Many Propositions.

Combination Didn't Work.

Still Ready.

Medford Mail Tribune, September 23, 1913, page 2

    Edgar Hafer, who recently purchased the Renshaw ranch on Bear Creek, just south of Medford, has formulated a cooperative proposal to the people of Medford for the erection of a sawmill and box factory to be located upon his property, one-third of the capital of $150,000 to be furnished by Mr. Hafer, one-third subscribed by the citizens of the valley, and the remaining one-third to be treasury stock for future enlargements. The Pacific & Eastern will extend to the mill and the Southern Pacific is already there. The capacity of the plant will be 50,000 feet per day. The annual payroll required will be $80,000, and the amount now sent abroad for lumber and fruit boxes, averaging $200,000 a year, be kept at home.
    Mr. Hafer was manager of the Iowa Lumber & Box Company and later of its successor, the Crater Lake Lumber Company, and operated for several years the local box factory. He has secured not only the most available site for such a plant, but the mill machinery and equipment formerly used. He is also the owner of a tract of timber in the Butte Falls section. In discussing his proposal, he said:
    "Medford needs a payroll. The way to get one is to start it ourselves. One of our greatest natural resources--timber--should be put under development. Not a stick of lumber is touched from the twenty-odd billion feet of merchantable timber available in Jackson County.
    "It is a positive fact that within the past five years more money has been sent out of the valley for lumber and boxes than the combined deposits in our local banks today.
    "Just stop and think, sending our money to Grants Pass, Glendale, Eugene and Portland, Weed, Cal., and other points, supporting their enterprises, their payrolls and their merchants, by buying a product we should and can successfully produce at home. Everyone must help check this continual outgo. We need that money, the working man needs it, the merchant needs it, and every local enterprise needs it.
    "Realizing this condition, I am taking this opportunity of asking the citizens of Medford to cooperate with me and assist in establishing a sawmill and box factory here in Medford.
    "It would be my purpose to reorganize the Crater Lake Lumber Company, capitalize at $150,000 and do a general timber, logging, sawing, box factory and retail lumber business.
    "With a paid-up capital of $150,000 we can carry a sufficient supply of timber to build a sawmill of 50,000 feet per day capacity, a modern box factory of like capacity, and have sufficient capital with which to carry on the operation. A plant of this capacity can easily manufacture 10,000,000 feet of lumber annually and support a payroll of $80,000 annually. Such an enterprise under normal conditions should net a profit of 12 percent, and with a good market and running plant full capacity, 20 percent on the capital stock.
    "In order to encourage and to immediately launch such an enterprise here in Medford, I will furnish what I believe to be the most desirable sawmill and box factory site in the Rogue River Valley. The property is situated immediately south of and adjoining the city limits of Medford. It can be served by both the Southern Pacific and Pacific & Eastern railroads for rail delivery, and the Pacific Highway for local delivery. It will be necessary to extend the Pacific & Eastern up Bear Creek one and one-quarter miles. This can be arranged.
    "I will also furnish some timber, sawmill, logging, box factory machinery and other equipment necessary in the construction of such a plant as under consideration.
    "In order to determine the value of this property, it will be agreeable with me for the stockholders of the company to appoint a committee for the purpose of making an appraisal, determine the value of the property, and I will take stock in lieu thereof up to $50,000, conditioned that the citizens of Medford subscribe a like amount.   
    "With the site, sawmill and box factory equipment I have on hand, and local subscriptions of $50,000 paid up, we can construct the plant.
    "It is not necessary that the remaining $50,000 of the capital stock be subscribed at present, as this money will not be needed until after the plant has been constructed, and during that time I anticipate no trouble in selling the remaining stock.
    "Realizing the present financial conditions of the country are not the best and that possibly Medford citizens could not pay for their stock in full at this time, it can be so arranged that subscriptions for stock be paid in monthly payments to be determined by the board of directors.
    "Next season, under normal conditions, our orchards should produce not less than 1500 cars of fruit. With such production it will require over 1,000,000 boxes to box this fruit. This amount of boxes would tax the capacity of the plant for the entire year, as only 50 percent of the box lumber will make our local boxes; the remaining 50 percent will go into raisin, prune, orange, lemon and vegetable crates. These boxes will find a ready market in California.
    "Does Medford want such an enterprise? Does Medford want an annual payroll of $80,000 disbursed among the laboring men? Does Medford want to keep $200,000 at home that is leaving the valley annually for lumber and other materials made from lumber? And does Medford want to protect future requirements for lumber and boxes, with a plant owned and operated by Jackson County people, to first serve the needs of Jackson County? If so, I am ready to meet the citizens halfway."
Medford Mail Tribune, November 28, 1914, page 1

    People of Jackson County when speaking of the resources of the county always mention the undeveloped timber resources as one of its large assets. But for what purpose, or in what way is it an asset? The timber while standing serves no beneficial purpose from any standpoint. It builds no structures; it furnishes no market for labor, and it is no medium for commercial exchange. Therefore, timber is not worth anything to this generation (so long as it is standing timber) except to the speculator. To the community at large, it is a liability rather than an asset.
    This may sound unreasonable, but the facts are these: Much of this timber has matured, is deteriorating in quality, and will steadily decrease in value until it is cut. The land upon which the timber stands is useless, but with saw mills in operation and purchasing logs, the owner can secure funds to put his land under cultivation, and is thus enabled to make his property a steady income producer; expenses such as fire protection, etc.. are eliminated, and the property has even an increased value.
    TIMBER RESOURCES. There are in Jackson County, Oregon, today, as standing timber, more than twenty billions of feet available for manufacturing purposes. This timber extends over an area of one million acres and when manufactured will produce on, an average, one carload of lumber to the acre.
    In order to manufacture the matured standing timber into lumber at the rate of 2½ percent per annum, it will require forty years to cut the present stand, and the increased growth of standing young timber would offset a manufactured product of 2½ percent per year. If there were 2½ percent manufactured per annum it would require 6000 men working each day to turn out the product.
    At the present price of labor it costs $8 per thousand feet to manufacture standing timber into lumber. Therefore in order to manufacture the available standing timber in Jackson County, it would represent an outlay in labor of one hundred and sixty million dollars.
    SHOULD BE DEVELOPED. What Jackson County needs is to have the resources which we have here opened up. We have well earned the reputation of being a community that helps itself, and the necessity for a further confirmation of this reputation is certainly present at this time. We want new industries and we need new industries, and the industry that will bring to the community, and distribute in the community, more wealth than any other which might be established is the lumber industry. When the timber interests of any section are opened up, a large market for labor, at the best wages paid in the world, is provided. The production of lumber is the pioneer occupation which opens up new districts; brings employment; transportation; clears the land; furnishes markets for the settlers and brings into the county new wealth upon which other industries are supported.
    A REGULAR PAYROLL. Ask any Jackson County property owner what he considers Jackson County's greatest need, and he will say "a regular payroll." Then consider this--no other industry that can be mentioned, available for establishment in Southern Oregon, will furnish employment for as many high-class, intelligent, self-respecting laborers as that of the timber industry.
    As previously mentioned, there are one million acres of standing timber in the forests of Jackson County awaiting the timberman's ax, and on an average, every acre of this timber when manufactured will produce one carload of lumber, and a substantially accurate calculation of the returns to the laboring man from this timber, if it were cut, would amount to $160 per acre. In fact there are thousands of individual trees that will produce more than a carload of lumber and return to the laboring man more than $160 for each tree when manufactured into lumber.
    FINANCIAL DEPRESSION IN JACKSON COUNTY. One of the causes for financial depression in Jackson County is the great volume of money that is actually sent each year beyond its borders for the purchase of supplies, the major part of which we should produce and develop at home.
    The Southern Pacific Company has furnished me with a statement of lumber and lumber products used for building purposes, box shook, and wood, received at stations Rogue River to Ashland, inclusive, November 1, 1913, to October 31, 1914, inclusive--not including lumber, ties, etc., consigned to the Southern Pacific Company:

	Lumber	Shingles	Box Shook	Lath	Wood
Rogue River	8
Gold Hill	30	1	1		2
Central Point	25	4	16		34
Medford	163	11	23	1	260
Voorhies	2		6
Phoenix	12	2
Talent	25	3	7
Ashland	49	3	4	2	153
Carloads	314	24	57	3	449

    Total, 398 carloads of lumber, shingles, box shook, and lath, and 449 carloads of [fire]wood, making 847 carloads of these products that originated outside and were shipped into Jackson County during that period.
    With this statement of facts for the consideration of the people of Jackson County, I desire to take this opportunity of asking the people of this county to cooperate with me and assist in the establishment of a saw mill and box factory in the city of Medford, Oregon. It is apparent that the solution of the local development of this county cannot be left to individual efforts--neither one man, nor one set of men, can accomplish it. There must be a unity of effort by the people of the cities and the county, and each should do his share. What makes for the good of one, makes for the good of all. It is only by mutual assistance that any industry can succeed commercially.
    It would be my purpose to organize a lumber company to be known as the Crater Lake Timber Company, to operate a saw mill and box factory and do a general timber, logging and retail lumber business, with a capacity in harmony with the needs for lumber products. We would want to make this a Jackson County enterprise, controlled and operated by Jackson County people, to first serve the needs of Jackson County.
    CAPITALIZATION OF COMPANY. The capital stock of said corporation shall be one hundred and fifty thousand ($150,000) dollars, par value one hundred ($100) dollars a share. I desire to raise $51,000 of said sum in Jackson County for this enterprise. I will subscribe for $50,000 additional, payable in saw mill, box factory, logging equipment, ground for mill site and timber, all of which will be needed in construction and operation.
    I desire to make this clear by stating that the property which I turn in does not have to be valued at $50,000; the value to the company is to be fixed by the company. Only such of the equipment as shall be suitable, and which can be used to advantage by the new corporation, shall become a part of the equipment of the new plant. The question of value and the suitability of the same for the new plant is to be left to the judgment of such parties as the stockholders of this corporation shall select.
    With $51,000 subscribed by local people, thus assuring the moral support of the community for the enterprise, there will be little difficulty in disposing of the $49,000 in stock remaining in the treasury, as it may be required.
    As an additional safeguard, to prevent any rival interests from acquiring a controlling interest in the corporation, which might result in a mode of operation, or lack of operation, to the detriment of the local interests, I desire an exclusive option to purchase any or all of the stock at any time within three years from the date of the organization of the company, at $125 per share, less the dividends actually paid. This does not mean that the original stockholders are required to sell their stock to me within that time, but if any stockholder desires to sell, that I shall have the exclusive option to buy the same from the holder thereof.
    PAYMENT OF STOCK SUBSCRIPTIONS. Stock subscriptions shall be payable twenty percent upon the organization of the company and twenty percent monthly thereafter, or those who desire to subscribe for stock and pay ten percent monthly may do so by paying seven percent interest upon deferred payments falling due after the first four monthly payments.
    PLAN OF OPERATION. It is my plan to locate saw mill and box factory immediately south of and adjoining the city limits of Medford, on the Pacific Highway. Both the Southern Pacific and Pacific & Eastern have assured me a satisfactory log rate to this point from all stations in Jackson County.
    The plan is to erect a saw mill and box factory, each having a capacity of 50,000 feet per day.
    It would be a part of my plan to enter into a contract with the Forest Service at such time as it is necessary, for a permanent timber supply. However, for the present I would buy logs from the timber settlers, who can log and haul their timber to railroad shipping points, assuring them not only a ready market, but immediate cash returns for their timber.
    The plant would not only do a wholesale, but also a retail lumber and box business, and would also have a local market for its slab wood and byproducts.
    By locating its plant on the Pacific Highway, the company would be enabled to make immediate deliveries by auto truck to all the towns in the Rogue River Valley, thus avoiding the overhead and operating expense of local lumber yards at these points.
    Within a radius of ten miles from the proposed plant there are over 40,000 acres of orchards to which box shook can be delivered by auto truck, without the necessity of rail shipment.
    Under normal conditions the valley should produce next season 1500 carloads of fruit, which will require 900,000 boxes. These, together with boxes used for other purposes, will have a value of approximately $100,000, and if these were manufactured by the proposed plant, it would consume half of the entire lumber output of the plant. The retail lunber business throughout the valley greatly exceeds this in value.
    Lumber can be manufactured here as cheaply as in other lumber districts. The average freight paid to the Southern Pacific on lumber shipped into the valley is $3 per thousand feet, which would give this plant a great advantage over outside concerns, and at the same time mean a big saving to the consumer.
    This industry, if established, will furnish employment for two hundred men, with a payroll of from $80,000 to $100,000 a year, which will necessarily be spent here, and will keep at home $200,000 or more, which we are now required to pay out annually for lumber products purchased elsewhere.
    I ask the hearty cooperation of the people of this county in this effort of mine to start this industry. If everyone will help we will be able to carry it through in good shape. I feel sure a direct and indirect benefit will accrue to you largely in excess of the money you subscribe.
    We have an opportunity to make a good investment for ourselves and at the same time establish an industry of great benefit to the community generally.
Medford Mail Tribune, February 6, 1915, page 4

    Many of the funeral directors of today are seeking to make the funeral parlors more inviting, pleasant, convenient and at best are robbing them of the cold, lonely place they have been for so many years.
    More funerals are being held nowadays at the director's chapel owing to the convenience.
    Perl's Funeral Parlors, corner of Sixth and Oakdale, is one of the most up-to-date establishments of its kind in Oregon, outside of Portland. It is the old Hafer residence, remodeled and rebuilt, and consists of two stories and a basement.
    On the first floor is located the business office, reception room, main chapel furnished entirely in reed and with conservatory in front, private room for relatives of deceased just off the chapel with retiring room and separate entrance, choir room with private entrances, casket display room, finishing room for caskets, preparation room and slumber room for remains.
    All the rooms are splendidly furnished in keeping with the business and to make the parlors as inviting as possible.
    The second floor, consisting of ten rooms, is occupied entirely by Mr. Perl and family and are nicely arranged and furnished.
    There is also a large garage in the rear to accommodate touring car, private ambulance and hearse.
Medford Sun, December 12, 1920, page 6


    Mr. and Mrs. Wally Campbell dropped in yesterday en route to their home in Pebble Beach from Los Angeles, where they have been living the past six or eight months. Wally was formerly a rancher in Medford, a member of the University Club and held the motor record from Medford to Crescent at one time. It was before the day of highways. There were only roads then--and poor ones. Several miles of corduroy, in the redwoods near the coast. We have forgotten Wally's time, but it was SOME fast--six or seven hours. That would be equal to about 90 minutes over the present hard surfaced and low-grade boulevards. Mrs. Campbell was formerly Mrs. Edgar Hafer. They both look well--not a day older--have a new Cadillac twin six and a new schnauzer pup. Not so bad for these times.
"Editorial Correspondence," Medford Mail Tribune, January 16, 1933, page 2


HAFER, Edgar S.
    Edwards Brothers' Colonial Mortuary.
"Deaths, Funeral Announcements," Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1953, page 41