We copy from the Sentinel a portion of the remarks made by George Francis Train at Jacksonville:
    The early pioneers were heroes. Half a century hence you will be spoken of as the great column of progress. Speaking of 1845 to 1855 they will say--they were giants in those days. Six months on the buffalo and Indian trail, facing fever and starvation, and six days on the Pacific Railway in a Pullman hotel car are two distinct eras in civilization.
    Why did you come here then? Was it for love of adventure, or had you been doing something wrong at home, and wished to escape from old friends, old sheriffs and old associates? (Loud laughter.) Or perhaps this was it--the donation claim was the bait. You came--selected the 320 acres of land, and married a girl of thirteen to get the other 320--(Laughter.)--then came the only crops that seemed to be more than perennial--the crops of babies! (Loud laughter.) Whitehead on children is the great work for these valleys. (Continued laughter.) Madame Restell must starve in this land where infanticide is murder and Restellism is unknown. (Sensation.) Where everlasting health, salmon trout, red apples, jackrabbits and volunteer crops of children are indigenous to the soil. (Loud laughter and applause.) Well, ye came, saw and conquered the forest, seized upon every garden plot, every fertile valley and available piece of land, and went to work. This was between 1850-55 and 1860. The mountains and hills were covered with beautiful natural grasses, and the climate was that for which Ponce de Leon so vainly sought to find his perpetual fountain of youth. (Applause.) As luck would have it, the mines were discovered, population marched in.
    Money easily made is easily spent. Sitting at your own doors on land given to you, your little log cabin was made fat with the clinking of miners' gold. Fifty dollars for flour, one hundred for cows, twelve for apples, and all your fruits, grains and vegetables in proportion went off at miners' prices. (That's so.) You became rich, improvident, indolent. The climate was enervating. You did not support newspapers. You paid nothing for advertising--hence, today the world looks on you as a northern county of California. San Francisco absorbed your products, and destroyed your individuality--as wet nurse, she still treats you as a child, putting on your clothes, feeding you with a spoon and wiping your nose with a handkerchief made in England. (Laughter.) Wheat raised at your door is sent to Portland, shipped on Holladay's steamers to San Francisco, ground up and put in California sacks and sold in Puget Sound as California flour. They pay you 20 cents for wool and sell it for 40 as California wool. They call your apples California apples. Your salmon, California salmon, and your people "Webfeet," with a sneer. (Laughter.) They cut a 22-inch square 150-foot-long piece of timber on the Columbia, send it to the Paris Exhibition and get a California prize. (That's true.) They have lived off of you, and ridicule you for allowing it. They make you father the infamous lead of repudiating our national debt, so that today you don't know good from evil. No matter which party, whether Democratic or Republican, Federal or Copperhead, Abolitionist or Secessionist, you are so fearfully demoralized you cannot tell right from wrong inasmuch as all of you repudiate our national debt by refusing our currency. (Sensation.) Again, they took $1,000 gold in San Francisco and got $1,400 in greenbacks in New York, and sold you your clothes which you paid $2,000 in gold for, charge you 100 percent for exchange and commission. Still blind, you covered the hills with cattle--you overdid it. Every year you planted the same grain. You killed the goose with the golden egg. The cattle ate off and stamped out the grasses. The mines gave out. The good times changed. The decade of prosperity ended with 1860. Thus the tide turned. Since which time adversity set in. Instead of building factories, working up your own wool, you relied on two uncertain things--mines and pasture. You became thoughtless. Tarweed, fern, brake and whiteweed destroyed your beautiful natural grasses. No new seed was sown, hence ten sheep cannot live where formerly a thousand fattened. Ten bushels only to the acre where you once raised thirty, and no market for the wheat you raise. You sit over your portions in your towns the long day, asking what is the matter--will the mines come again? Will the railroad help us? Where is it all to end? Will Mr. Train send out the population? I have been too well treated by the people of Oregon to deceive them, even were it possible for me to be deceitful. I tell you what I think. Judge yourself. Know then, that no emigrants will come from the East. None can without money, and capital commands higher wages there. Few yet but deadheads and deadbeats have come over the Pacific Railroad. (Laughter.) Expect no emigrants, no new capital. You rely on yourselves, digest these plain facts--wake up from your Rip Van Winkle sleep of 20 years. What chance has the poor settler here? Let us take an observation: Many of you are from Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and Iowa. Are you not aware that in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, for $15 any man can get his thirty-bushels-an-acre homestead of 160 acres? Where can he find it here? Your pioneers have taken the breast of the chicken long ago. (That's so and laughter.) Again, can we not buy in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas the finest land in the world for $5 an acre? Is it not absurd to expect that the Eastern farmer will sell out his all these dull times, leave railways, markets and population, pay a thousand dollars to come out where you have neither--with his household gods--two thousand miles, to take your farms off your hands in the Grand Ronde, Umatilla, Willamette, Umpqua and Rogue River valleys at ten, twenty and thirty dollars an acre? (Sensation.) There is nothing so dangerous as to deceive yourselves.
    They call me a humbug--my humbugging consists in telling the truth and showing the world one free man, who is not afraid of church, state, party, family, friends or God (loud applause) but who practices what he preaches, believing that abstinence, knowledge, sobriety, virtue, morality, courage, manhood, independence, and good health is better than quack religion, quack medicines or quack statesmanship. (Applause.)
    (Loud laughter and great applause.)
    While my religion is so living in this life, so following the beautiful character and precepts of the Saviour, so to be prepared for anything which is to come, and not love God so much I have no time to love my fellow men. (Applause.)
    Rely not on the East. Turn to the West. China makes all nations rich with whom she trades. There are merchants and bankers there, having a capital of a hundred million. China wants our telegraphs, our railways, our machinery, our flour, our fish, our bacon, our timber, our clothing, our boots. Let these "Johns" with us go home with American boots. Start the fashion, and all the pasture lands, all the farmers, all the boot and shoe factories you could build would not supply that vast population for a day. Think of 450,000,000 pair of boots! (Applause.) Take our felt hats--150,000,000 of hats. Take salmon in tins--450,000,000 lbs. of salmon. Take flour, one barrel each, 450,000,000 barrels of flour, for which you realize $3,250,000,000, or equal to our national debt, and this would only give them a barrel apiece for an entire year! (Loud applause.) You must wake up to your great destiny. You want population. China overflows with industry and wealth.
    Let your politicians stand back. Can they stop the great river of progress, the laws of emigration, the ebbing and flowing of the tide? First came the Irish driven away, then the Germans, striking the Atlantic shore. Now rushes in the Chinese on the Pacific side like a torrent. Can Senator Casserly and your one-horse politicians mop back this living stream of humanity with their Tammany Hall broom? As well stop the moon's attraction or the shifting of the sun. (Applause.) You must have producer and consumer living together. Capital must work alongside with labor. Let the factor go up next the farm. Remember there are 800,000,000 of bellies to be fed in Asia, and today there are less than one million of American souls this side the Missouri River. (Sensation.) Open wide your door, and strike for wealth through China.
Morning Oregonian, Portland, August 13, 1869, page 5  Read the entire speech here.

Oregon Abroad.

    Don't fret.
    Talk about it.
    Write about it.
    Speak well about it.
    Beautify the streets.
    Patronize the merchants.
    Be friendly to everybody.
    Advertise in its newspaper.
    Elect good men to all the offices.
    Don't grumble about hard times.
    Keep your sidewalks in good repair.
    Avoid gossip about your neighbors.
    Do your trading with your home merchants.
    Sell all you can and buy all you can at home.
    If you are rich, invest something; employ somebody, be a "hustler."
    If you don't think of any good word don't say anything about it.
    Remember that every dollar invested in permanent improvement is that much on interest.
    Be courteous to strangers that come among you, so that they may go away with good impressions.
    Always cheer on the men who go in for improvements; your portion of the cost will be nothing only what is just.
    Don't kick at any proposed necessary improvement because it is not at your own door or for fear that your taxes will be raised fifty cents.
    Don't use rubber stamps on your letterheads, that is a dead giveaway on your business, on the town and newspaper published in it. Get your letterheads, envelopes, business cards, etc. printed at the printing office.
    Never condemn the local paper unless it has unfairly misused you. If it has dealt with you unjustly write to it or go into the office and tell the editor about your case; if he is wrong he will lose no time in telling the public about it.
    Remember that no man does as much for your town as the local newspaper. Every paper sent out is an advertisement of the business, the resources and enterprise of the place; and people abroad get a better idea of it from the local paper than from any other source. If you want to draw people to your section of the country send them your home paper, not one or two stray numbers but a full year's subscription. After they have read the paper for six months the western fever will set in, and no power on earth will keep them from coming.
Ashland Tidings, June 25, 1886, page 4

OUR POSSIBILITIES.
Harry M. Ball Casts an Eye into the Very Probable Future
of the Great Rogue River Valley.
Farmers Plenty and Prosperous--Diversified Agricultural Pursuits and Big Cities Galore.

    EDITOR MEDFORD MAIL:--Your special edition of Dec. 1st came duly to hand, and I have read with interest your excellent and valuable write-up of the Rogue River country. It contains much information that would be greatly appreciated by, and valuable to, eastern persons who are dissatisfied with their present condition and surroundings, and by others who may contemplate emigrating to some portion of the Pacific coast. Every Jackson County reader of The Mail should do his share toward distributing information concerning the resources, climate, lands, etc. of the county by mailing one or more copies of this special edition to friends, acquaintances or others in the eastern states, and I feel that the individuals as well as the country would be benefited by such action.
    One of the present drawbacks to the success of the valley is too large an area of uncultivated land and too many farms of such a large area that they are only partially cultivated, and therefore not very profitable to the owners. If we could divert some of the large immigration that is sure to come to the coast within the next two years to your valley, you would soon see a great change--the farms would be greater in number and smaller in area, say in parcels of 40, 80 or 160 acres each, and much more thoroughly cultivated, thereby considerably increasing the yield per acre. Many more orchards would be set out by these newcomers, and the country now famous for its magnificent fruits would increase and extend that reputation manyfold. With this increased population, composed largely of sober, industrious, saving people, and your lands so largely and well cultivated, your towns would be the first to feel the effects of the good times that would follow and would rapidly increase in population too, as well as in manufactories, trade and wealth, which would place them in such a condition as would practically make them independent and affected very little by the panics and so-called "hard times" that are periodically felt in America. It would render all our lands, much of which is now unproductive, readily salable and at greatly increased values. Lands now selling at an average of from $20 to $30 per acre would soon appreciate to $50 and $100 per acre. This large increase in values would also be felt on the assessment rolls by reducing the rate of taxation by nearly one-half and dividing the whole tax among a greater number of taxpayers. A great many of the modern improvements would come to you by reason of this increased population and wealth, viz, good water works, affording water power for manufactories at a low cost, affording protection from conflagrations, water for flushing sewers, thus contributing to the sanitary condition of the towns, electric lights, and in time a system of interurban electric railways would no doubt pay. These latter would reach out in all directions, furnishing transportation for not only the people, but also for the grain and produce which could be hauled by the electric cheaper than by teams. Their supplies could also be cheaply taken out into the country from the shipping points on the Southern Pacific railroad. Such systems of railways are in operation in certain districts in the eastern states, and they are not only a great convenience to the public but pay handsome profits to their stockholders. To my mind there is now no portion of this northwest country that can offer so many substantial advantages to the intending emigrant as the Rogue River Valley. There he can find in abundance soil of the choicest and most fertile and at moderate prices; a climate unsurpassed except by California--the winters are not long and wet as on Puget Sound, nor extremely cold as in eastern Washington, Oregon and Idaho. You have a vast wealth in your timber on--and mineral within--your hills and mountains, and which a few years hence will be very important factors contributing to your prosperity. Hops, which contribute so largely to the wealth and prosperity of the rich and fertile valleys on Puget Sound, the Willamette River and in California, can without doubt be successfully raised in the Rogue River Valley. The profits of this industry, as you are doubtless aware, are quite large, often ranging from $100 to $500 per acre--the former is considered a low average profit. I hope to be able to interest some large growers in the establishment of an experimental hop farm, and if the experiment proves successful, you can look forward to the time when Jackson County will rank as a large producer of this valuable commodity. A large area of your lands are well adapted to producing alfalfa, of which three to six crops can be out per year and the yield brings from six to ten tons per acre, usually considered worth $4 to $5 per ton in the stack--it sells here readily at $14 per ton, baled. When it comes into general use it will largely supplant the native grasses, and enable the raising of a much larger number of fatter and sleeker cattle and hogs than are now raised, and which will find a ready market at good prices in the cities on Puget Sound and elsewhere. There are also many thousand acres of choice land on the foothills surrounding the valley that are especially adapted for the growing of fruits. These lands when in bearing orchards will be fully as productive as those immediately surrounding Ashland and brings the same large prices, viz, from $200 to $500 per acre. In fact, you have a glorious future before you, but in order to ensure the greatest measure of success, and that reasonably soon everyone must put their shoulder to the wheel of enterprise and progress.
    If you have 100 copies of your special edition to share, kindly send them, with bill, to yours, faithfully,

HARRY M. BALL.           

Medford Mail, December 22, 1893, page 2

Medford's Invigorating "Ozone."

    Acts of courtesy, a spirit of progress and good will toward our fellow man are sure to reap a just reward. Upon the occasion of the State Horticultural Society's meeting at Ashland and when these members reached Medford from the north, they were met at the depot with the brass band, baskets and bouquets of flowers, and baskets and boxes of fruit. The little demonstration didn't cost much--in fact only a little trouble--but it advertised our city more than any one act that has been performed during the last twelve months.
    This is the way the Rural Northwest writes of the occasion:
    "There seems to be more 'ozone' in the air in Southern Oregon than in some other portions of the state. When the members of the Oregon State Horticultural Society, on their way to Ashland, reached the enterprising young city of Medford they were met by a brass band, and a large delegation of citizens who literally overwhelmed the members with bouquets and sent each on his way laden with a large basket of the choice fruits grown about Medford, and a pleasant remembrance. Such a demonstration would not have been strange in Dakota in its palmy days, but it is not a very common thing in Oregon. Naturally the visitors were impressed with the fact that Medford is going to increase in size and importance--because it has the kind of citizens who build up cities."
    A little further on in the Northwest's article appears the following, which is a part of the resolutions passed by the board at their meeting:
    "That special thanks are likewise due the people of Medford, and the ladies particularly, for the surprise of Tuesday morning last when they held up our train, but instead of robbing us, loaded us down with delicious fruit and covered us with beautiful roses."
Medford Mail, November 9, 1894, page 2


    Transcontinental railroads have restored settler's rates on their lines, and a big tidal wave of immigration toward Oregon and the Pacific Coast will commence in the spring. Last year was considered an extra heavy one for Western immigration, but the opinions of railroad men who are posted on such things are to the effect that it will not be a marker to the number who will arrive and settle in Oregon this year. Several Willamette Valley towns have already the nucleus for colonies of these Eastern people, who for the greater part are thrifty and industrious people. Other sections are organizing to offer inducements for settlers to locate and establish homes. Those sections where the people are most active in advertising will reap the benefit from this influx. Cannot Jackson County derive some plan whereby the attention of Eastern people may be called to its resources? Cannot some advertising tracts or booklets be published and distributed? If we are to progress, the citizens will needs be up and doing. To procrastinate in a matter of this kind is to forfeit the benefits to be accrued through increasing population of sturdy, thrifty and wealth-producing settlers.
"City Happenings," Medford Mail, January 25, 1901, page 7


    Almost every day The Mail has inquiries for printed matter descriptive of Medford and Southern Oregon. We have nothing with which to fill these orders, and it's a pity we have not. Our townspeople are standing in their own light when they defer, by nonsupport, the publication of matter of this nature. People of Eastern states are hungry for information regarding Southern Oregon. This hunger is being appeased by other towns of the valley, and [they] are reaping the benefits which might be ours, in part, at least.
Medford Mail, February 1, 1901, page 2

    If present indications count for anything, the city of Medford bids fair to increase in wealth and population within the next few years to an extent hitherto unknown in its history. Founded eighteen years ago as a way station on the Southern Pacific, with the old established town of Jacksonville five miles west and Ashland twelve miles south, it has slowly grown, principally by its favorable geographical location almost in the center of the valley, until it has become one of the most important shipping points for the products of Jackson County. Very slow was that growth at first, but it has been steady all through. There has never been a boom in Medford, consequently no reaction. Even during the years of the "hard times," the growth of the town was not perceptibly checked. It has now reached the point when, conditions being favorable, it may be expected to expand into the chief city of Southern Oregon within a very few years.
    It is the opinion of the writer that those favorable conditions are present, and the reasons for this opinion we will endeavor to set forth below.
    The fruit industry, not in its infancy, it is true, but still far from having reached its full development, is one of the foundations of this opinion. Medford lies in the heart of one of the greatest fruit-growing districts in the known world. North, south, east and west for miles the soil is nearly all adapted to the successful growing of fruit. Only a comparatively small acreage of this land has been planted to fruit yet, but more and more is being put out each year, until eventually the central portion of the valley will become almost a solid orchard, interspersed with waving fields of alfalfa or gardens of small fruits. Medford, as said before, lies in the heart of this fruit-growing section, and is the natural shipping point for most of the products, and the trading place of nearly all the residents thereof. This reason alone would be sufficient upon which to base an opinion of Medford's future greatness, but there are others.
    Eastward, only a short five miles away, the Southern Pacific Company is delving into the earth seeking a bed of coal, which its geological experts, who have a record of sixteen years with never a failure behind them, have declared is there. As soon as the development work proceeds far enough, several hundred men will be employed. Medford will naturally be their trading point, and the coal from the mine will all pass through this city, as the nearest point on the main line. Coal near at hand and the favorable situation of the city as regards handling the freight traffic of the valley will unite to make Medford the proper place for the end of a railroad division, with all that means to a young and growing town. Another thing in this connection is the projected straightening and shortening of the Southern Pacific line from Myrtle Creek south. There have been mysterious movements going on in the mountains about the heads of Evans and Cow creeks, and should a railroad line be located through, the end of the first division south of Roseburg would naturally fall here.
    Along the slopes of the Cascade stretches a mighty body of the finest timber out of doors, which must be marketed in the not-distant future, and again Medford shows up as the natural shipping point for the products and trading point for the men engaged in this industry. The marketing of this timber means either an electric car line for transportation or the extension of the R.R.V.R.R. eastward. Its construction eastward will, as a correlative, be followed by a westward extension toward the coast into the rich valleys of the Applegate and the Illinois, and the consequent hauling of their products to the junction with the Southern Pacific line at Medford. Thus the entire trade of this productive region will pass through our city, making its future the brightest of any town in this part of the state.
    But we cannot sit supinely down and wait for these things to come. The citizens of the town have a great work to perform in this development. However much we may differ in other things, let us have but one cause when it comes to the upbuilding of the city. Let our first thought be how to best advance the interest of the community at large and thus benefit the city and help the cause of progress.
    Every new enterprise of merit should receive the hearty encouragement and support of every citizen. Don't throw cold water on a new business in the town. If you can't see anything good in it, keep still.
    The resources which will go toward making Medford a handsome and prosperous city of no small size are here, ready and anxious to do their part--needing only development. It lies with the people to encourage and foster that development.
Medford Mail, February 7, 1902, page 2

    MEDFORD, Or., July 17.--The members of the Harriman immigration bureau and Pacific Coast railroad officials who are making a tour of the state visited Medford late yesterday afternoon. A special meeting of the Medford Board of Trade was called by president W. I. Vawter at the city hall to listen to speeches from these visitors, in which was outlined their scheme for advertising this country. The Medford Board of Trade agreed to supply the bureau for distribution 100,000 copies of pamphlets descriptive of the resources of this valley. At the meeting brief addresses of welcome were made by president Vawter and mayor Crowell. Samples of Southern Oregon products were displayed, and Southern Oregon peaches were freely partaken of by the visitors.
Morning Oregonian, July 19, 1902, page 11


    Medford was paid a visit Wednesday by several distinguished gentlemen, they being members of Harriman's Immigration Bureau and Pacific Coast railroad officials.
    These gentlemen are traveling over the country gathering data for advertising this and other sections of the Pacific Coast throughout the East. A meeting of the Medford Board of Trade was called by president Vawter, and a goodly number of our citizens gathered at the city hall to listen to speeches from the visitors, in which was outlined their proposed scheme for advertising this country.
    A bureau has been established in Chicago by Mr. Harriman, president of the Southern Pacific system, for the purpose of encouraging immigration and for the dissemination of information relative to the Pacific Northwest. Advertising matter prepared by citizens and boards of trade of the different localities will be distributed throughout the East by this bureau of information.
    The Medford Board of Trade agreed to supply the bureau with a goodly amount of literature advertising the resources of Jackson County, and the same is now being prepared.
    At the Wednesday meeting brief addresses of welcome were delivered by president Vawter and Mayor Crowell. Samples of our products were displayed, and a box of Southern Oregon peaches was partaken of. The visitors were enthusiastic in their words of praise for our valley--many of them never before having been in the land of the great Rogue and knew nothing of our wondrous resources.
    The gentlemen comprising the visiting party were S. M. McKinney, chief of the Harriman bureau, and his assistants, C. MacKinzey, I. N. Conklin, W. H. Burke, H. A. Townsend, T. A. Krouse and A. M. Hall; W. E. Coman, passenger agent of the Southern Pacific; J. H. O'Neil, traveling passenger agent for the O.R.&N.; J. P. Jones, traveling passenger agent for the Southern Pacific, and H. E. Lounsbury, traveling freight agent for the Southern Pacific.
Medford Mail, July 18, 1902, page 3


    Unless all indications are deceptive the year 1906 will be one of unparalleled growth and development in Southern Oregon in general and Jackson County in particular.
    Never before has this section attracted so much attention from people of all classes.
    Miners, orchardmen, lumbermen, all kinds of business men are finding out that the many and varied resources of Southern Oregon offer a field for their energies unsurpassed anywhere.
    Jackson County is just starting on a steady, upward march toward prosperity, which nothing can stop.
    Next year will see the mineral-seamed hills to the west and south begin giving up the stored wealth of centuries in greater proportion than ever before. East of us the vast pine and fir forests will begin paying tribute, and in return a stream of wealth will flow into the pockets of the people.
    A start at least will be made toward the irrigation of the valley, and within a few years after this is accomplished not two, but many blades of grass will grow where none grew before. Orchards, gardens and happy homes will take the place of the waste places, and nowhere on earth will there be a more prosperous vale than that of the Rogue. All this will not come in a day, to be sure, but the start toward it will be made during 1906, and most of us will live to see its realization.
Oregon Journal, Portland, January 2, 1906, page 4

    We reproduce the following from the Portland Journal's editorial columns, not as a matter of news, but as showing that Medford is being given a place on the map, even by metropolitan newspapers. We take exceptions to the assertion, however, that [we] were a "sleepy, listless community" a few years ago, and while we admit the fact that we occasionally nodded, we deny that we were at any time sound asleep. Medford, since the first bunches of chaparral were cut away and a building started on the site, has been growing. At some times it has grown faster than at others, but it has never stood still, nor has it retrograded, and while we might have "batted our eyes" occasionally, we have never been asleep.
    The Journal article follows:
    One of the best advertised towns in the state of Oregon is Medford. This we say without any disparagement of the efforts of other places in the state but rather to stir them to emulation. Within the last year Medford has experienced a decided awakening. The younger and more progressive men of the town have come to the front and have taken the direction of affairs. The mossbacks have been retired to the back seats. The spirit of progress has been in the air, and the opportunities for profitable investment are attracting the attention of outside capital. The results are already apparent. Medford has many advantages to attract the homeseeker and the investor.  It is surrounded by a region of extraordinary fertility whose products have won fame in eastern markets. It is the distributing point for a mining district of unusual promise. Its people are prosperous and seem to have awakened to the future which lies before them.
    A few years ago Medford was a sleepy, listless community, heedless of its opportunities, blind to the possibilities within its grasp. It was unknown and unadvertised. Through passengers on the Southern Pacific glanced idly from the car windows at the little settlement, looked up the name on the time card, and then forgot it. And the natives gazed just as idly and with just as little interest at the passengers, without a thought of attracting the attention of a stranger to their town.
    Now all this is changed. When the traveler arrives at Medford he recognizes it at once as a locality of which he has heard a thousand times. His interest has been aroused in advance and [he] is eager to see for himself what it has to offer. If he is a capitalist looking for investments he wants to investigate Medford's opportunities. If he is a homeseeker he is predisposed to stop and purchase and build, without looking further. If he is simply a tourist bent on enjoyment he welcomes the chance for sightseeing and recreation in a locality whose fame has so often reached his ears. Whatever his purpose he knows that Medford is on the map.
    What has wrought the change? Advertising. Intelligent, well-directed advertising. Without advertising Medford would have droned along in the same old way for a dozen years to come. Now and then some stranded stranger would have been added to the population, now and then Bill Jones would have put a fresh coat of paint on his home or Tom Smith would have bought another cow. But there would have been nothing in the way of actual development and progress. When the people of Medford became inoculated with the spirit of progress, and not until then, the town woke up. Medford rubbed its eyes, yawned, stretched and then suddenly realized that the day of opportunity had dawned. Close on the heels of that realization came the campaign of advertising which is already bearing rich fruit.
    Medford is but an instance and an example. There are other towns in Oregon which are showing the same spirit of progress and which are experiencing the rewards that follow.
    Eugene is an instance. Salem will soon be in the same class. Astoria, Hood River, The Dalles, Pendleton, Baker City and a score of other towns are rapidly awakening to the necessity of exploitation and civic improvements. For years they have been asleep, but that period of lethargy is past. The time has come for earnest, concerted and energetic effort on the part of every community in the state. There is not a town in Oregon which will not profit by following the policy that has been adopted by Medford.
Medford Mail, February 21, 1908, page 4


    Vancouver, Washington, is one of the progressive and alert communities of the Pacific Northwest, which has adopted, with absolute unanimity, the extraordinary publicity plan of the



    F. E. McCullum, a representative of the Sunset magazine, has been in the city for several days. Of Medford he says:
    "After looking over the cities from Frisco north, I find a real clean city of enterprise, with stores stocked to do credit to a city of 20,000. It is my first stop in Oregon and am more than favorably impressed. Your population, according to voting records, has increased in two years from 720 to 1152 [sic], making an increase of population of over 2160 [sic]. Good enough!"
Medford Mail, October 16, 1908, page 10

    Medford has arrived at a point in her development where she is the most talked-of little city on the Pacific coast, and more people are inquiring and investigating the Rogue River Valley, with a view to its becoming their permanent home, than any other spot in Southern Oregon.
    Homeseekers come first in contact with the real estate men. People of the East are unfamiliar with our conditions here. A farmer in Iowa may have good judgment as to agriculture in the Middle West, but his judgment will avail him nothing in this valley, where intense farming is the rule. Consequently, it is no more than fair and business justice that he be told the plain truth. Surely the truth about the Rogue River Valley is flattering enough.
    There is no portion of the district adjoining Medford and vicinity that will not produce something. There are apple orchards that have been planted on ground too heavy and cold to be good producers, while this same land would be par-excellent for pears--and so on. Even the so-called "desert," practically uninhabited, has proven to be a district that, with water, will produce everything that can be raised in the valley. The local market that is now being supplied from California and farther north in this state could be amply supplied by products raised upon this so-called "desert."
    There are many real estate men in this town who are heavy taxpayers, are enterprising citizens and in every way deserve the respect of the community. There is also a class of irresponsibles working only for the commission who will make any statement, or any kind of a misrepresentation, in order to make a sale. These men should be eliminated from the business or made to stick to the truth.
    If the real estate men, as a body, wish the respect of this community and wish their business to be regarded in the light of a legitimate business, let them do like they have done in other cities, form a real estate association, meet often together and formulate rules whereby their business can be conducted with the same dignity that other lines of business are managed. If they refuse to get together, and maintain the same cutthroat business, then they do not deserve the assistance of the Commercial Club or any other body of citizens in Medford.
    Either organize or quit talking about the rights of the real estate man.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 22, 1910, page 4

    Medford has found her stride. Her phenomenal growth of the past two years will be eclipsed by that of the coming year. "25,000 for 1915" is no longer an idle dream.
    This constantly augmented army of newcomers is the material from which cities are made, and the future character and appearance of our city will depend upon the disposition made NOW of this material.
    YOURS is the OPPORTUNITY to play a man's part NOW in the laying down of the skeleton plan about which shall be built the CITY BEAUTIFUL!
    The first strong line of that plan must be the marking out of a definite RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT as distinct from the business and the mixed residence and business district, into which residential district may be attracted those who are essentially HOME BUILDERS--those for whom HOME shall mean atmosphere and environment as well as mere housing for the family.
    OPPORTUNITY calls you to add your effort to that of Medford's architects and help direct her growth into the proper and natural channels--along that road awaits FAME.
    OPPORTUNITY calls you to take NOTICE and ADVANTAGE of the fact that the East Side is awake and moving; that physical improvements will be effected there within the next six months which will prove more noticeable than any yet consummated in the city--along that road awaits FORTUNE.
Excerpt, East Side Improvement Association advertisement, Medford Sun, April 16, 1911, page B4

    "We have the homeliest men in the universe," said Judge Wm. M. Colvig to President Carl Gray of the Hill Lines in Oregon, "but we have the most beautiful women in the world."
    The occasion was Friday night's banquet to the prominent railroad man, and the remark was the introduction of one of the most picturesque and interesting after-dinner speeches that has been heard in Medford in years.
    The judge was in rare form. His rich voice rang through the spaces of the Nash Grill, fluttered through the masses of sweet peas clustered on the table, and resonantly bursting through the screen door to Main Street attracted autoists and passersby who stopped to listen, while many of them entered the room, and unnoticed in the spell of oratory that bound the banqueters, took seats at unoccupied tables to listen.
    "I have been selected to speak to you," continued the toastmaster, "because I have the deserved reputation of always speaking the truth. Whenever a distinguished visitor is in our midst I am selected to speak to him because, like George Washington, I cannot tell a lie. (Laughter and applause.)
    "Jackson County, sir, has a taxable value of $28,000,000. Its men, I repeat, are homely but they are the strongest and most aggressive body of souls of earth. For many years we have been cooped up here with the services of only one transcontinental line. I have for many years been local attorney for that line, but I would prefer to be local attorney for two continental lines. (Prolonged laughter.) We have here in this country 75,000 [railroad] cars from the first of August to the first of December of every year. This is not poetry, sir, but truth.
    "We have mines. Thirty-one millions in gold have been taken out of this county. Thirty-five miles east of here there is a copper mine on which has been spent a million and a half of dollars. But the rich deposits of copper there cannot be utilized until there is another road.
    "We have timber. Thousands and thousands of feet of sugar pine and fir cover the hills and mountains, which are merely awaiting the coming of the railroad to be converted into gold. We have coal mines on the outskirts of Medford. There is nothing that can grow on the face of the earth that cannot grow as well in Medford--wheat, alfalfa, oats, onions, berries--everything.
    "I love this country, sir. I believe the time is coming when the highest degree of civilization, the greatest culture, the greatest wealth per capita, will be centered here in the Rogue River Valley. This country has a charm, sir, which no other part of God's earth has. It has natural scenery that is not excelled in any part of this country or the world. The time is coming when this will be the greatest center for tourists in America. If you extend your road over the Cascades it will pass near Crater Lake, which is one of the greatest wonders nature has ever wrought. If you should come here once you would never leave, for this country holds with a siren's spell and binds as no other district binds with the mystic bonds of home."
Medford Sun, July 9, 1911, page 3


    William M. Colvig gave one of his interesting and entertaining talks [at the meeting of the Oregon Development League in Astoria]. He is known to be one of the best and wittiest public speakers in Oregon, and he was at his best. He spoke as follows:
    "For three years past I have been the president of the Medford Commercial Club, and, with my associates, have induced a great many people to come to Oregon, many of whom are now basking in the sunshine of happier and more prosperous days than they had ever known before, and yet I am sorry to say there are a few others who seem to have been 'over-much persuaded,' and who have either returned to the familiar faces of their old homes in the East or are found wandering up and down the Pacific Coast cussing the country and everybody in it. These few need parental guidance and should not have crossed the threshold where the 'old folks stay.'
    "As loyal citizens of Oregon we should be glad to welcome among us all those who are not afraid to face the obstacles which lie in the pathway of every new civilization. We should not hesitate to sing the praises of our home in this land of rich endowment, but there is danger that we may overdraw the picture and offer inducements that will never be realized by those who may come. We must, therefore, be careful in all our statements so that we will not be afraid to face the newcomer when he arrives."
"Awaken, Pleads Wilcox to Oregon," Morning Oregonian, Portland, August 15, 1911, page 1

    (Being extracts from an address delivered by Mrs. H. C. Stoddard at a banquet given by the Eastern Star Lodge.)
    When Mr. Garnett asked me to say something humorous on this occasion I explained how utterly impossible it would be for me to say anything funny short of a week's notice, my handicap being an English extraction, with the proverbial ideas which travel by freight. However, I have always believed in the efficacy of "taffy" rather than "epitaphy," and wish to make a few remarks in eulogy of some of our prominent citizens.
    In looking over the record of those who have distinguished themselves in public service, our thoughts naturally turn to the record of Dr. E. B. Pickel. The doctor has the record of being the handsomest mayor to date, and will probably continue to enjoy the distinction until we elect a suffragette.
    Dr. Pickel was mayor in the days [1904-1905] when we drank Bear Creek "liquid." It was generally liquid. In those days if we wished to leave our homes at night we equipped ourselves with rubber boots, procured a lantern, and with fear and trembling sallied forth into utter blackness. If we reached our destination without stepping on the end of a board whose other end was not nailed down we felt that we were under the protection of a special providence.
    Dr. Pickel was largely instrumental in selecting the present site of Medford's pure water supply, and for this service alone we think he is entitled to a place in "Medford's Hall of Fame." Another noted citizen whom we all delight to honor is the Hon. William Colvig. Judge Colvig is the original and only booster--all others are imitations. He was born in Missouri, and lived in Jacksonville for a time, both for which we forgave him, as he now spends all his time convincing people that the best place on earth is Medford in Southern Oregon.
    At a recent meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles, during which all the local members spoke in glowing terms of their own city, Judge Colvig, being present, was invited to speak. The Judge arose and said he did not feel that he could add anything to the beautiful tributes that had been paid to Los Angeles, but that what he had heard reminded him of the following story:
    A party of Los Angeles people who had departed this vale of tears were being shown through the Celestial Regions. As St. Peter pointed out the pearly gates and golden streets their admiration was unbounded, and they expressed themselves with such exclamations as "Beautiful"; "This reminds me of Los Angeles"; "This is just like home." As they proceeded they came to a beautiful palace where in a group of people were chained to the floor with heavy chains. Upon asking St. Peter who those people were, and why they [were] chained, he replied: "Those people came from the Rogue River Valley, and we have to chain them to keep them here."
    Another of Medford's dauntless sons is George Putnam. Mr. Putnam has established a metropolitan paper that is a credit to the town. When George was young he went to Ireland, where he kissed the Blarney Stone, first indulging freely in tabasco sauce, hence the pungent quality of his editorials.
    Mr. A. S. Rosenbaum, besides being the court of last resort for all those who have claims against the Southern Pacific Company, is the original "jiner" in Medford. He belongs to more clubs, colonies, lodges, etc., committees and organizations than any other man in Medford, and can fill four engagements in one evening in a most graceful and Lord Chesterfield manner, and take in a round of the prize fight and the third act of the theater on the way home. His patriotism is unquestioned; as he is one of the few men in Medford who have never missed a meeting of the Commercial Club.
    F. E. Merrick, as a member of the city council for several terms, has always identified himself with progressive measures, and it is largely due to [his] influence and ability, together with his perseverance against criticism and opposition, that we have our present pure water system. Mr. Merrick is noted for his proficiency in dancing the Virginia Reel, which he does in a most "reelistic" manner.
    We all know H. C. Garnett as a booster and a freight rate adjuster, and a live wire among business men, but how many of us remember him as a novelist and short story writer. In the early days of Medford, before we had the "Nat" and the moving picture shows, our principal evening amusement was in reading his thrilling romance of Jack and Edith, which ended with the information that they had purchased a Toledo Range, a 1900 washer and a Maud S. pump of Shorty Garnett and expected to live happily ever after. [Shorty's newspaper ads took this form.]
    Dr. J. F. Reddy and prosperity arrived in the Rogue River Valley about the same time. His influence, precept and example have been behind many of the good things which Medford has achieved. Dr. Reddy's public spirit is shown by the large amount of time and money he has devoted to unselfish boosting of Southern Oregon. He has many friends wherever he goes, as is illustrated by the story that during his recent trip to 'Frisco, his wife wishing to give him the election news from Oregon, and being unable to locate him at his hotel, telegraphed four of his friends, asking each if he had spent the previous night there, and each answered "Yes."
Medford Mail Tribune, December 18, 1912, page 4





    I called on S. Sumpter Smith of the Mail Tribune, and he gave me a brief history of the city and valley: of the boom that struck here a few years ago; how the valley was advertised as the garden spot of the world, and the city as the coming metropolis of the West; how sales of city and suburban acreages were made at inflated prices, how everybody caught the contagion and became a booster. Then the disillusionment when it was found that the hundreds of apple orchards were badly located as to markets. Then the collapse, taking many investors, large and small, into bankruptcy. Then a tedious and wearisome period of reconstruction; of learning what fruits could be profitably grown; the development of the lumber industry in the hill country adjacent to the valley, and even the recrudescence of mining for gold in the mountains hereabout.
    Medford, with a population of 8,000, has no empty houses, and is doing considerable building. A new Methodist Church is well along in the building which either represents a wealth of subscriptions or a robust deficit.
Excerpt, "Daily Drift," Ammi L. Bixby, Sunday State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, December 20, 1923, page 6


    In every walk of life we find the relationship of buyer and seller. As a matter of fact, the buying, the selling, the exchanging of ideas, of service, of commodities and of opportunities is just about the complete measure of human commercial activity.
    The Pacific Coast of the United States, from the Canadian border to Mexico, is at present a striking example of the seller of opportunity.
    The buyer may be aptly referred to as outside investment capital seeking new fields of activity. The vast industries of the East and of the Middle West are potential buyers of new location, and the individual worker, or man of small means, who wishes to cast his lot in a country where the struggle for existence has less of personal hardship and more of business opportunity, is responding to the call of the West.
    We are told that the files of many eastern industrial plants are filled with applications from the employees for transfer to the Pacific Coast in the event that the employer opens a western branch house or factory. There is undoubtedly a westward urge based on personal desire as well as business opportunity, but the prospective locator has a lot of territory to cover when he tries to make a quick survey of Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona, which is that part of the United States lying west of the Rocky Mountains, comprising 25 percent of the area of our country and commonly referred to as the Pacific Coast. An eastern industry seeking new location has much to learn, usually in a very limited time, because of the magnificent distances and the peculiar distribution of population and resources.
    We will forget for the present that wonderful expanse of country north of the Columbia River and south of San Francisco Bay, confining ourselves to that intermediate zone, which, if on the Atlantic Seaboard, would extend from Philadelphia to Savannah and back inland to Indianapolis, if we carry our simile on the Pacific Coast back inland as far as Ogden or Salt Lake City. This great Mid-Land Empire is usually passed over very rapidly, because visitors to the coast make the preliminary trip from San Diego to Vancouver, or in the opposite direction, jumping from San Francisco to Portland as you would naturally pass from one great center of population to another. The distance, approximately 750 miles, is rather unusual when measured along a coast line, but it so happens that up to the present time no great seaports have developed between San Francisco Bay and the Columbia River. What the future has in store can only be surmised. There are possibilities, as indicated by thriving harbors of local consequence, particularly devoted to outbound shipments of forest products near the coast. Some of these may later tie in to the development of the great back country. At present the untold wealth of timber, minerals and agriculture in this great Mid-Land Empire finds its principal outlet by rail to the Columbia River on the north and to San Francisco Bay on the south, thence to eastern or foreign markets.
    Every chamber of commerce from Vancouver to San Diego is trying to sell opportunity and is making every effort to connect with the buyer. They all have long lists of individuals and of concerns that want something for nothing or need financial assistance. These prospects are continually seeking out the seller, but the well-financed eastern industries who do not want free land, bonuses or financial help must be sought out by the seller and they must be sold on the basis of real facts that cannot be established except by a well-worked-out merchandising campaign.
    The matter of financing is one that is usually taken care of by the proprietors of industry. The problem of the selling agency is to establish good and sufficient reasons why certain industries would prosper at certain points, and to assist in discussing every obstacle that would prevent success. Empty buildings and idle motors are no credit to a community. The far-sighted chamber of commerce will work just as hard to prevent overexpansion of industry as to encourage additions to a community where the conditions warrant legitimate expansion.
    Aggressive selling methods applied to merchandising the various advantages of different localities has grown to be a business in itself, usually conducted by chambers of commerce or commercial club. At the same time, every business organization, every banking institution, every newspaper, every magazine, every railroad system, and almost every individual in a community has some part in selling that community.
    The California-Oregon Power Company, operating as it does through a large section of this great Mid-Land Empire, with its high-tension power lines extending north into the Willamette Valley as far as Eugene and south into the Sacramento Valley almost to Redding and eastward into Klamath County, has a great personal interest in community development. The success of the company will be in ratio with the growth of Southern Oregon and Northern California. The interests are mutual and inseparable, and it should be noted that while the industries can ship their products to world markets the power company market is limited to the reach of its wires.
    Continuous, uninterrupted light and power service at the lowest possible cost to consumer has done much to bring about present development of the natural resources of the country, but with the great competition of communities to the north and to the south, it has been necessary to include what might be termed a selling function beyond the actual selling of electrical energy--a selling of community advantages and opportunities in cooperation with the various commercial bodies located in the business centers reached by the lines of the power company.
    It is a territory well worth honest exploitation, and since we have likened eastern industry to the buyer, and likened this great Mid-Land Empire to the seller, we should step outside of the problem long enough to view it intelligently from the standpoint of each.
    Consider the buyer, for example, who is not particularly anxious to be sold. Perhaps he has been driven to consider the Pacific Coast because competitors were establishing themselves west of the Rocky Mountains. Perhaps having journeyed west on a vacation trip or to attend a convention, the buyer is greatly impressed with the coast country, which is building cities astounding to the eyes of the easterner, and supporting unusual enterprises which must reflect great potential wealth of resource and unusual character of its people. Perhaps the buyer may represent some side investment money seeking new fields of profitable employment.
    We are told that first impressions are usually lasting and have considerable bearing on subsequent action. The unfortunate thing about the first impressions gained by the investigator of Pacific Coast conditions is that they center around the important points, such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland and Los Angeles.
    The back country is seldom covered with any degree of thoroughness, and to survey the entire ocean frontage of 1,670 miles, with back country extending to the Rocky Mountains, would be almost a superhuman task. If snap judgment is not taken on the basis of first impressions, the thoughtful eastern prospect soon decides that he has a big contract on his hands in selecting a Pacific Coast location. He usually returns to the East and assigns some sales engineer or traffic manager to the job of coming back to the coast to make a detailed survey. The second visitor usually spends several weeks in traveling over the area, in collecting authoritative information from every available source listening to the sales talks and in getting a composite picture of the Pacific Coast that will enable him to report back to his principals. This is no small task because of the peculiar character of the territory involved, with distribution of population and the factors of uncertainty in a rapidly developing virgin country.
    Some decisions that have been made in the past have been too hasty and have led to overdevelopment at one point with underdevelopment at another. After the decision for location is made the executives placed in charge during the following two or three years may find, by actual contact with the territory, some place that would have been a better location for the industry in question. If a wrong decision has been made, part of the responsibility rests with the seller.
    Consider then the seller. With possible overenthusiasm and with the advantage of the "psychological moment" in his favor, the seller may have assisted in bringing about a decision that is not altogether wise. On the other hand, a community salesman from some other point, with lack of information or lack of manufactured opportunity, may have failed to effect contact with the buyer or, if effecting contact, may have failed to impress him sufficiently.
    The business factors which determine the location of new industry should be known to every community-selling organization, and only the ablest exponents of the selling art should be employed to represent the community. He should at least be one who can write a business letter containing something more than that old musty paragraph: "Trusting that you will not hesitate to call upon us if there is any further information you desire." This has the effect of a smoke screen which conceals the lack of real ability to supply what is needed without request.
    The distribution of population on the Pacific Coast is such that those accustomed to eastern figures will not enthuse over merchandise possibilities. Miles of territory must be sometimes covered on the Pacific Coast to reach as many people as are found within the limits of one large eastern city. This means expensive distribution and will cause apprehensive thoughts.
    The buyer will hesitate somewhat at this stage of the proceedings, and it is the part of the seller to emphasize the other business factors, such as labor supply and efficiency, raw material abundance, coupled with economical transportation and power. It must be shown that local distribution and sales are not of anything that are the markets of the Atlantic Seaboard and the Orient.
    Few people realize that Portland, Oregon, for example, is closer to Manila by 3,515 miles than is the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal; that by adding 1,402 miles from Panama to New Orleans, you may save a total of 4,917 miles (the equivalent of a trans-Pacific voyage) in landing the raw materials of the Orient on the Pacific Coast of the United States for manufacture, instead of landing them at a point like New Orleans or farther east; thus much time is saved for many industries by manufacture on the Pacific Coast, even though the consuming market is on the Atlantic coast.
    This is entirely apart from the use of local raw materials, but does take advantage of the economies of manufacture where there are no climatic extremes which slow down production in the summer because of heat and in the winter because of excessive cold.
    The community salesman on the Pacific Coast must be thoroughly familiar with the industries that are already established and proving in actual commercial transactions what were simply theories a few years ago. Making clear these facts to the Eastern investor is a real service on the part of the community salesman. It involves a study of conditions which the engineer sent out for a brief period can hardy be expected to prosecute. The seller can render a priceless service to the Eastern investor by working with him on this problem of location with respect to present and future distribution in all its aspects and in guiding him through the maze of detail that involves the selection of the particular point at which to locate where operating expenses will be lowest. This is what the new industries department of the California-Oregon Power Company refers to as its fundamental principle of community merchandising as distinguished from community advertising.
    The scattered population of the coast has its relative importance from a marketing standpoint, but a nationally operated concern will probably take up the matter of Pacific Coast distribution only after disposing of the problem of national and international distribution. This involves a study of ocean transportation, rail connections and other things that are not local in aspect. The wealth of this great Mid-Land Empire of the Pacific Coast has an appeal to nationally operated concerns. Timber, mineral and agricultural raw materials are already moving to the markets of the world. Gradually the advantages of remanufacture at the point of original production will become known.
    The factor of labor is important to the final decision and conditions will be found to vary greatly in different localities, though generally speaking, the entire Pacific Coast has the advantage of a liberal supply of contented labor. It has been truthfully said that where living conditions are good, labor is efficient. Lack of sustained extremes of either heat or cold throughout a great portion of this Mid-Land Empire has a stimulating effect on labor output, both winter and summer.
    The truth about Southern Oregon and Northern California is good enough for anybody. So-called attractions of free sites, bonuses and other inducements to bribe locators is not sound merchandising. Furthermore, it is not a necessary expedient by which to influence a desirable industrial institution to locate where it really belongs.
    With characteristic western spirit the selling organizations of Southern Oregon and Northern California are unified and are extending real assistance to eastern industry and to eastern investors who see their opportunity in this golden empire that was saved until the last because it was the best.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 1, 1924, page B6

    It is sometimes necessary to leave one's home to fully appreciate it. Everyone in Medford was delighted when Henry Ford advertised the home town as the enterprising, air-minded community, which bonded itself for a first-class airport. But few local residents, we believe, fully appreciate what that advertising has done.
    A few weeks ago, on a train 2000 miles away, the present writer conversed with two eastern traveling men, and when one of them heard we were from Medford, Oregon, he remarked:
    "Oh, yes, I have heard of that place. You are air-minded out there; you built an airport, didn't you? Must have a live town."
    Coming up on the Shasta night before last, two traveling men engaged in a similar conversation. As two Medford residents will testify, when Medford was mentioned as a destination, one of them said:
    "Medford--say, that's one of the best towns on the coast. I hear it everywhere. Look at that airport you built."
    "That's right," said the other. "Never been there, but I've read about it, and hear all about it up and down the coast. Built the first Class A airport on the coast, didn't you?"
    "There are some good people who deplore the fact that the proposed airport celebration in July has been abandoned. But after our recent experience we are inclined to view the decision without any great anguish.
    After all, such a celebration would not only cost a great deal of money, but would, in the main, merely impress people who live in or near Medford--those who know all about the airport anyway--the publicity would hardly extend to distant parts of the country.
    The same amount of money devoted to "foreign advertising" would, in our judgment, bring far better and more desirable returns. It is our conviction that the aforementioned Ford advertising, which didn't cost Medford a cent, has been worth many thousands of dollars to this community.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 12, 1930, page 4


    Earl C. Gaddis, the dean of Medford mayors, believes that Medford's prospects for the future are bright--as long as the city keeps from overdoing any one thing.
    Gaddis, still spry and alert at 81, speaks from experience. He was a mayor and city councilman here during the worst financial crisis in the city's history. The crisis started in 1912 when the bottom fell out of an orchard speculation-inspired boom.
    Gaddis was elected to the city council in 1919, and to the mayoralty post four years later. It was during this period that the city was scheduled to pungle up nearly $1½ million to repay bonds that had been floated by the city during the boom years.
    It was over-speculation in the fruit industry that caused that financial collapse, and Gaddis fears a recurrence [of] the crisis should the city and valley ever overextend themselves in one particular facet of their economy.
    Gaddis recalls that in his first year on the city council, it met more than 100 times to try and work out some solution to the city's financial problems. (The city council now meets only 24 times a year.)
    Much of the blame for the financial collapse, according to Gaddis, rested with the promoters of the Rogue Valley in those days.
    He explained that these promoters would send advertisements all over the country and hold special exhibitions in the East, which led to the false impression that money could be made overnight in the orchard business.
    Easterners flocked to the city and purchased thousands of acres of orchard property. Many bought sight unseen. In a period of about three years, from 1909 to 1911, the city's population jumped from slightly over 2,000 to nearly 12,000. [In 1905 the Medford Mail estimated the population at 2500; the official Census count for 1910 was 8,840, which boosters disputed as too low.] It was during this time that the city floated nearly $1½ million in bonds to finance extensive street, sewer and water improvements.
    But when the speculators in orchard property discovered that they would have to wait at least seven years before they could make any money on their crops, they left. It wasn't long before the city's population dropped to [fewer] than 6,000 people.
    By the time Gaddis joined the city administration in 1919, things were so bad that the city had to borrow $40,000 just to pay its own back taxes.
Excerpt, Medford Mail Tribune, February 28, 1961, page 4B

Last revised October 19, 2024