Jackson County 1890

The Infamous Black Bird Southern Oregon History, Revised

Jackson County 1890

JACKSON COUNTY

Jackson County has 1,416,600 acres of surveyed and 392,600 acres of unsurveyed land. The latter is principally on the high mountain ranges. The general surface of the country embraces three divisions of land--that which is on the high mountaintops, that on the hills or broken ridges, and that in the valleys. The first is utilized for summer range for stock, the green grass growing as the snow disappears and affording rich pasturage for numerous herds, and is also a most desirable place for butter and cheese making. The hill land is the timber-bearing region and the home of the stockmen. The soil is capable of a high degree of cultivation, and as it is denuded of its timber is usually planted in cereals and grasses. The valley land is composed of the successive alluvium deposits of different geological periods and the constant disintegrations of the surrounding mountains. The soil of Jackson County is more varied than that of any other in the state, and it is not unusual to find five or different kinds on a farm of 160 acres.

THE ROGUE RIVER VALLEY.

The Rogue River Valley occupies the central portion of Jackson County and is about thirty-five miles long by twenty miles wide. It takes its name front the river which flows through its northern extremes, though Bear Creek drains the greater portion of the Rogue River Valley proper. Little Butte Creek and Sams Creek form considerable additions to the main valley by their contiguous territory. All of these streams empty into the main river within a few miles of each other. Rogue River Valley is next to the Willamette in extent on the west side of the Cascades, and is nearly two-thirds as large as the state of Rhode Island. Its soil is composed of the successive denudations of the surrounding mountains, and as they are the product of widely distributed geological eras it is often found that several kinds of soil are deposited within a limited area, making diversified farming easy and practicable. Lying contiguous to California, and having its climate tempered by the warm ocean breeze laden with moisture, it is specially favored as a locality for the most perfect flavoring and ripening of fruit; in this, Rogue River Valley always will excel. On the gentle slopes of the surrounding hills thousands of acres can be put into vineyards and choice fruits, while on the low bottom lands anything and everything grown in a semi- or subtropical climate can be produced. Ashland, Medford, Jacksonville, Central Point, Phoenix, Talent, Eagle Point and Gold Hill are the principal towns in the valley.

"THE ITALY OF OREGON."

    Not inappropriately has the beautiful valley of the Rogue River been called "The Italy of Oregon." Approach it from whatever source, an amphitheater of mountains encircles it on every side, girding the horizon with a cordon of snow-crowned peaks, towering, in many places, over 8,000 feet above the valley, and sending long forest-encumbered ridges down into the lower levels. Innumerable streams leap, in foaming cataracts, to the sea, while the charm of sylvan dell, rugged cliffs [and] rippling waters woos with resistless power. The long sweep of graceful hills on either side of undulating valleys running far up into the horizon, and there crowned by rugged mountains peaks, snow-crested, making a nature equaled only by the Alps, and excelled by no other land upon the earth.
    Out of 1,416,600 acres of surveyed land, only 192,374 is as yet in cultivation. The home-seeker can find good government land to be had under the preemption or Homestead Act. Land can be bought from the railroad at prices varying from $2 50 to $20. Land owners part with their land at reasonable figures, ranging at from $5 to $500, owing to location. Farming land sells at from $10 to $100, $25 to $50 being the prevailing price for good land. Wheat, rye, oats, barley and corn grow well on all soils, and yield fine crops. The straw is bright and clean, free from rust or mildew, and the grain full, plump and well matured. Of wheat, the best lands produce from 30 to 40 bushels, and of oats, from 40 to 50 bushels per acre. Common grade land runs from 5 to 10 bushels under the above estimate. Phenomenal yields often produce 60 bushels of wheat and 80 bushels of oats to the acre. Corn yields from 40 to 60 bushels to the acre. Corn does not require so much cultivation as in most countries. Timothy, clover and bluegrass do not do well on uplands, but make good crops on the low bottoms. Alfalfa grows anywhere, producing two good crops on the uplands, and from three to four on the bottoms; or, with irrigation, wild oats once seeded produces successive crops without planting, and is much used for hay.
    For a description of the mines and mining, attention is called to a special article on this subject. Mining, stock-raising, agriculture and fruit culture are the chief industries, though lumbering is destined to occupy additional attention as the country becomes more densely populated. The mildness of the climate and the absence of any prevailing disease among stock makes this an inviting field for the stock-grower. Aside from cattle, sheep and horses, swine and poultry are specially profitable.
    James McDonough, an old settler and member of the district board, says: "Jackson County is bounded on the north by Douglas and Josephine, on the east by Klamath, on the south by the state line, and on the west by Josephine. Rogue River rises in the Cascade Mountains, and flows through the county from east to northwest, and its many tributaries that flow from the Cascades and Siskiyous form a perfect watershed, completely draining the valley. Each smaller stream flows through valleys separate and distinct from that drained by Rogue River itself. Butte Creek Valley, though its soil differs materially from other parts of the county, is susceptible of profitable cultivation, and is especially valuable for its fine timber, which is destined in time to afford an inexhaustible revenue to its fortunate owners. As fine fruits are grown here as can be found anywhere, as was fully demonstrated by the premium exhibits from this locality at the district fair. Sams Valley, in the northern part of the county, is especially adapted to grain and fruit culture, and abounds in the finest varieties of timber indigenous to this part of the state. Stock-raising is also a profitable industry, the adjacent foothills and mountains affording excellent grazing for flocks and herds. Applegate, in the western part of the county, and separated from Rogue River Valley by a mountain range, is a rare combination of mineral, agricultural and horticultural land lying along the river bottom and between points and spurs, extending far into the foothills, where are located many comfortable homes, fine farms and gardens, with a vast extent of grazing lands in the adjoining mountains. Hydraulic and placer mining is carried on extensively along the Applegate River and its tributaries, while all kinds of semi-tropical fruits and berries are grown in sight of the most extensive hydraulic mines in the county. Evans Creek and Foots Creek, in the northern part of the county, also add a valuable pro rata to the agricultural and mineral wealth of the county.
    "Rogue River Valley is the largest in the county, being about forty miles long with an average width of perhaps ten miles. Bear Creek flows through its entire length and forms a conjunction with Rogue River a few miles below the mouth of Butte Creek, and directly opposite the famous Table Rocks or Table Mountains, in the northern part of the valley. The first settlements of the valley were in 1851, when gold was discovered in Jackson Creek, near where Jacksonville now stands. The mines proved both rich and extensive, and soon drew to this part of the state a large cosmopolitan population, and the wise agriculturalists among them saw in this beautiful and fertile valley a growing and permanent wealth that would long outlive the glamour and rush of a frenzied gold excitement, and many of the finest farms in the valley were at once located under the 'Homestead Act,' and are still in the hands of the original owners. For three decades this county grew and prospered, though completely isolated from the markets of the world; our mineral resources amply supplied the circulating medium required for the general conduct of business, which, at that time, was very large on account of the great number of people who had gathered here under the impulse of a new and rich discovery, on account too of the high prices that prevailed for all necessaries by reason of the excessive freight rates from the supply centers. Grain and fruit culture were carried on solely to meet the demands of local trade.
    "Many of the early immigrants brought with them valuable horses and cattle, and stock-raising became a specialty. Large herds of cattle were annually driven to the markets north and south, and our horses were improved by the importation of the best strains of blooded stock until they have made for themselves a record as roadsters and draught horses that has placed them among the first on the coast.
    "The climate of Jackson County is a happy mean between the humidity of Northern Oregon and the droughts of California. Here the two extremes meet and amicably compromise--the result is a perfectly equable climate. The main valley through which the Southern Pacific railroad passes is completely environed by a continuous chain of hills that separate it from the several smaller valleys that form such an important part of. Jackson County. These hills rise in successive steppes and benches into the Cascades, Siskiyous, Coast Range and Grave Creek mountains, giving the valley the appearance of an immense amphitheater. Here nature holds enrapt the astonished beholder when he views for the first time the gorgeous panorama that opens out before him, blending in variegated beauty the snow-capped mountains, the distant hills, the verdant valley and sparkling waterways in changeful alliance with summer's sunshine or winter's storms.
    "The completion of the Oregon & California Railroad to a connection with the Southern Pacific, under whose management the entire system is now operated, marked a new era in our progress and prosperity, and real estate rapidly advanced in value, immigration flowed in a continuous tide, new towns sprung up as if by magic, trade was divided and extended, and the future possibilities of this favored section became at once apparent. The fruit that year after year rotted ungathered for lack of means of transportation now found a ready sale in the markets north and south; and this branch of husbandry through the discriminating judgment of its votaries has been carefully fostered and extended, many new and superior varieties added, a more thorough system of pruning and cultivation observed, until today it is one of the leading and most profitable industries in the county. Pomology has become of absorbing interest, a large area has been added to our orchards, and skilled foreign labor engaged extensively in viticulture. Our stock, grain, fruit and timber have been brought into favorable competition with other products in the markets, and every industry has received an impetus from the infusion of new life-blood into the arteries of trade; and the place that was to the early pioneers in its pristine loveliness an Eden, has become, in the new order of events and developments, an empire. When the morning sunshine breaks in golden glory over the summit of Mt. Pitt, or blazes in noonday splendor on this enchanted scene until its rays are lost in the ebb and flow of the occident ocean, it looks not down upon a more beautiful and harmonious picture than our snow-capped mountains, vine-clad hills, sparkling waters, magnificent orchards, broad fields and meadows and prosperous towns that all combine to make fair our charming valley."
    W. C. Myer, of Ashland, gives the following information regarding the importation and breeding of fine stock :
    "In 1870 I brought the first full-blood Percheron that came to the Pacific coast, the stallion White Prince, imported from France, and Doll, bred from imported stock in Ohio. Since that time I have brought several other full-blood Percheron stallions and mares, and the stallion Arabian Boy, that here was sired by the imported Arabian Col. Jenefer, out of the imported Percheron mare Rosa Bonheur. Descendants of the above have been used for breeding purposes from British Columbia to Southern California, and as far east as Montana. Wherever introduced they have given good satisfaction. In 1878 I brought the first Shetland ponies that have been kept for breeding purposes on the Northwest coast.
    "In 1872 I brought one Jersey bull, one cow, and two heifers. Part of these were registered in the A.J.C.C.H.R. From this importation many learned the value of this stock as butter producers.
    "In 1883 I brought out one Jersey bull, a grandson of the noted Eurotus, and five cows and heifers, all registered in the A.J.C.C.H.R. This was the first full herd of all A.J.-registered Jerseys brought to the Northwest coast. From the above I bred and sold a herd to Mr. D. H. Looney, of Marion County, which have been awarded first premiums at the state fair for the past two years.
    "I have some of as fine specimens of Percherons, Shetlands, and Jerseys as can be found on this coast."
    The following is taken from the Daily Oregonian:

Acres of improved land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192, 374
Number of cattle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    10,119
Number of sheep and goats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    12,576
Number of swine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    7,866
Number of polls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .    1,377
Value of land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $l,152,693
Town lots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222,441
Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    632,322
Merchandise and implements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    343,959
Money, notes, accounts and shares of stock . . . .    470,048
Furniture, jewelry, carriages, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94,207
Value of horses and mules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152, 248
Value of cattle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130,900
Value of sheep and goats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    16,755
Value of swine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,758
Gross value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3,235,347
Indebtedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686,971
Exemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   271,768
Total tax equalized by county board. . . . . . . . . . . .2,254,557

   Jackson County embraces the upper valley of the Rogue River and is preeminently a hill country. Subtropical fruits, vegetables and cereals grow luxuriantly in the well-watered valleys, and the hard fruit and berries of a colder clime thrive upon the hills and mountainsides. Sharing the rich soil and a climate similar to that of Josephine County, it is equally prolific in luscious peaches and grapes and produces apples of a flavor that is simply unsurpassed. The finest lamb and mutton is produced on the natural grass grown in the woods, and the poultry, eggs, milk, butter and honey raised here are all that could be desired. Indeed, the growth in population and cultivated land has, for 1889, been enormous throughout Jackson County. A few years ago homesteads and farms and orchards were few and far between. Now the clearing of lands, the planting of orchards and building of comfortable houses go on everywhere, and not a town in the county but is growing and prospering. Ashland, though not the capital, is the largest town in the county. It reminds the stranger of one of those Tuscan towns which are picturesquely located in the ravines of the Apennines. South and east is a range of delightfully wooded hills, and north and west is another range less picturesque but equally lofty. The Southern Pacific railroad reaches Ashland from the south, through a ravine which the Rogue River must have carved for itself in the course of ages. It then winds along the valley to the northwest, disappearing through a narrow gorge. Ashland is the distribution point for the fruit of the surrounding country. From it peaches and apples are shipped to Portland and San Francisco, and it tells well for Ashland peaches when they fetch a higher price in the San Francisco market than the native-grown California peach. Indeed, peach growing has become so profitable that the planting of peach trees amounts almost to a craze. An old settler told the Oregonian correspondent that until seven years ago the farmers used to produce only as much as would keep body and soul together. Now they can easily make over $400 an acre from peaches, and that with the supply the demand has gone on increasing. In consequence of the impetus given to trade by the new era of prosperity that is opening up for the farmers, Ashland is booming at an abnormally rapid rate. It has more than doubled in the last summer. A fine brick hotel was erected at a cost of $25,000; a beautiful opera house built of brick is just being completed, and in addition Ashland can boast of the finest water power and the finest electric light system of any town in the state. The power for its electric system is derived from water, as is also the power used in its woolen and lumber mills. Ashland's business houses are mostly substantially built of brick and stone, and its private houses would do credit to metropolitan cities. Its villa residences, perched on the slopes of the mountain and surrounded by fruit and lower gardens. present a charming vista, and in summertime are fanned by delightful breezes while the folks in the valley below are sweltering in the sun. Two new churches have also been erected within the past year.
    Jacksonville is the county seat of Jackson County, and has a population of about 1,000. It is five miles from Medford and about the same distance from Central Point, the nearest railway stations. In consequence of no direct railroad communication it has been placed at a great disadvantage and is consequently not pushing on with the rapidity of other towns in the county. It is, however, keeping its own and boasts the finest vintage in Oregon. Indeed, a very good connoisseur told me that he preferred Jacksonville wine to the finest produced in California, and as the industry is constantly growing, others must think so too.
    Medford is the second town in Jackson County in enterprise and population. It appears to have made greater strides during the past season than those to be credited to Ashland, and the number of stores, residences and solid business blocks that have just been built prove that Medford is alive to the great chances that are in store for the wide-awake towns of Southern Oregon.
"The Resources of Southern Oregon," Southern Oregon State Board of Agriculture, 1890, page 20

NORTHERN COUNTRY.
An Interesting Letter from C. M. Wooster.
THE INCIDENTS OF HIS TRIP.
Impressions Made Upon Him by What He Saw Along the Road and in Oregon.

PORTLAND (Or.), May 26.

    ED. MERCURY: The ubiquitous publishers of the Mercury requested me to write up the impressions gathered during a short trip to the Northwest.
    This is somewhat out of my line, but so far as my means and limited time may permit it is agreed, especially as the object of my trip is to criticize and to look into the ways and means of this great boomland, to combine pleasure with business, and to learn something about the country we have heard most of during the past two years. I will simply venture the individual opinion of a citizen of the conservative, unpretentious and beautiful Santa Clara Valley. In company with Fred Owens of the Great Eastern Tea Company I left San Jose last Friday evening to catch the early train Saturday for Portland. At San Francisco we met our townsman H. C. Holt standing, grip in hand, ready to take the train for Colusa County to look at some land. Being somewhat interested in mother earth ourselves, we departed sufficiently from our course to accept an invitation to accompany him. We took the Redding train via Willows. It was dusty and quite warm. All along the route the evidences of the recent floods could be seen. The grain crop between Benicia and Davisville will scarcely justify harvesting. From Woodland to Willows the prospects are much brighter, although several large fields in sight of the cars are still covered with water. In the immediate vicinity of Willows the crop is good, and the waving of the grain taller than the fences over the immense fields as far as the eye can reach resembles very much the briny deep. Willows is a pretentious town hunting for a boom, a new county and with a county seat, a transcontinental railroad and a large irrigation ditch. Senator Kelly insists that all these things shall be. The city water works and electric light plant is owned by our townsman, Joe Enright. We took dinner at Willows, which was hurriedly over and, I may say, gladly over, then took the peanut train for Fruto, seventeen miles distant. This is seventeen miles of the roughest road in America. It meanders up Elk Creek, sometimes on the bank and sometimes in the creek. The roughness of the road kept the engine bell ringing in such clamorous discord that someone suggested that it be stuffed. We were running about six miles an hour, and the engineer reduced the speed to three, rather than stuff the bell. It is an accommodating train, however. They stopped to pick up a Chinaman who had tired of walking. They also stopped to let a white man on, which was quite gratifying, as it relieved our minds of an impression that the celestials might be the favored few. We arrived at Fruto City. 'Tis a pretty place for a city. All it needs is houses and inhabitants. The little valley nestled among the picturesque hills is all staked off into town lots. Some enterprising real estate man of San Francisco held an auction there last year and sold the lots to individuals I presume who favor a summer resort that cannot be found readily. There is a depot, a box car, a shed and a 25x50-foot hotel in Fruto. The balance of the city is devoted to the hay industry. The hotel is strictly a temperance institution; so is the city of Fruto at large. We could not get even a glass of cider or a cigar during our sojourn there. When we approached the hotel across the street the proprietor summoned the landlady and a battalion of little native productions to witness the sight. Three strangers, grips in hand, heading straight for the hotel was too much. Although the sign "hotel" conspicuously decorated the front of the building, he did not "advertise or solicit any business." However, he allowed that we could get along some way. Fred said something about not having seen his advertisement in the Mercury, and Hulet allowed that if the hotel could provide a spring chicken with an egg or two we could sleep on the hay stack in front of the hotel till the morning train came to our relief. Notwithstanding all this, Fruto bids fair to grow into a town of considerable importance. Elk Creek, four miles above, a prosperous mountain town, will, owing to railroad advantages, soon be absorbed by Fruto.
    Sunday we took a long drive over Senator John Boggs' ranch, consisting of some 12,000 acres of land, which is now the property of the Argonaut Land and Development Company of San Jose. Leaving Mr. Hulet to look after the ranch, we proceeded on our way by private conveyance to Willows through some of the richest grain fields I ever saw. Someone here said that Colusa County produces more wheat than any of the states excepting four. I didn't have time to look up the statistics on this subject, but one who travels through that heavily laden country now can believe most any exaggeration in that direction. We stopped overnight at Redding to board the regular Oregon express. Redding is a business town of no mean account. It provides subsistence for fifteen hotels, forty saloons, three banks, fifteen stores and two real estate offices. The soil is as red as a brick, and the weather was warm and sultry. The Depot Hotel is a beautiful building, nicely equipped; the courthouse does honor to the county. The business center is constructed of one- and two-story brick buildings, scattered over much more territory than is necessary for its size or conducive to its good looks. The surrounding country consists of rolling hills, covered with chaparral and nut pine. Very little evidence of agriculture can be seen, quartz and placer mining being the means of support principally relied upon. A drunken barber seemed to have possession of the town during the evening we were there. Apparently the premises were not any too large for his individual use, as but few other people could be seen on the streets. There are some valuable mineral springs here, and a refreshing mineral bath is one of the bills of fare of the hotel.
    At 6 o'clock Monday morning we left Redding to come over the mountains. The railroad follows the west bank of the Sacramento River for miles. Here the water is bright and clear and the banks of the river are quite picturesque. It required two large locomotives to pull our train of nine cars, and the river, which is quite high, is a succession of cataracts and falls. At the Upper Soda Springs is the prettiest view of mountain scenery I have ever seen. The train stops five minutes to permit the passengers to imbibe the delicious soda water and to fill their jugs and bottles from the beautiful spring. The gorge here is narrow and the roadbed solid masonry. The river, being confined, foams and acts as if 'twere mad at having its path disturbed. The opposite bank is nearly perpendicular, eighty to 100 feet in height. It is solid rock, apparently, but the surface is densely covered with a fernlike mountain moss. Over this there are seven waterfalls which, as they ripple down over the mossy surface, reminds one more of a fairy scene than a reality. So interesting were the surroundings that our conductor had considerable difficulty in getting the passengers to heed his "all aboard." The bells and whistles of both the engines had to be used. Like the first view of Cape Horn it grows fascinating. A few miles further on we leave the beautiful Sacramento and commence the remarkable climb to the summit. The big horseshoe is turned and we go back apparently down the river, but several hundred feet higher than the track we had passed but a few moments before. A rock could be easily thrown from the train to the track across the river away below. A few miles further on and we arrive at Sissons, where the train stops for dinner. Sissons is an enterprising place.
    There are three business streets, about 2000 inhabitants, a bank and several large, noisy sawmills, owned principally by San Jose people.
    The location is romantic. At the foot of Mount Shasta, under the shades of its snowy peak, in the midst of a huge pine forest, slightly disfigured by the ax and saw, but still a forest. Here are numerous evidences of the terrific winter that has just passed. The great Shasta, which seems but a stone's throw, is spotlessly white, the snow being sixty feet deep in some places. At Sissons the snow was nine to fifteen feet deep, and the road was blockaded thirty-four days during the recent storm. No communication was had between the inhabitants of Sissons and the outside world during that time. The grub held out, however, and there were no serious casualties.
    We next passed through Strawberry Valley, much talked of and much overrated. The lumbermen have robbed it of most of its beauty. However, the bright summer day contrasts delightfully with the snow of Shasta, and the beautiful brooks suggest a tent with gun and fish rod. It will someday be a popular resort. The great Shasta Valley was a surprise to us. It is practically a barren desert on top of the mountains, some eighty miles long and twenty miles wide. The ride over its whole length was quite monotonous. There is no evidence of husbandry; we would occasionally pass an old stage station, relics of former days. They look sad, just as they do throughout California where such relics are so numerous. There is a sort of a graveyard sadness about a deserted stage station that tempts a Californian to regret the invention of the iron horse. We finally reached Rogue River and woke ourselves up to look at some more scenery. [He means the Klamath River.] Here some genius built an immense sawmill on the banks of the river; it cost some $40,000. When it was completed the projector discovered he could not get the sawlogs down the Roguish river. So the mill is a silent monument. We again climb a rough mountain. The tract is about as straight as is the road from Smiths Creek to the Lick Observatory. At one point we could look down the mountain several miles, and I counted the track five times passing the course of observation. It reminded me of the pack mule trails of early days that would zigzag up a mountainside. Siskiyou, the summit, is a desolate place of two houses and seven souls. From here we drop down to Steinman. The grade is nearly 200 feet to the mile. This is the steepest, crookedest and most dangerous grade of any line owned by the Southern Pacific. Here the big mogul engine is needed as much to help the train down the mountain as it is to help it up. Both the locomotives use the steam in the reverse motion all the way down the hill, and the speed does not exceed six miles per hour. This in railroad parlance is called the water brake, used only when the air or automatic brake is not sufficient to hold the train. Until recently it was considered impracticable to get over this mountain by rail. A little time truly seems to wipe out impossibilities in this progressive age. Night overtook us, and we left the engineer feeling his way along a very rocky road on the bank of the Umpqua River. The roadbed was so shaky the speed of the train was reduced to five miles an hour. We retired feeling that we might rise again in the morning and then again we mightn't.
    Tuesday at noon we reached Salem, when we stopped off to see the capital of the Webfoot State. There is nothing in the atmosphere here to indicate that we are not in California, but when we pass through hundreds of miles of rich country either laden with its native forests or covered with stumps and underbrush, miles of valuable land undeveloped and unused, not even for the grazing of stock, then we begin to realize how far away from Santa Clara we are. Salem is a pretty city of probably 5000 inhabitants, equal, however, in enterprise to 10,000 in a California town in every respect but that of clearing stumps from the land. This is a hard thing to say, but 'tis true. One coming from conservative San Jose and witnessing the push and energy here where we expected so little cannot but wonder why 'tis so. Salem has an electric road, a horsecar line, a beautiful courthouse, several large flouring mills, woolen mills, agricultural works, etc., four good business streets and some beautiful dwellings with handsome lawns and ornamental grounds. Salem also has its own insurance company with $100,000 capital, $75,000 surplus and a magnificent building occupied as its home office, yet it is but one-seventh the size of San Jose.
    Several hundred acres are planted to orchards, principally prunes and apples, in the vicinity of Salem, while further back there are some large stock ranches and grain farms. Most of the land in sight, however, is covered with stumps and brush, and presents the appearance of a wilderness.
    Portland is the multum in parvo, less in area than the Garden City, yet it houses some 60,000 people--lively people, too, and chock full of business. The lots are small and streets narrow; the blocks are but 200 feet square. No ground is wasted. Larger lots would have necessitated grubbing out stumps, and Oregonians don't like to do that. The business portion of town, covering possibly 100 acres, is solidly built up of brick and stone buildings from two to seven stories in height. Front Street is exclusively a wholesale street, and drays are so numerous there that it is difficult for pedestrians to pass along. The stores are large. Rents are high; so are prices generally. Table fare is poor, particularly in the restaurants. Canned instead of fresh vegetables are used. California strawberries are served. Nearly everything in the vegetable lines comes from the Golden State. The Portland Hotel covers a block. It is seven stories high, built of stone and brick and in shape like the letter H. This is one of Villard's failures, and yet a success; it cost a million and a quarter, which was subscribed by the citizens. It is nicely equipped, well managed by Mr. Leland, and well patronized. Across from the hotel is the Marquam Grand Theater, built after the pattern of the New California of San Francisco. This is also built of stone and brick, and when completed will cost a quarter of a million. I use the word million because the Oregonians do; they seem to have no conception of thousands. A few years ago Portland subscribed and paid $13,000,000 to Henry Villard's railroad schemes and it was lost. Notwithstanding this, when Mr. Hunt, who owns seven or eight miles of railroad somewhere between here and the Cascades, asked for a $2,000,000 subsidy last week, the citizens came to the front, and the money is now ready. The Hunt railroad is to be the fourth competitive transcontinental railroad to terminate in this thrifty city. The Union Pacific, Northern Pacific and Southern Pacific are already here. Across the river the Union Pacific are erecting machine shops on an extensive scale. Their new depot and the shops will cost $1,500,000. Sites were purchased last week for a magnificent City Hall and a Chamber of Commerce building respectively--another million-dollar proposition. The city recently purchased the water works and have reduced the cost from $3 to $1.5, and another reduction is promised. There is one cable road and three electric (overhead) roads here besides numerous horsecar lines and three steam motor roads running into the suburbs where lots can be bought five miles out in the woods, including the stumps, for $250 to $400 each. Prices have been advancing rapidly during the past three years, since the railroads reached here, and property is now about as high as in San Francisco. Building is brisk, notwithstanding a strike among the laboring men, which is seriously felt. The average weekly clearing of the Portland clearing house is about $1,200,000. Commerce here is active. The Willamette River is a beautiful stream. Several ships are being loaded at the docks including the State of California. Numerous river steamers are constantly plying up and down the stream. The draw of the immense steel bridge owned by the Union Pacific is compelled to open about five times each hour to let the river boats pass. The floods last winter did much damage. Numerous houses floated down and, striking the bridges, seriously threatened their destruction. Powers' furniture factory, a large frame building full of furniture, floated against the upper bridge and finally crumbled just as the bridge was seemingly about to give way. Water was two feet deep on the two principal business streets. The Riverside Drive up the Willamette is a very pretty one. It is kept up by a gentlemen's driving club. There is, however, very little driving done here. Apparently there are twenty buggies in San Jose to one in Portland. There is a state political campaign in progress now. The candidates for Governor are making a bitter personal fight. The salary is yearly, and one of the candidates is reported as having said he would spend $100,000 to win the fight. The Republicans are apparently in the lead.
    We went to Vancouver Sunday on the steam motor road. This is a pretty little place, beautifully located on the Columbia River. The United States troops are stationed there, and grounds are quite extensive and ornamental. Town lots and stumps are staked out all along the line from Portland to Vancouver, and we went two miles beyond Vancouver on a horsecar, and still there were lots for sale. We wanted to see the "country," but after traveling ten miles gave it up. There are several hundred acres of orchards in the vicinity of Vancouver, silver prunes, apples, peaches and plums principally. They are small and do not look much like orchards to one from Santa Clara Valley. However, in justice I must say we have not seen the fertile valleys of Oregon where it is said orchards are orchards. There are sufficient town lots in the vicinity of Portland to supply a city of a million people, and the three great railroads are evidently doing all in their power to bring that million here.

C. M. WOOSTER.

San Jose Mercury, June 1, 1890, page 3

AN OREGON PARADISE,
Pleasant Ashland and the Rich Country About It.
THE REASON FOR ITS PROSPERITY,
It Has Mines and Timber and Factories,
and There Is No Finer Fruit Region on the Whole Pacific Coast.

(Special to the EXAMINER.)
    ASHLAND, May 26.--Whenever Oregonians and Californians get into an argument over the relative excellence of the cities of their respective states the man from the North is pretty sure to say: "Look at Ashland; where can you beat that in California!" and the man from the Golden State will just as surely answer: "What makes Ashland so fine is that it is so close to California."
    Certain it is that the city is as pleasant and beautiful as any on the Coast.
    It is among the northern slopes and foothills of the Siskiyous, on rolling ground and surrounded by picturesque mountains. A fine creek runs through the town, still further increasing the beauty of the many pictures that every turn in the road reveals.
    The city is by no means a new one; for nearly forty years there has been a community at this point. The place was first settled in a romantic little valley directly on the swiftly flowing creek. Gradually it grew out of the confines of its site and overflowed into the gentle hills. When the railroad came, its depot was three-quarters of a mile from the old town. Now, however, the city has spread over this intervening space and beyond in every direction.
    One great feature of Ashland is the amount of ground about its residences, and there are gardens to every house, filled with flowers that would do credit even to California's Garden City.
    There is no crowding at Ashland. The city contains probably 3,000 people, yet it occupies as much territory as many cities of 10,000. Its streets are wide, and from every side of the city run fine driveways through the most magnificent country.
    Ashland is about 2,000 feet above the sea level, and above her tower great mountain ranges capped with snow. The spreading slopes of these mountains are covered with orchards. Further up they are clothed with fine forests. The mesas of this country are unequaled as pastures. Thousands of cattle and sheep range over them. The native grasses are wonderfully nutritious, and the beef and mutton from this district is esteemed above that from anywhere else in the markets of the West.

A CITY OF FINE RESIDENCES.

    Ashland contains scores of fine residences. Few are very large or pretentious at all, but all are comfortable and pleasant, and no stranger can look at the pretty and homelike cottages among the gardens without wishing that he might live in such a place. A more delightful town for a residence would be hard to find. Its summers are never hot; its winters are never excessively cold. It combines all the pleasant, healthy conditions of a country town with the most modern improvements and conveniences of a great city. As before stated, the advantages of Ashland were recognized many years ago.
    The Rogue River Indians ranged all through this country in the early days, and they could not submit to have their favorite hunting ground wrested from them. They fought the settlers fiercely, and many white men filled unmarked graves in the beautiful valleys before the red men were at last conquered, and the garden of Oregon was given over to the settlers.
    The Indian troubles over, the country prospered. The wheat planters succeeded the placer miners and raised immense crops. The fruit raisers recognized the value of the soil, and the country became what it is now--one of the greatest fruit-producing districts in all the world.
    But in the absence of railroad communication the growth of that section was necessarily slow, and in 1885, when it was incorporated as a city, it had a population of less than 1,000.
    For many years Ashland was reached only by stage routes hundreds of miles long overland, or from the seacoast at the mouth of Rogue River, where coasting vessels sometimes landed. [Access to the sea was at Crescent City, fifty miles south of the Rogue.] Then for some years the long gap in the railroad between Portland and San Francisco, from Roseburg, 140 [more like 95] miles to the northward, to Redding in California, 160 miles south of Ashland, made a wearisome stage journey of 300 miles necessary between the two railroads.
    Ashland was always the most important point in the valley [not true], but that counted for little when it was so inaccessible.

RAILROAD FACILITIES.

    A year ago last December the two ends of the railway met in the mountains near Ashland and a continuous rail route between the two large cities of the Pacific Coast was established. The historic mountain stages have disappeared from the scene and the thrilling stage journey over the Siskiyous is now only a memory.
    Even before the connection between the ends of the railroad was made Ashland was quite a city. The completion of the railroad from San Francisco to Portland still further quickened the life of the district. Many business houses were established, and today Ashland's merchants have a splendid trade.
    In the last two years Ashland has doubled in population and experienced a corresponding increase in the volume of its business. Last year the building operations of the city aggregated over $265,000.
    A good deal of attention is being directed to manufacturing, for which Ashland is admirably suited, and its expectations for future growth are based in a considerable degree upon manufactures. The greatest of Ashland's advantages in this respect is its magnificent water power.

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

    The soil and climate of Rogue River Valley, of which this country is a part, are suited to the production of such semi-tropical fruits as nuts, peaches, raisin grapes, almonds and walnuts. Last season almonds raised there brought one-fourth more per pound in the market than the product of any other district on the Coast. All of these things grow here abundantly, and many farmers have grown rich off of them. But the one fruit that the Ashland district is proudest of is the peach. Elsewhere peaches may be smooth, large and juicy, but here they simply pass all power of description. The word "peach" acquires a new significance when one tastes the product of the Ashland orchard. As to quantity, there are literally forests of peach trees. From an elevated point the orchards may be seen stretching for miles over the rolling hills.
    With the increase of production that is rapidly developing, this land of peaches will become very well known, indeed, wherever juicy fruit is appreciated. As yet, most of the peach crop is shipped to market in a green state. This will continue, because there is always a demand for green fruit of such excellent quality, but as production increases there will be a larger amount of fruit that cannot stand shipping green, which will have to be preserved. This will give employment to canning and drying establishments, which will find ample occupation outside of the fruit season in handling vegetables, such as tomatoes, peas, corn, etc.
    The fruit next in importance to the peach in the valley is the apple, large quantities of which are usually sent away to markets. All fruits not requiring a tropical climate can be successfully raised here.

OTHER PRODUCTS.

    The soil of Rogue River Valley is largely a granite loam four to ten feet deep. There is a greater area of this kind than any other, though in some places there is a strong adobe soil, making inexhaustible grain land. A clay loam is also found in some places. Under the influence of the warm climate the soil is a quick-growing one, and is favorable for most vegetable productions. It is the best corn land in Oregon. Wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, hay, root crops and vegetables are among the products of the valley. Sweet potatoes, peanuts, sorghum and hemp can be successfully grown also.
    The climate of the valley constitutes one of its chief natural advantages. The mean annual temperature of the past four years, as ascertained from the records of the United States Signal Service, which maintains an observation station at Ashland, is fifty-four degrees. The average mean temperature for January, the coldest month in the year, is thirty-eight degrees, and for July, the hottest month in the year, seventy-nine degrees above zero.
    Ashland Creek never runs dry, but from year's end to year's end it can be heard all over the city as it churns and rushes down its steep rocky channel. The sound of this overgrown brook is never out of the ears of the residents of Ashland. The brook is as pure and cold as the snow that gave it birth back in the white-tipped range that looks down on the city. It starts from a living spring at the base of Ashland Butte and rushes down a picturesque canyon until it comes out near the city. All along its noisy way the stream passes under great pines, for the mountains on either bank are clad with timber to the very tops. Some of the scenery along its course is magnificent. But it is not the beauty of the stream alone that makes it valuable to Ashland. The fall of Ashland Creek is very great, and the power that is generated by it turns the wheels of two flouring mills, a woolen mill, a saw mill and door factories, electric light works and other works and factories. But not a thousandth part of the power it furnishes is taken. When the city grows the banks of the stream will be lined with mills and factories.

NEW WATER WORKS.

Ashland gets its water supply from this creek, but her water works at present are inadequate and the city is putting in a new plant at a cost of $50,000. The pipe line will start about two miles up the creek. Twenty-five hydrants will be put in, and the fall of the stream is sufficient to give a pressure that will throw water over the highest building in Ashland.
There are many fine mineral springs in the neighborhood of Ashland. The sulfur and soda springs attract many visitors during the summer months both from Portland and San Francisco.

A SPORTSMEN'S PARADISE.

    It is a very paradise for sportsmen. The waters of Ashland Creek and the other streams in the vicinity are swarming with the gamiest of trout. Within a few months the pine-clad hills will be alive with quail, grouse and other small game. Deer are very numerous, and the ambitious hunter can, by going a little further into the mountains, find bear and mountain lions and even an occasional elk.
    A large cannery and drier for fruit and vegetables is among the enterprises that are now under way at Ashland. The development of the fruit-growing and curing interests of the Rogue River Valley renders necessary the increased facilities for conducting that industry and they are being provided, and Ashland promises to become in a few years one of the most important fruit centers on the Pacific Slope. Ashland is the terminus of the Mount Shasta division of the Southern Pacific railroad. The company has built a large eating house and hotel, costing $35,000; also a large roundhouse, and the other buildings and shops usually found at termini of such importance.
    The education of the children of Ashland is well provided for. The city has two public school buildings and seven teachers are employed. A State Normal School is maintained and liberally patronized. There are also three private schools, including a kindergarten. The city has a large public hall and six handsome church edifices belonging to the Roman Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists and Dunkards. The Episcopalians have an organization and will soon build a church. Of fraternal and benevolent societies, there are lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. The city has one of the best companies of militia in the state. A public reading room, under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the libraries of the different societies, place good literature within the reach of everyone. The Board of Trade numbers among its members the live business men of the city.
    Ashland has two weekly newspapers--the Ashland Tidings, published by W. P. Leeds, and the Valley Record, of which E. J. Kaiser is the editor.

MINES AND QUARRIES.

    Last year Jackson County yielded more gold than any other county of Oregon. Since their discovery in 1852 the placer mines of the region have produced $25,000,000. There are quartz ledges showing rich prospects, but the want of sufficient capital has thus far prevented their development. Among the other minerals found are marble, limestone, granite, sandstone, coal, iron, cinnabar and kaolin.
    The kaolin as well as most of the others has been thoroughly tested and found to be of excellent quality. An avenue 100 feet wide was recently made, leading from the business portion of the city to the Sulfur Springs at the base of the Siskiyou Mountains, three miles distant, and preparations for building a streetcar line out to the springs are now in progress. Many buildings of a substantial character are in course of erection.
    As pretty a little opera house as any in the West is now nearing completion at Ashland.
    All these facts, with the additional ones of pleasant and cultured society, and a wonderfully healthy location, ought to be enough to make Ashland within a short time the finest city in Southern Oregon if not in the whole state.
    The population of Ashland is variously estimated at from 2,500 to 3,000. Within two years the citizens expect this will be doubled, and the more sanguine ones look for a city of 10,000 within four years.
San Francisco Examiner, May 27, 1890, page 5

Last Sunday night the writer hopped on the [steamer] Telephone and the next morning at 8 o'clock was on the southbound passenger train.

* * *

As we whisked by a huge pile of flat rock, an old gentleman on the opposite side of the car tapped the wandering Astorian on the shoulder. "Do von see those rocks?" said he, "That is Table Rock: this is Rogue River: it was there in 1856 that the Rogue River war ended." Then he went on to tell about Rogue River and the Indian war, till the writer wished that Bill Chance was along so he could keep track of the stories and separate fact from fancy.

* * *

   Ashland was reached at 11 o'clock a.m. Tuesday. The country round about is devoted to fruit. It has a beautiful appearance and seems prosperous. Everyone takes things easy, and enjoys life. Crystal streams of ice-cold water flow through the sandy streets, and the plash of the fountains, the song of the birds and the perfume of the flowers fill the sunny air.
   A delightful day was spent riding around that part of Jackson County and visiting various points of interest, arrangements having been made for a future visit to Oregon's greatest natural phenomenon--Crater Lake.
   Like other parts of our great commonwealth, that portion of the state has a grand future. To a casual visitor there appears to be one mistake--an effort to have too many towns. The southern Oregon people are overdoing it, and as it now stands each little place will just about "hold its own."
   There is Jacksonville, Medford, Grants Pass, Ashland, Central Point. The first four each poll about 600 votes. Each one has special and just claims to recognition, yet there is just enough territory to build up and keep up a good thriving city. Jacksonville is sidetracked--is off the railroad: it has a standing offer of $25,000 and a right of way to anyone who will connect it with the railroad four and one-half miles away. It had its chance and missed it, and isn't in it. Ashland is at the apex of the triangle, and has to divide territory with Medford, which is a railroad town and the pet of the Southern Pacific Railroad Co., that corporation discriminating as much as is possible in favor of their own creation. At the other end is Grants Pass, which the writer believes will be the biggest of them all, being a new place and virtually free of the obstructionists and Silurians who hate to see progress or improvement.
   The people have little idea of Astoria and except being under the same state government have little in common with us. It is as different in many respects as though in another hemisphere. The manzanita and sugar pine and live oak take the place of our vine maple, fir and spruce, and the hills have that brown appearance that betokens the absence of rain. Bands of sheep go by, and on the purple mountains twinkle twilight campfires. Wednesday morning, about face, and the next morning the rocking waters and the green-wooded shores of the familiar Columbia greeted the return.
"Through Oregon," Daily Morning Astorian, June 14, 1890, page 3

OREGON.
What an Old Fresnoan Thinks of it.

Thomas H. Wyatt, in early times a farmer on Big Dry Creek, in this county, but now a resident of Oregon, writes the Expositor from Sams Valley, in the Rogue River country. He says: "Coin is very scarce in this cussed country. We have had a very severe winter and a dry spring, and in consequence crops will be light in the Rogue River Valley. This part of Oregon don't come up to Fresno in the production of anything. The land is spotted and hard to catch in condition to work, being generally either too wet or too dry. I have given it a good trial here, farming on rented land, and I can only keep about even. The health of the country is no better than Fresno. There is a great deal of typhoid fever and ague here. We commenced heading wheat, but had to quit on account of being too green--rather behindhand for a Californian."
Fresno Weekly Expositor, July 30, 1890, page 3

OUR OREGON LETTER.

MCMINNVILLE, ORE., Oct. 20, '90.

Editor Republican:
    I promised to say something about Ashland, in Southern Oregon, where we had a delightful visit with some friends--former parishioners of ours in Hoosierdom.
    Ashland is a beautiful little city of 3,000 inhabitants, nestling at the foot of the mountains, in the lovely Rogue River Valley. As one looks down upon it from the surrounding heights, it is indeed "beautiful for situation."
    Ashland has splendid water works, supplied by the little creek which rises in the mountains, ten miles away, at an altitude of 7,500 feet. The water, being melted snow, is like ice water, piped into everyone's house and dooryard. Ashland has electric lights, good schools, numerous churches, two newspapers, excellent hotels and banks. There is fine water power here. Ashland Creek runs through the center of the city. Woolen mills, flouring mills, saw and planing mills do considerable manufacturing. Fruit culture is the chief industry of the city. Page & Son, of Portland, have a large packing and shipping business here.
    The Rogue River Valley lies across the southern part of Western Oregon, extending from the Cascade Mountains to the coast, the entire length of Rogue River. The fruit in this valley is truly wonderful. Ashland is the center of the fruit industry of the valley. All kinds of fruit--peaches, nectarines, pears, apples, quinces, plums, prunes, apricots, cherries, grapes of all kinds, berries of every variety, and even almonds are in most prolific abundance, and of delicious flavor. The orchards are located in the rolling hills, anywhere not too steep to climb. They contain from three to ten acres each. The trees are set fourteen feet apart, and are cultivated just as you would cultivate corn. These orchards rise, one above another, until from the foot of the hills to the top the beautiful trees are seen. The yield of an orchard of five-year-old trees, well cultivated, is $250 per acre. These orchard lands, adjacent to the city, are worth from $100 to $400 per acre, according to situation. Back two or three miles, suitable orchard land can be bought for $50 to $100 per acre. For luscious fruit, pure water, beautiful scenery and delightful climate, Ashland surely is hard to beat.
    My friend Patrick has lived in Ashland four years, and in that time he has killed 14 deer, and that with a No. 12 breech-loading shotgun, too, so don't be surprised if you hear of me bringing in a fine buck..

J. T. ABBETT.

Warren Republican, Williamsport, Indiana, November 6, 1890, page 2

Last revised March 13, 2025