Bernard Daly - Life

Life

Daly was born in Ireland on 17 February 1858. He immigrated with his parents to the United States in 1864, and the family settled in Selma, Alabama. As a young man, Daly attended college in Ohio, and then medical school at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. After graduating from medical school, he joined the United States Army, and was posted to Fort Bidwell, California. In 1887, Daly was mustered out of the army, and he moved fifty miles north to Lakeview, Oregon where he began a private medical practice.

During a Christmas Eve party in 1894, an oil lamp started a fire in a crowded community hall in the small town of Silver Lake, Oregon. Forty-three people were killed in the blaze, and many more were badly injured. Daly drove his buggy from Lakeview to Silver Lake, a distance of ninety-five miles, over bad, snow covered roads to help victims of the tragedy. It took twenty-four hours of continuous travel for Daly to reach Silver Lake. Despite the long journey, he began treating burn victims as soon as he arrived, and continued without rest until everyone had been seen. The fire was widely reported, and Daly’s efforts to reach and treat the victims earned state-wide recognition and many admirers.

Daly also played a very important role in the economic development of Lake County. In 1897, he organized and opened the Bank of Lakeview. He established the 7T ranch in the North Warner Valley east of Lakeview near Plush, Oregon. The ranch eventually became one of the largest livestock suppliers in the county. When Lakeview’s downtown area was destroyed by fire in May 1900, Daly financed the city's reconstruction. He also helped bring the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad to Lakeview in 1912.

Daly died on 4 January 1920 in Livermore, California while en route to a San Francisco hospital for treatment of a heart condition. He was buried in Lakeview. Over six hundred citizens attended his funeral. At the time of his death, Daly had financial interests in numerous enterprises throughout Lake County. He was the largest stockholder in the Bank of Lakeview. He owned the largest ranch in south-central Oregon as well as a number of other businesses and at least 14 buildings in downtown Lakeview. All together his partnerships and investments brought the value of his estate to almost $1,000,000, a very large sum in 1920.