Major Thomas Leander (Lee) Moorhouse was born in Marion County, Iowa in 1950. His family traveled the Oregon Trail in 1861, settling in Walla Walla, Washington. Moorhouse moved in with friends from Iowa, near Pendleton, Oregon. As an adult, Moorhouse worked as a miner, surveyor, rancher, businessman, civic leader real estate operator and inusurance salesman before becoming Agent for the Umatilla Indian Reservation in 1889. Throughout his life, Moorhouse had an interest in photography, and between 1888 and 1916 produced over 9,000 images documenting urban and rural community life, transportation, social functions and entertainments, and Native American life in the Columbia Basin and Umatilla County, Oregon. He was also a collector of Native American artifacts, including baskets, weapons, regalia, bags and clothing, which he would use in his photography.