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Medford
News: 1921 Medford-related
news items from
1921. Also see
descriptions
of Medford and
Jackson County
for this year.
Rogue River Valley Notes.
R. P. Wiggins, St. Louis merchant
who recently purchased the Will McKay orchard near Phoenix, will move
to Medford next spring and take over the property. Wiggins is one of
the Association's youngest members in the Rogue River Valley.H. T. Pankey, veteran orchard inspector and assistant to County Pathologist C. C. Cate of Jackson County, recently resigned that position to give his entire time to his orchard near Central Point. Pankey is an enthusiastic member of the Association. Irrigation in 1922 is the promise of the Medford Irrigation District, which is now at work on the storage basins, canals, etc., which will bring water from the Little Butte district to 10,000 acres of dry land surrounding Medford. E. F. Guthrie, accompanied by Mrs. Guthrie, is spending the winter visiting relatives in England. The Guthries will return to their Jacksonville home and orchard about blossom time next spring. Don S. Clark, Medford pear grower, and Mrs. Clark, recently returned to Medford from California, where they motored to witness the annual California-Stanford football game. Frank C. Doremus, pear grower in the Medford section, is wintering in California. Peter Olson, E. Grout, and F. M. Rathbun are new Grants Pass members of the Association. John Edington of Gold Hill has taken over the orchard property of E. O. Teague of Boston in the Evans Creek district. Growers in the Southern Oregon district are generally enthusiastic over the way the supply department of the Packing Corporation is commencing to function. They are especially pleased with the big saving the Association is able to effect for them in the purchase of Hardie sprayers. Blight cleanup work is the order of the day in Jackson County. Under the guidance of County Agent Cate and his assistants, working in close cooperation with Horticulture Commissioner A. C. Allen, the orchardists generally are busy on a systematic cleanup. Fred C. Bell, Chicago banker and new owner of the famous Austin Corbin orchard in the Eagle Point district, is wintering at Hollywood, California. In his absence, Mr. Bell's property is in charge of John T. Whitehead. Upon recommendation of County Agent Cate and Prof. Reimer of the Southern Oregon Experimental Station, orchardists in the Jackson County district plan to use sticky bands about the trunks of their pear trees in 1921 in an effort to eliminate the spread of blight by crawling insects. The Oregon Grower, magazine of the Oregon Growers Cooperative Assn., January 1921, page 24 Rogue River Valley Shipments.
Medford,
Ore., Jan. 21.--During 1920 orchardists of the Rogue River Valley
shipped 787 cars of pears and 233 cars of apples. The present outlook
for the year 1921 is that the pear and fruit crops will far exceed the
valley's record. The small fruit shipments of berries, peaches and
cherries for the past year were also greatly in excess of those of 1919.
The Chicago Packer, January 22, 1921, page 14 Talent Lumber Co., Medford; capital stock, $150,000; incorporators: W. T. Normile, S. J. Brown and Porter J. Neff. "New Incorporations," The Timberman, Portland, February 1921, page 79 ROGUE RIVER VALLEY NOTES.
Lieutenant P. A. Scherer of
Central Point has added the W. S. Noyes 40-acre pear block to his
orchard holdings here. The property is in bearing Anjou, Bosc and
Bartlett pears and lies along Rogue River north of Tolo. Scherer will
continue to operate his apple and pear block at Central Point in
connection with his latest acquisition.County Pathologist C. C. Cate, working in conjunction with the Jackson County Farm Bureau, is arranging to supply local orchardists with tanglefoot bands to be used next season in an effort to trap blight-carrying insects. Orchardists generally are planning to use bands on their bearing pear trees. Headed by County Pathologist Cate, a dozen local pear growers spent a fortnight in California studying pruning questions. Reporting to a mass meeting of growers held here recently, Cate recommended in general that local growers refrain from the general practice of severe heading back and confine most of their efforts to a general thinning out of their pear trees. Waldo W. Willard, Medford member of the association, has sold his 35-acre pear block near Medford to Alfred Birch of San Francisco. The new owner took charge of the property January first. Both the Medford and Grants Pass branches of the association have received a supply of Hardie sprayers. These are now being demonstrated. Members of the association are able to secure one of these machines at a considerable saving over the regular retail price. Southern Oregon members of the association have chosen the following directors to represent them in the management of the association's business for the ensuing year: Howard A. Hill, A. H. Davenhill, Col. Gordon Voorhies and C. C. Cate. The directors have in turn named Col. Voorhies a member of the executive committee from this district and first vice president of the association. Clyde E. Niles of Grants Pass was re-elected director from Josephine County. H. T. Pankey, Central Point grower, has returned to his former post as aide to County Agent Cate in the inspection department. Pankey resigned last fall to devote his time to the care of his orchard. C. M. Kidd of Medford is one Southern Oregon grower whose 40-acre pear block near Central Point was entirely destroyed by blight during the past season. Kidd has a force of men engaged in pulling the entire block. Dillon R. Hill and Sons of Medford have taken over the L. P. Hubbard property near Central Point, which they acquired by purchase last spring. They plan to pull out about one-half of the 70-acre block and replant it to pears after leveling the land for irrigation. Both the Medford and Grants Pass plants of the association have received supplies of dry and liquid lime-sulfur and other spray materials. All these supplies will be sold to members at the cost price plus handling charges. Picking bags, pruning tools, ladders and other supplies are also being carried in stock. The Oregon Grower, magazine of the Oregon Growers Cooperative Assn., February 1921, page 18 A keg of cider in the office of former Prosecuting Attorney Roberts of Medford, Oregon, exploded and the fermented liquor flooded the Medford National Bank beneath, keeping the office force, from clerks to President W. H. Gore, busy with mops and pails. The affair was reported to Prosecuting Attorney Rawles Moore, who defeated Roberts in the last election. Moore said the keg had been seized some time ago and in the confusion of office moving had been overlooked. "World News Tersely Told," Sausalito News, February 26, 1921, page 1 JACKSON COUNTY, ORE.
Logging and milling
operations, according to reports, are resuming through Jackson County,
and active construction on the 150,000-foot capacity Brownlee sawmill
at Medford and the Talent Lumber Co.'s new mill at Talent are under
way. Plans are still under way for new sawmills at both Gold Hill and
Rogue River.
----
The Timberman, Portland, March 1921, page 95 Rhodes &
Cotteral, who lost their 40,000-foot capacity sawmill and a large yard
of lumber out 12 miles north of Gold Hill by fire late last season, are
preparing to rebuild near the old site on Evans Creek. They use auto
trucks for both logging and removing the lumber to shipping. The cut is
exclusively pine and [they] have a large pond on the creek for handling
logs.
----
Messenger &
Sons of Gold Hill, operating a small-capacity sawmill in the Sams
Valley district eight miles out from Gold Hill, on sawing there the
balance of their timber tract on the mill site will move the mill to a
new timber tract on Rogue River below Gold Hill the coming season.
----
It is announced
that J. T. Gagnon, operating a sawmill and box factory at both Medford
and Jacksonville, has closed a contract to make 50 carloads of lug
boxes for the shipment of pineapples from the Philippine Islands.
Immediate shipment will begin. It will require about 2,000,000 feet of
pine lumber and five months to complete the contract. The boxes will be
shipped by rail to San Francisco and from there by steamship.
JACKSON COUNTY, ORE.
Conditions in
Rogue River Valley since the first of the year have not been as
promising for a general revival of the lumber industry as it was last
fall, when several new projects were being planned for the coming year.
Most of the fir mills are idle in southern Oregon and will continue so
until there is a better demand for local building and shipping. The
pine mills are all resuming to supply the local box factories, which
are operating on full time, filling orders made last year and foreign
orders recently placed. These orders will alone keep the factories
running several months. The local packers and the California packers,
who have depended on this region for their supply, are well stocked up.
Low prices and no demand for the heavy stocks of apples on hand and the
present citrus crop being marketed are having a very depressing effect
on the pine lumber industry in this region.
----
Lumbermen have looked forward to the time of the
resumption of the gold mining industry in this region, when large
quantities of fir will be required for retimbering the mines which have
gone to decay since the long suspension of the industry, but the high
cost of machinery and mine supplies will not permit their reopening.----
Weather conditions are exceptionally good, and this
will be an impetus to the resumption of house building, which has been
practically totally suspended since 1914. House are needed badly in
every town in this part of the state, and likewise on the farms. Retail
prices of lumber have been reduced in local markets to conform with the
lowest possible wholesale market, but construction is held back due to
the fact that there has been no material reduction in the prices of
other building materials, and very little in labor.Building Still Suspended. ----
The Macomber, Savidge Lumber Co., of San Francisco,
recently began a suit in the United States district court at Portland
against the Big Pines Lumber Co., of Medford, involving a contract for
a large order of pine lumber. A temporary injunction issued by the
court, prohibiting the Medford company's retail yards from doing any
business for several days, has been lifted, this company having put up
a bond of $30,000, the amount involved in the suit, and the matter is
still pending in the court.----
Herman Bros., composed of C. V. Herman and G. J.
Herman, of Gold Hill, have built and are operating a small capacity
sawmill on Sardine Creek, six miles from Gold Hill. It is cutting
exclusively on fir for the local trade.The Timberman, Portland, April 1921, page 94 Some Frost Damage to Oregon Fruit.
Medford,
Ore., April 15.--The Rogue River Valley came near losing its early pear
crop last week, due to a temperature of 24 degrees, which lasted more
than an hour. Early varieties, which were generally in blossom
throughout the valley, Anjous, Bartletts, Howells and some Comice were
damaged. The peach and apricot crops also were damaged.The Chicago Packer, April 16, 1921, page 9 PETITION FOR COMMON CARRIER.
Citizens of Butte Falls have petitioned the Public Service Commission
of Oregon to declare the Pacific & Eastern Railway a common
carrier. This railway, extending from Medford to Butte Falls, a
distance of forty miles, was purchased by M. D. Olds some months ago by
receiver's sale, and has never been operated by the new owner.
The Timberman, Portland, May 1921, page 34 OREGON PINE TRACT PURCHASED.
M. D. Olds, Medford, Ore., has purchased $7,500,000 feet of timber
located in the Crater [Lake] National Forest, comprising an area of
about 6300 acres. The tract is located about twelve miles east of Butte
Falls, and consists of about 80 percent western yellow and sugar pine,
the purchase price being $3.75 per thousand for other timber. The tract
is tributary to the Pacific & Eastern Railroad, terminations at
Butte Falls, and owned by M. D. Olds.
The Timberman, Portland, June 1921, page 22 The majority of the enlisted men and officers of the 91st squadron (observation) have left Mather Field, Sacramento, for their summer headquarters at Eugene, Ore. The detachment will be under command of Capt. L. H. Smith. Another detachment of the 91st squadron, comprising about twenty-five enlisted men, will be stationed at the sub-base to be maintained at Medford, Ore. "Sacramento," The Timberman, Portland, June 1921, page 78 JACKSON COUNTY, ORE.
The rumors of the reopening of the Pacific & Eastern Railway and
the erection of a sawmill at Medford by the M. D. Olds interests is
confirmed by the recent purchase of $7,500,000 feet of timber in the
Fourbit tract of the Crater Lake National Park by M. D. Olds. The
P.&E. Railway extends from Medford to Butte Falls, a distance of
forty miles, and was purchased last season by the Olds interests at a
receiver's sale. Operations on the roads have been totally suspended
ever since it went in the receiver's hands three years ago.
The sale of this tract of timber is the biggest in the history of Crater Lake park. It is situated twelve miles east of Butte Falls, and the stand consists of 81 percent western yellow and sugar pine. The bid on the pine was $3.75, while that on the remainder was 75 cents. The tract consists of 6200 acres, and the other species of timber included are white fir, Douglas fir and incense cedar. The contract makes it necessary for the buyer to begin cutting operations June 1, 1923, allowing two years in which to erect necessary roads for logging and transportation to shipping. The facilities for logging on this tract are excellent, due to the gentle topography of the country, and makes it possible to log with horses to advantage. The expenditure of approximately $238,000 to extend the track of the P.&E. from Butte Falls to the timber site is the largest item of expense. The total cost of logging 1000 feet and delivering at Butte Falls is estimated at $11.20. Few Jackson County mills are operating except the two J. T. Gagnon sawmills, one at Medford, and the other at Jacksonville, and the small mills throughout the county, which are supplying the local market with fir timber and some pine, which goes to the Medford box factories. ----
The Timberman, Portland, June 1921, page 105Brownlee Mill Nearly Completed. The Brownlee
sawmill with a capacity of 150,000 feet per day at Medford is now
nearing completion, and the Olds mill will undoubtedly be as large if
not larger. Certain freight considerations may lead the Olds interest
to build their sawmill on the P.&E. outside of Medford. The
Brownlee interests have large holdings of timber adjacent to the
P.&E. railway; likewise the M. D. Olds Co., outside of the timber
recently purchased from the government.
OLDEST RESIDENT OF '73 DIES AT JACKSONVILLE
Oliver Harbaugh, oldest resident of Jackson County, died suddenly at
his home in Jacksonville Sunday evening, June 19, 1921, aged 96 years.
It was Mr. Harbaugh's ambition to live a century, and a sad feature of
his demise is that this wish was not fulfilled.
Mr. Harbaugh did not feel usually well Sunday morning and complained several times of feeling cold. He walked about the house and yard as usual, however, but toward evening laid down, a fire was built for him and everything done for his comfort. It was a few minutes after five that he arose and went toward the window of the room, and later Mrs. Harbaugh was startled by a fall. When she reached him he was breathing his last. Mr. Harbaugh lived in Jackson County for 48 years, and was a true type of pioneer. The gold rush to California lured him in his youth, and he came to Oregon in 1873, farming on what is known as the Culver place near Phoenix. He was a veteran of the Modoc Indian War and was known to scores of Southern Oregon people. His many years did not dim his cheerful nature. Mr. Harbaugh was born in Ohio February 14, 1835, and was one of a family of nine children. He is survived by his wife and two sisters, Mrs. Rebecca Zimmerman and Mrs. Sarah Miller, both of Indiana. The body is at the funeral home of Weeks-Conger company. Funeral arrangements will be announced later. Ashland Tidings, June 22, 1921, page 1 The last load of paving material was spread at 1:45 p.m. last Saturday on the road at Sardine Creek, completing the Pacific Highway between Gold Hill and Grants Pass. Mayor Johnson of Gold Hill and Mayor Champlin of Foots Creek were on hand to celebrate the event. Mayor Johnson said that Gold Hill would celebrate officially when the bridge across the river is built. Olin Arnspiger, engineer for Schell & Calvert, the contractors, was present with his Kodak to catch the pleased expressions of Messrs. Johnson and Champlin, and Roy Nunn, the state highway engineer. "Local and Personal," Medford Mail Tribune, July 18, 1921, page 2 JACKSON COUNTY, ORE.
Gold Hill, Ore., August. 6,1921.
The recent sale
of the Sylvanite group of gold mines near Gold Hill to the
Oregon-Pittsburgh Mining Co. and the reopening of other old-time
producing mines is evidence of a general resumption of the industry.
Local lumbermen are looking hopefully to this industry for demand for
lumber and timbers. Other mines now operating and resuming are the
Braden, the Millionaire, Gold Ridge, Roaring Gimlet and Centennial.
The situation in the lumber industry around Medford is looking better with the final consummation of the M. D. Olds Co. with the government for a tract of timber in the Crater Lake park country, tributary to Butte Falls. The company may build a mill. The Brownlee sawmill, with capacity of 150,000 feet, under construction the past year, is completed and will start on the resumption of the industry. The Brownlee Co. has holdings of timber tributary to the P.&E. railway. The Timberman, Portland, August 1921, pages 124-125 STATE INSPECTION
Officers and members of the Oregon Growers Cooperative Association used
their influence during the last Legislature to get passed an Oregon
grading and packing law for apples and pears. The association is going
to take advantage of this law, as it should mean to us. It gives us an
opportunity to have state inspection and have a state certificate
placed in every car.
Already at Medford, Mr. H. T. Pankey has been secured to inspect the fruit in that district. Handlers other than the Oregon Growers Cooperative Association are going to join us to help take advantage of this law. In the Umpqua and Willamette valleys, inspectors will be appointed so that we hope every car of fruit shipped out by the association this year will have the benefit of state inspection. It is a step forward in standardization which is essential to permanency in marketing. The Oregon Grower, magazine of the Oregon Growers Cooperative Assn., August 1921, page 14 It is needless to say that the Stewart Fruit Company has been looked upon as one of the best mediums for disposing of fruit on the Pacific Coast for a good many years. They have always handled a considerable proportion of the tonnage of the Rogue River Valley. By the new arrangement, the Oregon Growers Cooperative Association has taken over the business of the Bardwell Fruit Co., leased their plant at Medford, and will handle the fruit which naturally rolls through that plant. "Marketing Fruit," The Oregon Grower, August 1921, page 9 JACKSON COUNTY, ORE.
Gold Hill, Ore., Sept. 8.
Depression in
the lumber industry in this region has caused no unemployment. Labor in
this industry has been diverted to gold mining. The revival of the gold
mine industry will require a large amount of timbers and lumber to
re-equip mine buildings and underground works, which are in bad order,
due to general decay.
While the forest fire season is hardly closed, it is marked by the absence of the usual pall of smoke, and the forest fires which were not widely controlled, yet an enormous number of small fires have been reported. The success of the season is attributed to the cooperation between the fire fighting agencies, which is the best ever experienced. Numerous agencies composed of private timber owners in previous years are now under the head of the state forestry department and the federal service. The Barham Bros., who have heretofore operated small retail yards in Ashland, Ore., have erected new quarters on Dewey Street to handle the extensive wholesale trade also. This firm operates a factory in Ashland, several small-capacity mills in the Siskiyou Mountains south of Ashland, and takes the output of several small sawmills in the Ashland district. Drake & Russell, of Beagle, Ore., have recently completed and are operating a small-capacity shingle mill in the Meadows district north of Gold Hill, the nearest shipping point. They are cutting from both cedar and sugar pine timber. C. L. Bloomquist, of Sams Valley, Ore., with a small-capacity saw and shingle mill eight miles north of Gold Hill, which was suspended last season, is again operating. The pine output of this mill, like all the small mills in the north part of the valley, is going to the box factories at Medford. The Timberman, Portland, September 1921, page 125
MEDFORD NOTES
During the past month Mr. Paulus has made a couple of trips to Medford
to confer with managers there concerning problems in that district. The
packing house at Medford has been put in splendid condition. There are
three large grading machines installed there and this house alone can
turn out some 2800 boxes in a day. In the various plants in the Rogue
River Valley the association turned out as high as 16 cars in one
single day.
Additional field assistance was necessary this year, and Mrs. C. A. Myers of Medford is assisting Mr. Edmiston at that point, and L. H. Nichols of Grants Pass is assisting in that district. Mr. T. E. Beaulieu has charge of the Talent house, H. D. Reed of Gold Hill, Bert Stancliff of Phoenix, and D. Hendrickson of the Bardwell house, with Raymond Reeder in charge of the office. The local committee of Medford met and decided on the following pools this coming year: Bartletts, Howells and Clairgeaus, 110s and larger, 120-165, 180s and 195 smaller. Anjou, Bosc and Comice: 110 larger, 120-135, 150-165, 180s and 195 smaller. Winter Nelis, 120-165, 180-195, 210 only, 225 and smaller. The Oregon Grower, magazine of the Oregon Growers Cooperative Assn., September 1921, page 10 Daily Becomes Weekly.
MEDFORD, Or., Oct. 4.--(Special.)--The Medford Clarion, the
new daily newspaper of this city, started on July 14 last by Judge
Phipps, its publisher and editor, has ceased to be a daily and will
hereafter be published as a weekly. The Clarion announces
the change as due to unsatisfactory labor conditions and intimates that
it may resume daily publication at some future time.
Oregonian, Portland, October 5, 1921, page 3 Medford Evaporating Plant Burns.
Medford,
Ore., Oct. 21.--The Radovan fruit dryer was destroyed by fire of
unknown origin last week. The loss is estimated by Mrs. F. M . Radovan,
owner and operator, at $33,500, with $25,000 insurance. Last year the
Radovan storage plant at Central Point burned down about the same time.The Chicago Packer, October 22, 1921, page 2 MEDFORD NOTES
The Rogue River apple crop is the largest ever harvested in that
district. Upwards of 800 cars of apples will have been shipped out of
Medford section by spring. The bulk of these are Newtowns, the
remainder in the order of their importance are Spitzenburg, Jonathan,
Winter Banana and Ben Davis. The Oregon Growers, Rogue River district,
will handle upwards of 350 cars of apples out of the Rogue River Valley
this year.
Packing operations were completed last week at the Phoenix, Talent and Grants Pass houses of the association. At Medford the association is holding about 50 cars of loose fruit, chiefly Newtowns, which will not be packed until about the first of the year. The association is also using its cold storage plant in Medford to good advantage, there being about 30 cars of Newtowns stored there at this time. These apples will be held here until sold. Packing of the apple crop in the Gold Hill section will not be completed until about December 15. Dillon R. Hill, prominent pioneer orchardist of the Medford district, predicts that the normal tonnage of the Rogue River Valley will double within two years after the completion of the Medford Irrigation District. Hill, a recognized authority on the subject of irrigation here, predicts that all dry-land orchards brought under water will, without counting the natural increased production, more than double their tonnage. ----
Fred C. Bell, owner of
the famous Austin Corbin orchard at Eagle Point in the Rogue River
district, has disposed of his property to Michael Hahannan of Los
Angeles. The property consists of 70 acres of old Newtown and
Spitzenburg apples and 50 acres of young Bartlett and Anjou pears. The
price paid Mr. Bell is said to have been $75,000.----
All late pear pools of
the Oregon Growers in the Rogue River District, except Winter Nelis,
were closed and the returns made to growers by the 12th of November.
Previously advances equal to $1.00 per box above packing had been made
the members. The Winter Nelis pools will be distributed as soon as
several cars still held in cold storage are moved out to the trade and
the money collected.----
Paul A. Scherer,
Medford pear and apple grower, has returned to his Medford home after a
sojourn in southern California. Both "Alberta Orchard" and "Rogue
Farm," Scherer's two properties, produced large crops of excellent
quality this year.----
Alfred S. V.
Carpenter, prominent Medford grower, left his home last month on the
first leg of a trip around the world. He is in Japan at this time.
Carpenter plans to return to Medford in May next.The Oregon Grower, magazine of the Oregon Growers Cooperative Assn., December 1921, page 9 |
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