A mile north of Roseburg the railroad reaches South Umpqua River, which unites with the North Umpqua to form the main stream in Garden Valley, a few miles to the northwest. At the left are bluffs of lava in which are enclosed some fragments of Eocene shale, as shown in Plate XIII (p. 35). Deer Creek is crossed just north of the town.
    From Roseburg, which is the seat of Douglas County, a stage line runs across the Coast Range to Myrtle Point and Coos Bay. This bay is one of the important harbors of the West Coast and the port of shipment for the Coos Bay coal field, which produces more coal than any other field in Oregon.
    The bold hills about Roseburg are all composed of diabase. About 15 miles northeast of the town, on Little River, a tributary of the North Umpqua, above Glide, Eocene fossils are abundant.
    A mile south of Roseburg the deeply decomposed diabase affords good examples of spheroidal weathering. Specimens were collected here for the educational series of rocks prepared by the United States Geological Survey and distributed in 1898 to all the higher educational institutions of the country.
    At Green there is a sudden change to the older rocks that compose the Klamath Mountains--conglomerates, sandstones, and shales of Cretaceous age, associated with more siliceous rocks, hard sandstones, and cherts of Jurassic age, and slates, limestones, and greenish lavas of Devonian and Carboniferous age.
    The core of the Klamath Mountains is composed of large masses of granitic rocks and serpentine, which are intruded into the Devonian, Carboniferous, and Jurassic rocks just mentioned. These older sedimentary rocks cross the country traversed by the railroad between Roseburg and Medford, occurring in belts running northeastward toward the Blue Mountains.
    The hills at Green are smooth and rounded and for the most part without trees. The rocks of which they are composed are of Mesozoic age, mainly sandstones and shales, with some conglomerate. These rocks are greatly crushed along a belt running northeastward. Southwest of Green Station they are associated with a schist composed largely of the beautiful blue mineral glaucophane. This mineral, which is a rather rare variety of hornblende, is found in only a few parts of the world outside of Oregon, Washington, and California. With the glaucophane schist near Green occur a greenish mica schist, some flint-like rocks commonly called cherts, and a greenish igneous rock, referred to as greenstone, which has been so much altered that its original character is in doubt. The best exposure of the blue schist is three-fourths of a mile southwest of some farm buildings on the right (west) at milepost 567.
    This is the only area near the Shasta Route in which these crystalline schists occur. On the other hand, the sandstones and shales with which the schists are associated occupy a large area that is traversed between Green and Dole, a distance of about 13 miles.
    At Carnes, nearly 14 miles beyond Green, there is a view to the left up Roberts Creek to Dodson Mountain, a prominent peak standing 3,235 feet above sea level. In the distance are some outcrops of a limestone which is used for lime and cement.
    At milepost 565 the South Umpqua is reached again by the railroad, which follows its right (east) bank. Along the stream the crushed sandstones and shales are well exposed to view.
    Between Dillard and Dole the river cuts through a ridge, thereby making many fine exposures of the sandstones and shales. Fossils have been found aat many places in the belt of rocks just traversed, but opinions differ as to whether the rocks are all Cretaceous or in part Jurassic.
    From Dole (Ruckels post office) may be seen ahead, on the left, two ridges--one wooded, the other bare. The absence of trees on the second ridge is due to the fact that it is composed of serpentine, a rock containing much magnesia and yielding an unfertile soil. Serpentine is an altered form of certain igneous rocks that are as a rule dark and heavy and contain more magnesia and iron than ordinary igneous rocks. Their characteristic mineral is olivine or peridot, and on this account they are called peridotites.
    At milepost 553 the serpentine, which forms a belt more than a mile in width, is visible close at hand. At milepost 551.4 it is cut by dikes of porphyry, an igneous rock containing crystals that are noticeably larger and more distinct than those which make up most of the rock.
    A small cut at milepost 551 shows some fine conglomerate and sandstone lying at the base of a large mass of Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks (the Myrtle formation), over which the railroad runs for nearly 10 miles.
    About 12 miles northeast of Myrtle Creek Station, up the creek, considerable gold has been obtained by washing the gravels (placer mining), chiefly the gravels that overlie the igneous rocks of the region. Beyond Myrtle Creek the railroad crosses South Umpqua River and runs for some miles along the western border of the Missouri Bottom, where many kinds of fruits and grains are grown. On the right (west) is a prominent ridge of Cretaceous sandstone and conglomerate (Myrtle formation). These beds lap up over the serpentine of the ridge beyond.
    At Riddle, in Cow Creek Valley, the rocks contain many Cretaceous fossils, both plants and marine animals, and among the hills to the southwest, on Thompson Creek, there are also beds containing large numbers of Jurassic fossil plants. Farther down the valley, among grain fields and prune orchards, may be seen on the right (northwest) a prominent, thinly wooded mountain of serpentine, in which there is a deposit of green silicate of nickel (garnierite). This mineral is extensively mined for nickel in the island of New Caledonia, east of Australia, but the Oregon deposit has not yet been successfully worked.
    The distant bare hills seen to the right near the head of the valley are composed of serpentine, but the bluffs nearer at hand, on both sides of the track, consist of Eocene sedimentary rocks. Beyond these is the entrance to Cow Creek Canyon, which has been cut through the serpentine belt of Nickel Mountain. The serpentine areas can generally be recognized from a distance by their greenish color and barren aspect. In places, however, they are covered with wild azalea bushes, which suggested the name Azalea for the now abandoned post office at the mouth of Doe Creek.
    Between Iron Mountain (milepost 533) and Nichols shales and sandstones are exposed along Cow Creek and have yielded large collections of fossil leaves of Jurassic age, as noted below by F. H. Knowlton. Many of these leaves belong to various species of ginkgo, or maidenhair tree, so called because its leaves resemble in shape those of the maidenhair fern. The ginkgo no longer grows wild on this continent, but it has been introduced from Japan and is common in many of our cities. The rocks in which these leaves are found belong to a formation not yet finally named.
    From Nichols Station a backward view may be had of the great flat top of Table Mountain, which is made up of horizontal Eocene strata. Cow Creek Canyon near Nichols has a depth of about 1,000 feet and is well wooded, though in a few places the woods are marred by fire. The most abundant trees are firs, to which the madrones, with their red-brown bark and shiny oval leaves, afford a pleasing contrast.
    South of Nichols Station the fossiliferous Eocene, Cretaceous, and Jurassic strata are succeeded by a very thick series of sandstones and shales, which form the slopes of Cow Creek Canyon for nearly 15 miles. No fossils have been found in them in this area. This great mass of sandstones and shales (the Dothan formation, of Jurassic age) is much crushed, so that the layering characteristic of rocks that have been deposited in water has been obscured.
    From West Fork mail is carried over a trail to the lower Rogue River country and to Gold Beach, on the coast. About 3 miles south of West Fork a large slide occurred some years ago on the west slope of the canyon and blocked railroad traffic completely for three months. Four miles of track had to be changed and two new tunnels cut.
    At a number of places along this part of Cow Creek old stream gravels, lying on hillside benches above the channel of the present creek, have been worked for gold.
    About 4 miles beyond West Fork the sandstones and shales of the Dothan formation are succeeded by a much more variable set of rocks, chiefly slates and greenstones. The slates are known as the Galice formation, from the mining district of that name in the Klamath Mountains, farther south. They contain fossils which are similar to those collected from the slates (Mariposa slate) of the gold region of the Sierra Nevada, in California, and which indicate Jurassic age. The Galice formation is older than the Dothan formation and ought normally to lie beneath it, but earth movements since the beds were deposited have reversed these positions, and the Galice at this locality now lies on top of the Dothan. Such an overturn is sometimes brought about by folding of the beds, sometimes by faulting whereby older beds are slid on top of the younger ones.
    From Reuben spur a wagon road leads to the Reuben Mountain mining district, which lies about 10 miles to the northwest. The prevailing rock of the region between Reuben and Glendale is greenstone.
    Northwest of Glendale there are two prominent peaks of greenstone--Grayback, 4,033 feet above the sea, and Panther Butte, 3,517 feet. On leaving Glendale the train passes over a mass of siliceous reddish lava (rhyolite), and beyond this is the greenstone that forms the divide between Umpqua and Rogue rivers. The crest of the divide also forms the boundary between Douglas and Josephine counties. The dividing ridge is penetrated by a straight tunnel (No. 8), 2,828 feet in length and 420 feet below the summit. The basin of Rogue River is traversed by the railroad to the summit of the Siskiyou Mountains, a distance of 93 miles. Beyond the tunnel the railroad descends by a long sweeping curve into the Wolf Creek Valley.
    The station of Wolf Creek was formerly one of the hostelries on the old California-Oregon stage line. The small power house on the left (south) is the northernmost station on the power line from Gold Ray, 50 miles ahead on the edge of the Rogue River Valley. Wolf Creek runs through a gold country, and in the early days many gold placers were worked in this vicinity.
    Much of the primeval timber along Wolf Creck has been pine and oak, but madrona and other broad-leaved trees are now taking the place of the conifers. Buck brush (Ceanothus velutinus), with its broadly ovate or elliptical shiny leaves, and tree myrtle (Ceanothus soredvatus), with its small oblong ovate light-green leaves, are common in the thickets of chaparral in Southern Oregon. Blue brush or California lilac (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus), with its tiny leaves and blue to white lilac-like flowers, which are good for cattle, soon appears in increasing numbers. By the roadside in June plants of the so-called Oregon grape or Mahonia (Berberis aquifolium), the state flower of Oregon, are full of bluish berries.
    At milepost 497 the railroad crosses Grave Creek close to a placer mine, where water-supply pipes for hydraulicking and the gravel dumps left from former operations can be seen. Beyond Grave Creek is a broad belt of slates, probably for the most part Mesozoic. The name Grave Creek is suggestive of the old rough days of gulch mining, and the gravels along the creek did in fact yield considerable gold to the early placer miners. The metal in the placers is thought to have been derived by erosion from the Greenback lode, on the divide north of the creek. This lode was worked years ago, but the mine is now idle.
    From Leland Station there is a good view not only of the slates nearby but also of the hilly country. Here the manzanita, which is abundant farther south, makes its first appearance. The railroad ascends Dog Creek to tunnel No. 9, which is at an elevation of 1,700 feet, is 2,205 feet long, and runs 300 feet below the summit. The tunnel is cut in black slates of Mesozoic age. On the right (west) as the train emerges is Tunnel Creek, down which it continues for about a mile and then, turning sharply to the left, enters an area of rock different from any yet seen along the route. Most people, including quarrymen, would call this rock granite, and such for all practical purposes it is. When fresh it has the characteristic gray speckled appearance of granite.
    Hugo lies in the area of granodiorite, which is of irregular outline and extends southward for 15 miles, to the vicinity of Applegate River, beyond the town of Grants Pass. The rock at the surface is generally decomposed and crumbling, and is consequently more easily eroded than the harder slates and greenstones, and the country underlain by it is less rugged than that north of Hugo.
    From Merlin a stage line runs to [the] Rogue River, about 4 miles to the west, and down that stream to the Galice mining district. In the country beyond Merlin, on the left (northeast), an attempt is being made to establish orchards of apples, peaches, grapes, and other fruits without irrigation.
    A low divide is crossed between Merlin and the town of Grants Pass, on Rogue River. Along the railroad may be seen cuts and quarries in the deeply disintegrated granodiorite, which is used by the railroad as a substitute for gravel about its stations.
    Grants Pass, named after Gen. U. S. Grant, who as a captain quelled an Indian uprising on Rogue River in the early fifties, is the seat of Josephine County and the mining center of southwestern Oregon. From 1903 to 1912 the placer mines of this part of the state produced $2,014,715 in gold, and the vein or lode mines $1,523,226. A stage line runs from Grants Pass through Kerby and Waldo to the coast at Crescent City, and a railroad to the same place is now under construction.
    Grants Pass is the point of departure for a visit to the Oregon Caves, the largest caves known on the Pacific Coast. The caves are about 25 miles nearly south of Grants Pass and may be reached by automobile and trail. They have been formed by the solution of limestone and are ornamented by a great variety of beautiful stalactites and stalagmites composed of carbonate of lime deposited by water. These caves have been set apart by the federal government for preservation as a national monument.
    Two miles beyond Grants Pass, at the eastern edge of the granodiorite area, is obtained the first near view of Rogue River, the largest stream of southwestern Oregon. Its water, derived in part from the snows about Crater Lake, is usually clear. The railroad for 20 miles upstream follows its valley, which is in places a canyon, but is generally wide enough to contain some tillable bottom land. The  rocks through which this narrow valley has been cut are Paleozoic in age--much older than any rocks that have hitherto been seen along the route. They comprise slates, limestones, and greenstones and, like the Dothan and Galice formations, already noted, have been so folded and faulted that the Paleozoic rocks are thrust over upon the much younger Galice formation. These Paleozoic rocks resist erosion better than the granodiorite, and therefore the valley cut through them by Rogue River remains narrow.
    At 3½ miles east of Grants Pass, on the left (north), behind a little hill of granodiorite on Bloody Run Creek, is the Golden Drift placer mine, now idle. About 5 miles farther north is another small intrusive mass of granodiorite, about which are some small mines on gold-bearing quartz veins.
    From milepost 469.4 up the river the Savage Rapids are in view. Old Baldy and Fielder Mountain, peaks of greenstone, stand out prominently on the left (north) from the point where the railroad crosses the line between Josephine and Jackson counties (milepost 469.1).
    At Rogue River (formerly called Woodville) are fields of corn and wheat and young orchards. Nearly opposite milepost 462, on the right (south) side of the river, is the mouth of Foots Creek, whose gravels have for years been worked for gold.
    At milepost 458, in the outskirts of Gold Hill, there are a limestone quarry and a cement plant. The limestone is a lenslike mass in a belt of slate more than a mile wide, which may be traced to the southwest for a long distance and contains numerous similar lenses of limestone. Fossils are rare in this limestone, but those found suggest Carboniferous age. Other limestone lenses, farther west in the area of Paleozoic rocks and not exposed on the railroad, contain fossils of Devonian age. Therefore the Paleozoic rocks of this region are in part Devonian and perhaps in part Carboniferous.
    Rogue River is crossed just beyond Gold Hill, and the river bed affords a near view of some of the greenstone, which at this place is clearly made up of fragments of volcanic rock. The greenstones associated with the slates and limestones are in fact old lavas, partly poured out molten and partly blown out in fragments from volcanoes that were active in Paleozoic time. These lavas, originally black or gray, have become greenish through the slow changes of age. As will be seen later, these Paleozoic slates, limestones, and greenstones make up much of the Klamath Mountains.
    After crossing the river the railroad turns northward opposite the hill from which the town of Gold Hill was named. This hill, which is 2,640 feet above sea level, consists of greenstone and serpentine, into which has been intruded some granodiorite that now forms the hilltop. Small "pockets" of rich gold ore were found here in early days.
    Between mileposts 454 and 453 there is much of a coarse-grained dark rock composed chiefly of the mineral pyroxene (an iron-magnesium silicate) and called pyroxenite. This is an igneous intrusive rock and was probably very closely related to the rock that in the course of time changed into the serpentine of Gold Hill.
    Northeast of Gold Hill, just across the river from the railroad, is Table Rock, named from the flat black capping of basalt, which is part of a flow of lava that long before historic times spread over this region from some volcano in the Cascade Range. The lava flowed over comparatively soft beds of shale, sandstone, and conglomerate of Cretaceous and Tertiary age. Afterward erosion cut through the lava in places and attacked the softer rocks underneath, but Table Rock, with its protective capping, remains and shows how much has been washed away around it.
    Beyond Table Rock the country opens out into that part of the valley to which the name Rogue River Valley is especially applied. The valley lies between the Klamath Mountains on the west and the Cascade Range on the east. The highest point in view in the Cascade Range is Mount McLoughlin (9,760 feet), named after Dr. John McLoughlin, of the Hudson's Bay Co. The mountains are composed of relatively hard rocks, but the granodiorite and the Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary rocks that underlie the fertile fields of the valley are comparatively soft. This difference in hardness has enabled the river and its tributaries to carve out a wide, flat-bottomed valley. The sedimentary rocks of the valley lie in beds sloping eastward under the lavas of the Cascade Range, but they overlie the older rocks of the Klamath Mountains, including the granodiorite, and once extended much farther west. It will be noticed from the cross section that the Cretaceous beds dip at a different angle from the slates of the Klamath Mountains and that, if they were restored to the west, they would lie across the upturned edges of the slates. This relation is known to geologists as an unconformity.
    The train turns up the southeast arm of the valley, drained by Bear Creek, which joins Rogue River near Table Rock, and passes through Tolo (elevation 1,196 feet, 452 miles from San Francisco) and Central Point (elevation 1,290 feet, 446.7 miles from San Francisco), where the traveler may see fine fruit orchards and grain fields, before arriving at Medford.
    Medford, the chief town of the Rogue River Valley, is rapidly growing in consequence of its relation to the fruit industry of the valley, the mining region of the Klamath Mountains on the west, and the forests and resorts of the Cascade Range on the east. From Medford the traveler may continue on the main line or make a detour, partly by automobile stage, through Crater Lake National Park, returning to the main line at Weed, Cal. The beautiful scenery of this side trip will amply repay anyone for the additional time it requires. To those interested in geology or in the ways by which mountains and valleys have come to their present forms the Crater Lake route will prove exceptionally interesting.
    From Medford a short branch line (the Rogue River Valley Railroad) runs west to Jacksonville, and from Crater Lake Junction, a mile north of Medford, the Pacific & Eastern Railroad extends for 33 miles toward Crater Lake.
    The distance from Medford to Crater Lake by automobile stage is 79 miles. The first 20 miles lies through orchards, mainly of apples and pears, over gravel plains spread out by the streams as they issue from the mountains, and through foothills where the sandstones and shales (Eocene to Miocene) of the valley dip eastward under the lava flows of the Cascade Range.
    At 31 miles from Medford the road crosses Rogue River, and thence for 16 miles, to the mouth of Mill Creek, it follows the north bank of the river through a deep canyon. From the roadway may be had good views both of the canyon and the uplands bordering the wider valley to the west.
    Near Prospect (elevation 2,780 feet) Rogue River is again crossed at the head of its canyon. Here the river in a quarter of a mile falls 325 feet in a series of cascades, at the foot of which Mill Creek, in a fall of great beauty, 150 feet in height, joins Rogue River. Near Prospect the primeval forest begins, and for miles the smooth road built on terraces of lava affords fine forest views.
    At Union Creck, 58 miles from Medford (elevation about 3,500 feet), there is a delightful camping place near Natural Bridge and Union Falls. The Union Falls are really cascades over some black lava (basalt), and there are similar cascades at Natural Bridge, a little farther downstream. These cascades came into existence in the following way. In late geologic time (Quaternary) a lava flow came down the bed of Rogue River with scant regard for previous water rights. When the lava had reached a point about a quarter of a mile below Natural Bridge it cooled and stiffened sufficiently to stop. The basalt still shows the ropy forms in which it congealed and the bubble cavitics or vesicles formed by the steam that nearly all lava contains. Shortly afterward a second stream of lava came down on top of the first but did not run quite so far. The river now reoccupied its bed as well as it could and at first cascaded over the ends of the lava flows. In course of time it wore back gorges, 60 feet deep, in the basalt, and it is still busy at the same task. At Natural Bridge the stream has discovered and doubtless enlarged an old tunnel such as is often formed in lava streams by the continued flowing of the deeper molten material after a solid crust has formed above it.
    Ten miles beyond Union Falls is the entrance to Crater Lake National Park. The lake is deeply set in the crest of the Cascade Range, the surface of the water being at an altitude of 6,177 feet. It is encircled by a cliff from 500 to nearly 2,000 feet high. From the top of this cliff the ground slopes away gently on all sides, so that the lake partly fills a great cup or pit in the summit of a broad conical mountain. This comparatively low mountain is all that remains of a once mighty volcano, Mount Mazama. In all probability no human eye ever looked upon this peak, but geologists know that it existed and that glaciers crept down its flanks and gouged out its canyons. Through some cause unknown this mountain collapsed--its top fell in, leaving the hole now occupied in part by the lake, 2,000 feet deep.
    Wizard Island is a small volcanic cone built up from the bottom of the pit and now probably extinct. From it may be had superb views of the cliffs that surround the lake. The sky line of these cliffs shows U-shaped notches, which are sections of the glaciated valleys that formerly headed high up on Mount Mazama.
    From Crater Lake Lodge, situated on the rim 1,000 feet above the lake, excursions may be made to many places of interest, especially the glaciated valleys of Sun and Sand creeks, the great pumice-covered flow of Llao Rock, and the latest lava flow of all, at Rugged Crest. A trip by boat to Wizard Island and around the lake gives the visitor an opportunity to fish and to see the materials of which the great volcanic cone was built and the way in which these have been piled up in successive layers.
    From the lake to Chiloquin, a station on the Southern Pacific Co.'s new line from Weed, Cal., via Klamath Falls, the distance is 35 miles. This new line is intended when complete to be the main line between Weed and Eugene, Oreg. From the lake to Klamath Falls by the automobile road the distance is 65 miles. From the point where the road leaves Crater Lake the view over the broad platform of the Cascade Range includes the great cones of Shasta and Pitt, with many others, large and small, each once an active volcano.
    The descent from the rim of Crater Lake is at first very steep over a moraine (the bouldery deposit left in front of a glacier) to the great spring at the head of Anna Creek. The road affords fine views of the canyon of Anna Creek, cut deep in volcanic ejecta. Near its head the rocks have been eroded into cigar-shaped pinnacles and farther down systems of parallel cracks in the rocks (jointing) give striking columnar effects. On the east, across Anna Canyon, stands Crater Peak (7,265 feet), one of the outlying basalt cones built up on top of the flows of andesite that made the bulk of Mount Mazama. After flowing through some finely forested, gently sloping country Anna Creek enters upon the broad alluvial plain of upper Klamath Lake.
    Fort Klamath, on the western border of the Klamath Indian Reservation, is now only a small village but was an active Army post at the time when military force was necessary to keep the Indians in order. Several of the old fort buildings are still standing. Here it was that the notorious chief known as Captain Jack was tried and hanged for the part he played in the Modoc War, the scone of which was among the lava beds about 60 miles southeast of Fort Klamath. The Klamath Indian Reservation contains much fine pasture and farm land, as well as forest, and many of the Indians are engaged in agriculture. A few miles from the fort are the well-kept buildings of the Klamath Indian Agency.
    Wood River, the clear, cold stream that supplies the fort and agency with water, rises on a fault whose course is marked by a prominent bluff leading up toward Crater Lake. The water of the river may possibly be derived in part from the lake by underground flow along the fault fissure.
    Five miles beyond the agency is Chiloquin, a small village on Williamson River. The water of Williamson River, though clear, has the brown color characteristic of streams that drain swamps. This river is noted for its trout, but the Sprague, into which it empties half a mile below Chiloquin, is turbid and contributes to the muddiness of upper Klamath Lake.
    At the crossing of Sprague River an excavation for a ditch reveals bright-colored lake beds, which evidently underlie the soil of the plain. Modoc Point, on the northeast side of Upper Klamath Lake, is part of a bold bluff of dark lava (basalt) lapped by the waters of the lake. The bluff marks the course of a northwesterly crack along which the rocks on the southwest side have sunk or those on the northeast side have risen--in other words, the lavas are faulted. The bluff is part of the southwest edge of a block of the earth's crust that has been tilted toward the northeast. The effect of the fault has been to form the hollow, deepest on the northeast and shoaling to the southwest, in which the lake lies. There are other faults of the same kind and general direction in southeastern Oregon, and a number of these have produced lake basins.
    From Modoc Point Mount Pitt (9,760 feet) may be seen by looking west across Pelican Bay. To the south, across the main lake, appears the snowy peak of Shasta (14,350 feet).
    The Plum Hills, near Algoma Station, have been carved by erosion from an uplifted fault block such as has just been described. The fault fissure runs along the west base of the hills. Dipping east under the lava which forms the upper part of the hills are some fine, thin-layered beds which were deposited in a lake that existed before the lava was erupted.
    Klamath Falls (elevation 4,120 feet), at the outlet of Upper Klamath Lake, is a thriving town, to whose growth the new through line of the Southern Pacific, now under construction, and the great Klamath reclamation project of the government have given added impetus. The Klamath Basin, which lies partly in California and partly in Oregon, embraces several thousand acres. Much of the land to be reclaimed and irrigated was covered by lakes and marshes, but the waters are being drained off and the land, divided into farms, is being irrigated by the government canals. About 30,000 acres are now under irrigation, and when the system is completed it will include 72,000 acres of irrigable land. Practically all the uplands, which comprise the greater part of the area, are privately owned, a portion being in large holdings which, under the terms of the reclamation act, must be subdivided into tracts of not more than 160 acres and sold to actual settlers. The public lands, including much of the lake areas, are at present withdrawn from entry but will later be opened to homestead entry.
    Beyond Klamath Falls the railroad crosses a great area of tule (toó lay, the Spanish name for a species of rush (Scirpus lacustris) common on the swamp lands of the Pacific Coast). The reclamation of this area is part of the government project. On the right is Klamath River, and beyond is the gap in the Cascade Range through which the river makes its way. A flow of comparatively recent lava in the gap has formed a dam which by ponding back the river has contributed to the formation of the lakes and swamps of the country now being traversed.
    At Midland, among the marshes, the traveler enters a national bird reserve, where ducks, geese, and many other waterfowl are abundant and are secure from molestation. Near Worden, which lies among low lava hills, apple orchards and fields of grain appear as if by magic, surrounded by sagebrush and cedars.
    By several tunnels through ridges composed of bright-colored beds of tuff (lava particles thrown out by the explosive action of volcanoes) Dorris (elevation 4,238 feet) is reached. Beyond it are other small towns surrounded by hay and grain fields. The hills become better wooded as the Cascade Range is approached. The eastern front of the range, as seen from Macdoel (elevation 4,256 feet) and Mount Hebron (4,237 feet), is so abrupt as to suggest that this part of the range may have been uplifted above the country to the east by a fault. The region about Mount Hebron is a fine cattle country. Forests become more conspicuous at Jerome, where the railroad crosses a low divide between the drainage basins of Butte Creek and Little Shasta River.
    At Kegg there is some well-stratified dark volcanic material that is widely used for railroad ballast. This material, somewhat resembling cinders, was blown out from some volcano. Such fragments of cindery lava are known as lapilli (little stones). The rich green pastures of the small valleys of this part of the route are bright with flowers and dotted with contented cattle. They are surrounded by dark forests of yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa), which is now being extensively cut for lumber.
    From Bray (elevation 4,648 feet) may be seen Goose Nest Mountain, on the right (west), directly across the valley. Another low divide (5,078 feet) is crossed, and Grass Lake, surrounded by swampy pastures of green and yellow grass, comes into view. This country drains westward through Little Shasta River to Shasta Valley. From Pineland the road descends toward Mount Shasta, with the rugged cliffs of Sheep Rock on the right. These cliffs are composed of dark lavas and tuffs, which dip east.
    Mount Shasta continues in sight for many miles. The most impressive view is obtained from the station called Mount Shasta. The mountain has two summits. The higher one, on the left (14,380 feet), is that of Mount Shasta proper; the lower one (12,433 feet) is Shastina. Whitney Glacier lies between the two peaks and is over 2 miles long. A prominent gray pile of boulders and gravel, clearly in view at the lower end of the glacier, is its terminal moraine. Mount Shasta above a level of 4,000 feet is composed of lava, chiefly a kind containing less silica and generally lighter in color than basalt, known as andesite. There are a few basalt cones about the base of the mountain. Near milepost 364 are some light-gray hills known as the Haystacks, composed of sedimentary and intrusive rocks like those of the Klamath Mountains and forming, as it were, an island in the sea of lava.
    About 5 miles beyond the Haystacks, on the right, is a steep little valley formed by a caved-in lava tunnel. When the supply of lava is cut off at the close of an eruption the molten interior of a flow continues to move down hill under its hardened crust, leaving tunnel-like caves which may be a mile or more long.
    Beyond this valley is a gravel deposit made by Whitney Creek, which is fed by Whitney Glacier. The creek has cut a deep canyon for several miles below the glacier, but before it reaches the point where the railroad crosses it the stream becomes overloaded with gravel and has to drop part of its load. In summer the creek disappears in the porous gravel deposit.
    The flows of lava that once poured down the sides of Mount Shasta end in bluffs around which the railroad swings to Weed.
    Southeast of Medford the valley narrows, and at Talent low foothills of Cretaceous rocks are close to the railroad. The gravels formerly worked in the placer mines seen along here on the right (southwest) are for the most part of Quaternary age. Some gold, however, has been obtained from a Cretaceous conglomerate whose pebbles were derived directly from the still older rocks on which the conglomerate rests. The best known of these placers are those of the Forty-nine group, near Phoenix, which have yielded not only much gold but also a number of Cretaceous fossils. The older rocks on which the Cretaceous conglomerate rests are possibly Paleozoic. Farther south, in the neighborhood of Ashland, these rocks are succeeded along the railroad by a granular igneous rock (quartz diorite) resembling granite.
    By looking ahead from a point near Ashland the traveler may see a bold rock, Pilot Knob, in the Siskiyou Mountains (a part of the Klamath Mountains). In early days this knob, which stands more than 6,000 feet above the sea, guided immigrants to the pass to California now utilized by the railroad.
    Ashland, which passengers generally remember as the fresh-fruit station, is the center of a great peach country and took the prize for peaches at the Chicago Exposition. Pears also are being increasingly grown in this region. Orchards are being rapidly extended southward and westward over the lower slopes of the mountains facing the morning sun. Behind them rise the forested spurs of the Siskiyou Mountains, culminating in Siskiyou Peak (7,662 feet) and Sterling Peak (7,377 feet), which carry snow as late as July.
    Near Ashland the crumbling quartz diorite is well exposed, together with sandstones and shales of Cretaceous age. To the northeast rises Grizzly Peak (6,000 feet), a pile of lava flows, under which, as may be seen on the gentle slopes near Bear Creek, are sedimentary rocks that contain some beds of coal and fossil plants, probably of Eocene age. The Eocene plants of the Cascade Range are described below by F. H. Knowlton.
    On leaving Ashland the train begins to climb the Siskiyou Mountains, which form the divide between the Rogue and Klamath river basins. The pass is 2,235 feet above Ashland and the ascent is made by a 3.3 percent grade--that is, at the rate of 174.2 feet to the mile. This average grade is maintained for nearly 30 miles. Shales, sandstones, and conglomerates of Cretaceous age are exposed along the railroad for more than 10 miles beyond Ashland, except a short distance beyond milepost 442, where some of the underlying older (Paleozoic) rocks appear. The Cretaceous rocks continue beyond the first great curve in the railroad line to a point near milepost 416, where an intrusive mass of granodiorite appears and continues to Siskiyou, the summit station. Beyond the second great curve, at milepost 415, there are good views of the valley left behind and of the Cascade Range.
    At Siskiyou Station the Pacific Highway, which crosses the summit farther east, near Pilot Knob, is nearby on the left. Here on September 29, 1841, the Wilkes exploring party crossed the mountain, which was then the boundary between the United States and Mexico. Pilot Knob was named Emmons Peak by Wilkes, after the officer in charge of the party. At Siskiyou the railroad enters a tunnel 3,108 feet long, which passes about 500 feet below the summit. The rock nearby is quartz diorite, and this is succeeded by a darker igneous rock (andesite) through which the tunnel has been driven and which, as will be seen farther south, is erupted through sediments of Cretaceous age. Soon after emerging from the tunnel into the drainage basin of Klamath River the traveler obtains his first view of Mount Shasta, one of the finest and most imposing of the snow-capped peaks of the Pacific Coast. At milepost 410 Pilot Knob appears on the left (east).
    At Colestin, about a mile beyond the end of the tunnel, a modest hostelry has been built near a good spring of effervescent chalybeate water. With its mountain surroundings, a delightful summer climate, and good hunting, this place is likely to be more frequented as its attractions become known.
    In the descent from Colestin to Hilt (Cole) and thence to Hornbrook the train passes almost continuous exposures of Cretaceous sedimentary beds cut at many places by intruded igneous rocks. Some at least of these igneous rocks are tilted and faulted as much as the sedimentary rocks and consequently may be older than most of the lavas of the Cascade Range, which, as a rule, lie in nearly horizontal attitudes.
    Before reaching Cole Station, at 403.2 miles from San Francisco, the railroad crosses the line between Oregon and California.
J. S. Diller et al., Guidebook of the Western United States Part D, The Shasta Route and Coast Line, USGPO 1915, pages 42-58

    A land of many and diversified resources, of great mineral and timber wealth, of rich agricultural and horticultural possibilities, with a climate combining the sunshine of California and the moisture of Oregon--a fertile valley set in the midst of a scenic wonderland--all that Nature can offer to make life worthwhile, is found in Jackson County, Oregon.
    Medford and Ashland, her two largest cities, are metropolitan. The country well improved. The population of more than average intelligence. The products are varied and many. Some of her resources need more capital for development, and the land a more diversified and intensive cultivation.
    The county is bordered on the east by the Cascade Mountains, on the west by the Coast Range, the Rogue River Mountains on the north and the Siskiyou Mountains on the south. In the heart of this mountain-protected area is the Rogue River Valley, which has earned world fame for its pears, apples and other fruits.
    From the level floor of the valley, sloping benches and rounded hills lead up to the mountain ranges, heavily wooded with yellow and sugar pine, fir, cedar, oaks and laurels, with now and then a snow-capped peak 7000 to 9000 feet in height. The climate may be described in one word as "moderate"--about half way between the humid Willamette and the sunny Sacramento.
    In the '50s and '60s some of the pioneer settlers set out family orchards. Gradually it became known that the quality and quantity of the fruits were exceptional. The orchards developed, and Rogue River Valley fruit began to win prizes and command fancy prices in New York and in London. This led to a planting of a very large orchard acreage--and today the Rogue River Valley is one of the most successful orchard districts in the United States.
    General farming is receiving much attention, for it is realized that the high specializing in fruit growing should be balanced with diversified and intensified farming, stock raising and dairying.
    Corn is rather extensively grown, a considerable portion between tree rows in young orchards. While the nights are more cool than in the typical corn states of the Middle West, yet good yields are regularly harvested and as high as 108 bushels to the acre has been grown, and it is not uncommon to have it reach a height of 13 feet. The average yield is 27 bushels and average price 70 cents.
    Alfalfa is profitable and when the year is favorable as to rains and on good sandy and gravelly loams, yields of four to six tons per acre have been grown without irrigation year after year. Along the creek bottoms, where water is easily diverted, much acreage is in alfalfa. The combination of corn and alfalfa make a perfectly balanced ration for feeding and fattening stock and is now considered staple.
    The dairying industry has not yet begun to approach its possibilities. Movements have started toward bringing in blooded dairy cows to the valley, the farmers cooperating with the bankers, who assist in financing the scheme.
    Professor James Dryden, of the agricultural college, said, "I know of no section in the United States that is more favorable in a climatic way for the raising of poultry than the Rogue River Valley. You have no extremes of temperature, a moderate rainfall and abundant sunshine." Poultry raising has become a profitable side line with orchard care. As Oregon has 200 carloads of eggs and large quantities of poultry shipped in annually, it is a good idea to go into the poultry and egg industry extensively--especially if you can produce your own grain and feed.
    Fruit growing is the leading industry and Rogue River Valley fruit is known around the world. Sixty-five thousand acres are now planted to orchard. In the year 1913 the total output of apples and pears was 1150 cars, and the net returns reached well above $1,000,000. New orchards are 80 percent pears and the different varieties have been sifted down to seven varieties--Bartlett, Howell, Anjou, Comice, Bosc, Winter Nelis, which are here arranged in the order in which they ripen. Of the pears one-fourth are Bartletts, one-half Bosc and Anjou, and the remainder about equally divided between Comice, Nelis and Howells.
    The two commercial varieties of apples are the Newtown and Spitzenberg. The Newtown, the favorite, notwithstanding the fact that several much-coveted prizes have been captured by Rogue River Valley Spitzenbergs, including the sweepstakes prize at the Spokane National Apple Show in 1909, in competition with all apple growing districts of the Northwest. A carload of Newtown apples was awarded first prize at the Canadian Apple Show in 1910.
    A horticultural expert is retained by the county and a perfect orchard protection is maintained. Deputies devote their time to inspecting orchards and products, and all diseases are attended to. They are aided by a large force of volunteers, scattered through the valley, who report to the supervisors. This activity has absolutely controlled the pear blight.
    Another phase of orchard work is frost protection during the blossoming period. On the slopes and foothills, where air circulation is good, killing frosts are unknown, but in some parts of the valley floor orchard "heating" or "smudging" has been found efficient. A system of frost warnings are worked out and orchards are equipped with apparatus for hasty lighting, as the danger temperature approaches between midnight and daylight. Training schools for packers are conducted each year, and pickers and packers are assigned to the different orchards. Large storage warehouses are built, combining pre-cooling and dry storage, with a capacity of 100 cars.
    There is a wide range between the highest average price per acre by the best orchards and the returns of the poorer. It is difficult to arrive at an average, but, safely speaking, a well-cared-for commercial orchard will net on an average of from $250 to $500 an acre. High records could be quoted, and figures verified, from orchards that have averaged $1000 an acre for several years. This proves possibilities under the best of market and crop conditions and good management.
    All varieties of berries bear prolifically, especially the loganberry and strawberry. Two canning factories have now been established and offer 4 cents a pound for all the loganberries raised. Two crops of strawberries are grown, the second crop ripening in October. The hope of the valley is canneries and evaporators and there is room still for great expansion in that direction.
    The valley has an extended reputation for melons and cantaloupes. Brown Bros. came to the valley three years ago and decided on raising cantaloupes for the market. Their yield and returns the first year was 300 crates to the acre.
    Tomatoes do especially well, and one cannery has signed up 40 acres for 1915. Gardening has been much encouraged by the establishment of public city markets in Medford and Ashland, where the producer sells direct to the consumer, both parties being mutually benefited.
    The soil of the valley floor as a rule retains moisture remarkably, especially if well cultivated, and matures tree fruits and cereals. But wherever irrigation is practiced the results amply justify the expense. For intensified cultivation the greater part of the valley requires water to get best results. On some shallow soils water is absolutely necessary, and remarkable crops of vegetables and small fruits are raised on very shallow soil with the aid of the irrigation ditch.
    Certain districts in the valley are adapted to dry farming. The average rainfall is 28 inches. The season is early and many crops mature before the summer season of light or no rainfall arrives.
    D. M. Lowe, of Ashland, raises over 500 different products each year on one ranch. He dry farms, and his collection of products have won special prizes with entries from four different states of the Northwest and he now has a display at the Panama-Pacific Exposition of over 500 products raised on his farm last year.
A number of aids are at the disposal of the new orchardist or farmer coming to Jackson County. The county pathologist, Professor Henderson, stationed here, offers advice regarding fruit growing. Another agency is the county demonstration farm, under the direction of Professor Reimer, who determines the relative worth of plant varieties for certain types of soils. Some 50 varieties of pears were found growing here and they have now been cut down to seven or eight. Cover crops and fertilizers are tested; best varieties of potatoes and corn are used.
    The greater part of land values is based upon fruit possibilities; cheaper lands are found in the outlying districts. The highest priced raw land is adjacent to some matured orchard, which has proved its commercial worth, and the prices vary from $50 to $200 an acre. The cost of planting and caring for an orchard for six or seven years is about $100 an acre; at this age it brings some returns and increases rapidly until at 12 years large profits are realized and, if well planted and cared for, command $600 to $1000 an acre.
    No allowance has been made for crops between the tree rows up to the bearing age. Corn is largely grown, and the greater part of the corn is so produced. Cantaloupes, melon, potatoes, tomatoes and other vegetables are profitable fillers. The climate may be judged by the location and surroundings; being west of the Cascades, at low altitude, the valley has the same mild climate found along the Coast from Puget Sound to Southern California, due to the influence of the warm Japan ocean currents. The winter months are mild, with little snow, which usually melts rapidly. The 28 inches of rain comes from October to April, with occasional showers during the summer.
    There is an average of 270 days of sunshine and there is always an evening breeze. The humidity is very low. The hottest days in summer the humidity is between 15 and 20. The nights are cool. The average minimum temperature during the winter is just below freezing or 31 degrees. Damaging winds are not experienced.
    Water available for irrigation and power is one of Jackson County's valuable resources. Rogue River and its tributaries drain the entire area, and according to the State Engineer, has 300,000 horsepower, with a total annual runoff of 3,200,000 acre-feet of water, so Jackson County has an abundance of water for all purposes. The large planned irrigation projects started are yet uncompleted. 
    It is estimated that 2000 acres of land is irrigated by means of electric pumping, and alfalfa fields of 100 or more acres are irrigated. The cost of pumping varies, according to the lift and size of plant. The cost to raise one acre-foot 100 feet by electricity is $2.80 per year, and the cost of the plant, $5 to $10 per acre.
    One of the large prospective uses for electric power is for electric roads. The largest developed power plant is at Prospect, where 7000 horsepower is generated. This is capable of expansion to 40,000. One hundred and twenty-five families in the valley cook with electricity; 80 per cent of the total county population use electricity for lighting, as the service is extended into all rural districts.
    Two-thirds of the acreage of Jackson County is classified as timber land. 850,000 acres is privately owned, 427,000 acres in natural forests. The estimate of merchantable timber has a total of 23,000,000,000 feet and contains some of the largest standing bodies of sugar pine found in the United States. Comparatively little use has been made of the timber resources up to this time, as only a few small mills have operated.
    The mineral resources of Jackson County are first among all the counties of the state, according to special investigators of the Oregon Bureau of Mines and geology. The placer gold fields of Southern Oregon have yielded $150,000,000 since their discovery.
    Large coal deposits are now being thoroughly tested. These veins range from 8 to 12 feet in thickness.
    Building stones offer an inviting field to the developer, which include granite, sandstone and marble from pure white to black, with grain rivaling Vermont quarries.
    The great need toward the development is a road to the coast, only 100 miles, where it could be loaded upon transports with wide market possibilities.
    Special opportunities might be summarized and emphasized as:  Lumber mills and box factories, alfalfa meal mills, additional fruit and byproduct plants, creameries and beet sugar factories.
    September, 1913 Jackson County voted $500,000 for the construction of a modern, first-class, hard-surfaced highway more than 50 miles in length, through the Rogue River Valley. A unit of the Pacific Highway from British Columbia into Mexico--Jackson County was the first county in the state to improve this unit of the highway--a leader in the agitation of good roads in Oregon. We have 17 miles of the highway completed and 13 miles over the Siskiyou Mountains graded and will be hard-surfaced early this summer.
    Jackson County offers many varieties of mineral springs, mountain steams with unrivaled fishing, wildernesses with deer, bear and cougar, historic Table Rock, Mill Creek Falls and Crater Lake, one of the scenic wonders of the world, with Medford the gateway, and just across the line in Josephine County are the Marble Caves, promising when fully explored to equal the caves of Kentucky.
    Rogue River offers royal sport in fly fishing for steelhead (rainbow) trout, weighing from 3 to 10 pounds.
    Medford, with an estimated population of 11,000, is located in the center of the valley and the most important financial, trade and shipping point, and is now a jobbing [wholesale and distribution] city. No city the size of Medford has a greater length of first-class paved streets, having a total of 22 miles, 29 miles of sewers, 28 miles of water mains, 28 miles of cement walks, and a 30-mile gravity water system costing $275,000. The city is supplied with gas, electricity and power, and has several four-story office buildings, a public park, a $20,000 library, a $140,000 hospital, a $75,000 natatorium, several fine hotels--one five stories, erected at a cost of $125,000--four banks, a $50,000 opera house, the key station of the United States Weather Bureau, splendid stores, a federal building now being erected at a cost of $110,000, five large schools, an academy, 11 churches, 20 lodges, a College Woman's Club, a University Club representing 43 colleges, a golf and country club with 100 acres of ground, an active Woman's Civic Improvement Club and Commercial Club. Two modern daily newspapers and an electric streetcar system.
    If one were ever justified in lauding the possibilities of any land, he is certainly justified in giving this beautiful valley and its throbbing wide-awake heart, the progressive city of Medford, a full measure of praise. The object of this article is to tell the people from outside, that they may know and enjoy, if they will, this garden spot of the West. Those who live there know of no other place so attractive--none with such possibilities. The writer has endeavored rather to underestimate than to exaggerate, knowing that so much can be said in favor of this favored valley, that even the plain, unvarnished truth would seem to some as the limit of exaggeration.
Heppner Gazette-Times "Home and Farm Magazine" section, May 6, 1915, pages 2-3.  This preprinted section was distributed with other Oregon newspapers as well.


    On arising the next morning, the "big trees" were with us and we saw many gigantic monsters on the mountainside, but there were also many fine-looking valleys between the ranges.
    By 8 or 9 o'clock we reached the famous Rogue River Valley. This beautiful valley with lofty and snow-covered mountain ranges on either side is nearly 40 miles long and 14 miles wide. It is considered the garden spot not only of the state, but perhaps of the world. The principal city is Medford, with about 10,000 population, and splendid public buildings and modern, up-to-date residences.
    Medford is situated in the central part of the Rogue River Valley and with its volcanic ash soil raises all kinds of grain and fruit, but its orchards are the greatest industry.
    Last year more than 1,000 carloads of fruit were shipped from this place, and from present indications more than twice that amount will be shipped in 1915.
    Fruit trees seem to live an indeterminate period here. There are pear, apple and other bearing trees here that are 40 years old, still bearing, and seem to show no signs of dying. The wonderful production of the trees here is astonishing. On the ranch of Dr. Stokes, near Medford, I was shown a Royal Ann cherry tree which has produced from 1000 to 1100 pounds of cherries in a single year. This year's crop was ready to [harvest] and was estimated at 1,500 pounds. We gathered some of the fruit, and the flavor surpassed any cherries we ever tasted.
    We have met several Clinton County residents here. Judge J. E. Kelley of DeWitt, a son of auctioneer Thos. Kelley, and a former Clinton street car employee, whose name I think is Morgan.
    Medford gets its water supply from snow melting from Mount Pitt 35 miles to the east [sic]. The pressure is direct and is over 50 pounds to the inch.
    The climate here is ideal. During the day, at present the mercury rises to from 85 to 92 degrees on hot days, but it always goes down to from 55 to 70 at night, and one requires blankets or several "covers" to sleep comfortably.
    The soil is immensely productive here, but requires plenty of water. The water rate, unmetered, is $18.00 per year for [an] ordinary six-room residence, and sprinkling is permitted every other day.
    Most farms, or as they call them here "ranches," irrigate during the summer, 3 to 5 times being sufficient for the season. While this is not imperative, it is said to more than double the production besides improving the quality. A charge of $50.00 per acre is made by the irrigation company for furnishing the water to the ranch, and $2.50 per acre after that. 10 to 30 acres is all one man can till, depending on what he raises.
    The price of ranch land varies according to location and water facilities. Poor land is worth $100.00 and upward, while well-improved orchards in some locations sell from $1,500 to $2,500 per acre if offered for sale--a rare thing here.
    Personally I am infatuated with Medford. The people are hustlers, the buildings modern and up to date, and it is ideal in the fullest sense of the term. I do not think a poor or a laboring man can live better than in [the] East--perhaps not well, but he would have the climatic advantages, of course.
    Skating and sleigh-riding are unknown here, in winter the mercury never going below 15 degrees above zero. But on the mountaintops, where snow can now be seen, it probably gets pretty cold.
    We will leave this place, the earthly paradise of the coast, soon, and, after visiting the expositions at San Francisco and San Diego, will return to Clinton, visiting friends and relatives at several points en route.
J. D. Hullinger, "Councilman in Western Jaunt Writes of Trip," Clinton Daily Advertiser, Clinton, Iowa, June 29, 1915, page 10



    Leaving Grants Pass, which is 71 miles south of Roseburg, you wind along the picturesque Rogue River and through a region of well-kept orchards. Passing through Gold Hill and Central Point, you reach Medford, 313 miles south of Portland.
    You have your choice of two routes to Crater Lake, either by Medford or going 12 miles south to Ashland you can take the Green Spring Mountain road to Klamath Falls and thence to Crater Lake. I came by way of Medford--Medford has high-class hotels, the Hotel Medford being equipped with every modern luxury and convenience. Medford is an auto town. Splendidly paved streets give evidence that one is in Jackson County, the home of good roads.
    Medford has excellent garages as well as good hotels. A line of auto stages is operated from Medford to Crater Lake. I was a passenger on one of these autos, Charley True being the chauffeur.
    We left Medford at 8:30 a.m. and rolled over splendid roads a little east of north, passing Table Mountain and the Modoc Orchards. We kept up a uniform speed of 25 miles an hour till we struck across the "desert." Here the famous moss agates are found in considerable abundance.
    The air was like wine. The sky full of lazily floating cumulus clouds. For miles the road winds along beside the Rogue River. We stopped to look at the power plant that furnishes the principal towns of the Rogue River Valley with electric light and power. The scenery here and hereabout is very picturesque and striking.
    Just before the auto meter checks off the forty-seventh mile you catch a glimpse of Mill Creek Falls. We stopped and, going down a winding trail through the timber, we stood on the rocky cliff across from the fall.
    The water tumbles over the cliff and spreads like a filmy lace-like veil across the face of the cliff.
    Forty-seven miles from Medford you come to Prospect park. Here in an open parklike glade is a hotel, a store and post office. James Grieve is the owner of Prospect park, and to one's pleasure and surprise everything about the hotel is strictly modern, "homey" and comfortable, and the meals can certainly be described as "good eats."
    For miles the road, which is excellent, goes by easy grades through a picturesque country. The natural bridge and the gorge are well worth a visit. Near the 69 milepost you enter the Crater Lake Park. Numerous attractive camping spots make one long to be out with a camping outfit, fishing and roughing it.
    Some miles farther on you come to the park headquarters, where you will meet W. G. Steel, the man who did more than everyone else put together to have Crater Lake made a national park. He is the superintendent of the park, and has been interested in it ever since the early seventies. He made the first soundings of the lake for the government in 1886. Prior to that time it was thought the lake did not exceed 500 feet in depth, but he established the fact that it was 1996 feet deep. Since then corrections on the expansion and stretch of the measuring apparatus have shown that it is 2008 feet in the deepest place recorded. The park headquarters are 75.7 miles from Medford and [the] rim of the crater is 80.6 miles from Medford.
    Your first sight of the lake takes your breath. The beauty and majesty of the sight are indescribable. There is nothing else like it anywhere. It is so far beyond your expectations that you are left without words to express your feelings.
    At the very edge of the crater's rim, overlooking the lake, is Crater Lake Lodge. The lodge is built of stone and wood. It has huge fireplaces, large rooms, and at one end of the building is an outside fireplace--a mammoth affair for outdoor campfires.
    W. G. Steel and Alfred L. Parkhurst are the pioneers of the Crater Lake Lodge. Great difficulties were overcome in its construction. A working season of only two months was one of the greatest handicaps. The lumber had to be hauled from a great distance and over steep grades and bad roads. But success at last crowned their efforts, and each season sees an increasingly large number of tourists who come to be awed with the majesty and charmed with the wondrous beauty of Crater Lake.
"Crater Lake Oregon's One Matchless Jewel," Oregonian, Portland, July 25, 1915, page 22


    MEDFORD, Ore., the City Beautiful, is located in the Rogue River Valley, approximately an equal distance between Portland and San Francisco. It is a city of 12,000 people, growing each and every day, and surrounded by the most resourceful country of any city in the world. It is one of the most God-favored valleys on earth, as evidenced by the thousands of acres of non-irrigated orchards. Both apple and pear trees bear in abundance equaled by no other section, and the climate is perfect. The bowels of the earth in Jackson County are freighted with gold nuggets which jump to the coffers when man, with hydraulic assistance, slightly tickles the likely spots.
    Another commodity, unequaled in almost any other section, which to an effete Easterner is most attractive, is the game. There it is found in abundance, due in a great measure to the observance to the letter of the Oregon game laws, which are concise and ample. This year the law provided an open season on the ring-necked, or Mongolian, pheasant, Phasianus torquatus (don't attempt to pronounce, as it is played on a flute). The male of this beautiful pheasant varies greatly in length, according to the development of the tail, sometimes being thirty-six inches in length. The female averages about twenty-two inches and is plain colored, but a handsome bird. The males vary in the richness of their colors and in the width of the white collar on the neck. These pheasants have been introduced in Oregon and Washington and are especially abundant there now, as they have been protected until this year.
Open Season Is Permitted.
    An open season was for the first time permitted from October 1 to October 10, and a bag limit of four male and one female per diem was wisely provided for, based upon the fact that continuous protection had allayed fear in the pheasant family and they had become very tame, associating with and making life a burden for barnyard fowls. As a matter of fact, the most inferior cock pheasant can whip the best game rooster, and usually proceeds to take the aforesaid rooster to his trimmings or needings. The pheasant is a great eliminator of conceit from the chicken family.
    Attempts at propagation of the pheasant have not been as successful in the East, but in some preserves they are doing well. They are rather sluggish in their habits compared to our ruffed grouse, and usually try to escape by running or hiding rather than by taking wing. When they do fly they go in a straight line and comparatively slow. It was a pheasant and valley quail hunt that I am going to tell you about:
    Mr. and Mrs. Willard Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Hafer of Medford, with the writer for ballast, composed the party. Ensconced in a powerful car, our first dash was out through the little city of Central Point to the Modoc ranch and orchard of 1,500 acres owned by Mrs. Potter Palmer of Chicago. This orchard has 13,000 pear trees that are now bearing. The ranch is a small village, with beautiful homes on the hillsides overlooking the balance of their little city in the valley. Mr. Sommers, the superintendent, was home and explained all conditions and advantages. The "Modoc" is certainly one of the show places of the Rogue River Valley.
Mountain Has a History.
    The "Modoc" nestles at the foot of Table Rock, a mountain named on account of the flat surface on top. It was on Table Rock Mountain that old Chief Sam, with his tribe of Rogue River Indians, made their last stand against the whites in 1855. [Not true.]
    Colonel J. S. Howard, "the father of Medford," the man Hafer built the first house where now stands the thriving city of Medford, and who is conversant with the early history of Jackson County, told me of the fight as follows:
    "It was in 1855, the fall of the year, when old Chief Sam, with his band of Rogue River Indians, grew restless, based upon the encroachment of the whites into their territory. They started down through the valley, massacring the settlers. At Grants Pass they murdered indiscriminately. At Bloody Run they found a number of teamsters freighting flour. They were killed and the flour confiscated. While the Indians were not well equipped with firearms, they had bows and poisoned arrows, which were equally dangerous.
    "Riders were hurriedly dispatched to Fort Lane, twelve miles distant. Phil Sheridan, then a captain, was in command, and responded at once with 1,200 United States troops. He also made a call for volunteers, which brought forth all male settlers, armed with shotguns, pistols, Kentucky hammered-barrel rifles and a few pitchforks and knives. It was a motley but determined aggregation. Any implement that would cut or kill was used, as they were desperate.
Indians Chased to Rock.
    "The Indians were located and chased to Table Rock, where the last stand was made. Forced to the edge of the precipice, rather than submit to capture they jumped over the cliff and were crushed on the rocks below. A small remnant of the tribe escaped, to be captured a little later in a ravine, where is now located Mrs. Palmer's summer cottage. The balance of the tribe was removed to the Siletz reservation west of Eugene, there to remain. This was Phil Sheridan's first
Indian fight." [Again, none of this is true. And Howard wasn't in the Rogue Valley when it didn't happen.]\
    Our route then landed us in Jacksonville, county seat of Jackson County. This was one of the first settlements on the Pacific Coast. [Not true.] Here in 1850 gold was discovered in large quantities, and the mines are still producing. [Gold was discovered in February 1852.] In the early days the Wells-Fargo Company established an office and placed in charge of the same C. C. Beekman, who was in charge of the stage coaches and the Pony Express until the Southern Pacific Railway came to supplant. [Beekman's Express was not the famous Pony Express of 1860-61.] He always acted banker and had the universal confidence of the miners, who deposited with him their dust and nuggets in the little buckskin bags, with their names tagged on same, to be held as an original deposit until called for.
    When Beekman died in the spring of 1915, there were found many of the original packages of gold reposing in his safe and custody just as left by many of the old-timers, who had deposited them back in the '50s, and who had fallen by the wayside and crossed the Great Divide. [There was very little gold remaining in the Beekman Bank upon Beekman's death.] Yet, had they called with the original receipt at any time they would have been handed their original buckskin bag with the original contents.
    Next we passed the home of train bandit [Wells] Lounsberry, who robbed an express car near Topeka, Kan., single-handed. He then joined the crowd of searchers and finally retired in the sleeper, having secured a berth out of Kansas City. He was located by the porter as a strange face in the Pullman, arrested, and later sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment.
Pheasant Ground Is Reached.
    Under the guidance of Mrs. Hafer, who was the first woman to drive an auto to Crater Lake, we were burning up the road. A stop! "Here is the pheasant ground," said Campbell. There was a small stream, skirted on both banks with low willows. A little fox terrier, which had been up to that moment declared in the nuisance class, at once became the most useful adjunct of the party. Barking about, he was crazy to get into the willows, as he needed exercise and the pheasants needed stirring up.
    The party soon divided, and Mrs. Campbell and I took the west bank; Campbell and Hafer the east. Barking and jumping, the terrier dashed into the willows. Hardly had the first yelp ceased to echo, and whirr! a streak of yellow sunshine dashed out on our side of the willows. Bang! rang out the little 12-gauge in the hands of Mrs. C., and down in a bunch came one of the most beautiful "Chinamen" I have ever seen. When the last willows were passed and the count made, it was unnecessary to retrace our steps to secure our limit. We had the prospective game dinner in the game sack. It was a most enjoyable experience.
Tom Marshall, "Trap, Gun and Rod," Chicago Examiner, November 7, 1915, page C20






Last revised July 8, 2025