spurring across straight through the herd of cattle with that gelding flat scatting and jumping cattle to get there. Big Port rammed that gelding at high speed right in between those two stud horses as they came together. The big, rank mare thieving stallion reared and came right up over the saddle horn spinning Port in the saddle as he tried to crawl over gelding. Port had a buggy whip he always carried. He reversed it and with the handle end beat that stud horse off, knocking him kind of silly. Which was fortunate because it gave Averyel time to get away.

Dean had managed to turn Winema around and get back to the rest of us while the thieving stallion's attention was on Drifting Sands and Big Port. The rest of the hands got their ropes down and finally chased the thieving stallion off. Talk about "high adrenalin" !!!

That was one of the most western, scariest things I ever saw in my life and I don't know of any body but my father-in-law who could have got there in time to save his wife. It was really something to see.

Porter Alexander Willis was the kind of hero they make up in the movies, but he was for real. There will never be another like him. We love you Port! And we will miss you.

Love, Larryann

Addendum:

After we were finished moving the cattle around on Emmett Lynche's Nine Mile Ranch that year, we hired Dick Gibford to stay up there and look after the cows we left. We had warned him about the rank old ranch stallion in the 600 acre field that he would have to ride through to check the cows. A few months later we came back to gather and ship and asked Dick how he got along with that rank stallion. Dick said, "Hmmmm, I never even saw him." We said, "Really? He was so bad when we were here we thought for sure you'd have trouble with him."Dick thought for a minute and said, "Oh, I guess I maybe I did see him one time. I was just riding along twirling my loop and darned if that ole stud horse didn't come along and stick both front feet right in it. After that, I never did see him again."