JACK & BENEITTA EATON FAMILY
INDUCTED 2024
Reflecting in 2017 on the growth and evolution of his Yakima Canyon cattle ranch, the late Jack Eaton said, “It’s been a good way to raise a family…. We enjoy what we do, and I guess that’s about all you can ask for in life.”
Jack and Beneitta Schofield Eaton and their descendants exemplify the strong connections between local ranch cowboys and the Ellensburg Rodeo. Four generations of Eatons worked their Mount Baldy Ranch in the Yakima Canyon ranch and furnished timed-event stock for the rodeo.
“My grandfather, N. N. (Bill) Eaton and Grandmother Hazel Eaton farmed and ran some cattle near Plummer, Idaho,” wrote Robert Eaton in the History of Kittitas County (1989). “My dad, Jack Eaton, and my mom, Beneitta, became partners with grandpa and grandma…and bought property in the Yakima Canyon in Kittitas County in 1949.” The Eatons moved permanently to Kittitas County in 1951 to found their Mount Baldy Ranch seated between the Canyon Road and what is now Interstate 82.
Jack and Beneitta raised their five children—John, Kenneth, Katherine, Robert, and Sherilyn—on the ranch, and Jack partnered with his dad and his brother Jerry and, later, with his own sons through the years. At the Mount Baldy Ranch’s height, the Eatons ran 1200 head of Hereford cattle in the canyon and adjacent ranges. Mount Baldy Ranch encompassed 15,000 acres, 200 of which were irrigated; with four other families, they leased grazing land east of I-82 from the U. S. Army Training Center. The Eatons also worked their 700 acres of irrigated land north of the canyon’s mouth, between the present-day site of the sewage disposal plant and the Umptanum Road. Their cattle business, N. N. Eaton and Sons, became Jack W. Eaton and Sons in 1985. Today, the family leases out the ranch and son John Eaton runs his own cow herd; John’s daughter Janelle Eaton Beard and her husband Daniel are partners in Summit Pro Rodeo, a rodeo stock contracting business.
Longtime members of the Kittitas County Cattlemen’s Association, John and Christi Eaton were named 1996 Cattlemen of the Year while Jack and Robert Eaton earned that same honor in 2004.
For over thirty years, the Eaton’s annual cattle drive from the slopes of Selah Butte up the canyon to corrals on Burbank Creek Road has been one of the most famous in the region. The late winter drive provides a modern tie to the storied days of range cattle drives. Family members are joined by neighbors, and up to twenty-five riders move the pregnant cows from open range to ranch pasture, with scores of spectators lining the route. “I guess to some it could be a little bit of an early rodeo parade,” Ken Eaton told the Daily Record in 2015. “There’s people who like to get out and ride, and mix that with helping us move cattle in the old-fashioned way.” Today, the Stingley family carries on the roundup and drive tradition.
Beginning in the early 1960s, and for over fifty years, the Mount Baldy Ranch was a recurrent stock contractor for the Ellensburg Rodeo. The Eatons joined other local ranchers in providing calves for the Calf Roping and cows for the Wild Cow Milking contest. John Eaton remembers the process began in late summer. “Rodeo board members Buck Minor and Ken MacRae came down in the canyon to sort the calves that were appropriate size. They wanted smaller calves,” John says. “They would bring them up to a pasture in the valley near Fiorito’s Pond” right before rodeo weekend and then truck them into town. Cows and their calves were transported and penned together so the calves could nurse each night. “Our family would always watch the Friday rodeo and haul the cows and calves home after the rodeo the following Tuesday,” John fondly remembers.
In 2016, the Ellensburg Rodeo dedicated one of its performances to the Eaton Family to honor their long service. The dedication coincided with Jack and Beneitta’s 70th wedding anniversary.
Jack Eaton passed in 2021 and is survived by Beneitta. Four generations of Eatons ranched in the Yakima Canyon ranges, and several family members still live in homes on the old Mount Baldy Ranch. Eaton family members are John (whose late wife is Cristi), Ken (Linda), Katherine, Robert (Peggy), and Sherilyn. Grandchildren are Heather (Roy), James (Quinn), Nicole (Brent), Janelle (Daniel), Amber (Larry), Angela (Brett), Jordan (Carley), Kyle (Erin), Rachel, Alex, Derek, and Bethany. There 26 Eaton great-grandchildren.