In time of war, men plan for peace. So it was in Jackson County in 1944.
    The fact-finding committee for Post War Plans of Jackson County reviewed its report to the Chamber of Commerce as the "Battle of the Bulge," one of the most violent counterattacks by the Germans in World War II, darkened the pre-Christmas horizon, obliterating all thoughts of the Yuletide.
    The Ardennes Bulge was launched by 15 German divisions on Dec. 16, twenty-two years ago. By Dec. 19, the First U.S. Army had been pushed out of Germany. Few were the people in the Rogue River Valley who had time or thought for Santa Claus. They were praying for news of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. On Dec. 21 it came. His Third U.S. Army rescued besieged Americans at Bastogne, delivering the greatest Christmas gift of all. By Dec. 25, the Nazi drive had been halted.
    It was a period of decision for men and women on the home front, and all the while the fact-finding committee of 15 members, headed by Karl L. Janouch as general chairman, was looking into the future. The members were planning for the employment of men and women who would return from the war and for an orderly community to receive them, a yellowed copy of the report reveals.
    Their surveys were completed and analyzed in November. Most of the committee's projections, in respect to population and building growths, materialized. The immediate needs listed in their plans were long ago realized--proof that they planned accurately and well.
    One of their main goals was to keep Medford and Ashland "ideal residential cities" while at the same time acknowledging that "provincialism is on the way out."
    Fearing that a postwar city with an "alley-type recreation, gambling joints, slums and an undesirable population" would evolve in a carryover of wartime momentum, the committee threw up constructive roadblocks.
    The personnel of valley leadership has changed greatly during the more than 20 intervening years. Death displaced at least six members of the Committee of 15.
    The atmosphere, too, has changed. Pollution of the air has been thickened by the increase in industries and population. Scientific advances have been made, but none has changed the natural air inversion which causes smog to sling in a dark ceiling over the valley.
    However, as the committee predicted, Southern Oregon cities are places where people "like to live." The men of the armed forces did return to Jackson County, and "the many people of independent means," expected to join a westward migration to the Rogue Valley, have come to call it home. The population of the county has grown from 36,213 to 92,100.
    Conditions have not reached the "cultural, aesthetic and sanitary" goals, the committee members set, perhaps, but the "educational and recreational facilities" have expanded beyond their expectations.
    Verification has been given to the committee's belief that "the county adjacent to and within the zone of influence of this community is one of the greatest recreational areas in the world."
    Jackson County has added to its administration, under the Parks and Recreation Commission, 17 parks, waysides and sites for recreational development during the past seven years. A number of the larger parks are divided into several sites, bringing the number of recreational areas to a much larger figure.
    The Medford residential survey, conducted for the report by Mark Goldy, now of Rogue Valley Manor, showed approximately 4,000 homes in the city and a population of 11,281. There are now 7,788 residential water connections, and a population of 29,405. The water connections do not account for the multiple living within apartments.
    A pertinent question included in the residential survey was, "How soon after the production of automobiles is resumed do you contemplate buying one?" More than half the persons answering the questionnaire replied, "As soon as possible." Apparently they have kept right on buying cars, for at the end of 1965 there were 62,175 vehicles owned in Jackson County, the State Highway Department reported, or two cars for every three people.
    Estimating the postwar requirements in Jackson County, Paul Rynning, now retired as county surveyor and engineer, presented the county and state road, highway and bridge program contemplated for this area. He also listed, as the most immediate need, a new county farm home and hospital building. The 1944 structure he described as a "firetrap," and estimated the cost of a new building at $100,000.
    The present Jackson County Farm Home and Hospital was one of the first projects undertaken following the war. It was completed in 1949 at an approximate cost of $235,000, according to court journals.
    The highway, road and bridge program advanced by Rynning so far exceeded the expectations of 1944 that it would be impossible to give a corollary.
    In 1954, when there was a definite increase in funds received by the county from Oregon and California railroad lands, the county court decided to launch a crash program in construction of needed bridges. The O and C funds, formerly used only for maintenance, were diverted into capital improvements. The county now has 690 stream-crossing structures, including bridges and culverts. The county has 936 miles of road constructed with 60 percent of the roads covered with some type of paved surface. The other 40 percent will be converted to paved surfaces at the rate of 20 miles per year, according to Robert Carstensen, county engineer.
    The late E. H. Hedrick, superintendent of Medford Schools, and William J. Cooney reported the postwar plans of Jackson County's servicemen, of which there were 4,600. They found through questionnaire that 95 percent of those who could be contacted planned to return to Jackson County and that 1,400 hoped to go on to school.
    The subcommittee recommended that universities and colleges provide courses necessary to meet the needs of the veterans and that Medford and Ashland high school facilities and educational information [be] set up to help veterans decide their future courses.
    The uncertainties noted by the two men in predicting educational needs were: "We do not know how long the war will last, we do not know how rapidly men will be discharged, we do not know how fast the industry of the country will reconvert to [a] civilian basis."
    The five major goals listed for Medford by Frank Rogers, then city superintendent, in a public works survey have been met.
    First was a complete new street lighting system on Main, Sixth and certain adjoining streets. The lights in 1944 were incandescent. Now, mercury vapor lights illuminate these streets.
    Given second priority was enlargement of the city disposal plant. The old disposal plant on Crews Road was abandoned and the Camp White sewage disposal plant was acquired from the U.S. Army. Indicative of the valley's growth is the much-publicized realization that sewage disposal is still a number one problem in Jackson County.
    A new intercepting sewer on the east side of Bear Creek was included by Rogers as the third greatest need for improvement of the city after the war. This interceptor was installed, according to recently retired City Manager Robert Duff. Now it is overloaded.
    The fourth goal for Medford was "extensive development of flood control on Bear Creek," specifically the combining of Crooked and Hansen creeks and provision of drainage ditches to prevent flood water from coming into the city. It has been met with the underground conduit west of Kings Highway. Crooked Creek, however, should be brought into Bear Creek south of the present location to completely ease this problem, Duff said.
    The fifth project in Rogers' summary was "replacement of the Jackson Street bridge." This was done and bridges have been constructed at 10th, Eighth and Fourth streets crossing Bear Creek, Vernon Thorpe, now in charge of public works, pointed out.
    Thorpe came to Medford in 1945 to implement the program launched soon after the 1944 report was made. The city was then composed of 2,000 acres. It encompasses between 7,300 and 7,400 acres today.
    Robert G. Fowler, for many years Jackson County agent, made the rural survey for the planning committee. Questionnaires sent out revealed that farmers then, as now, considered "more and better criticism" and "better marketing facilities" as the outstanding needs to increase agricultural income. The need for irrigation has been met with the Talent project and its various divisions and will continue to be met with congressional assurance of completion of the Rogue Basin Project.
    On the subject of transportation, the committee in 1944 was more optimistic than many civic leaders are today, [as] these words indicate: "Rail freight facilities will be sufficient with the practically assured air transportation facilities this community will have. With the preference of the public for air passenger service, this community need not fear the lack of rail passenger service." (No one then envisioned a time when United Air Lines would be petitioning to withdraw service from Medford.)
    A. S. Cummins, as head of the subcommittee on industrial planning, was not overly optimistic regarding the future. Basing his findings on "cold facts," he concluded that Jackson County had little to offer "outside rich capital" in the areas of transportation, labor supply, natural resources and proximity of markets.
    "Climate alone" he listed as an asset to industrial planning. He also suggested that the people of Jackson County "should discard their provincialism and adopt a more tolerant attitude toward people of different races and creeds. Jackson County needs new blood badly," he wrote, "and unless we intend to rock along as we have for the past 20 years we must open this area to other groups that have contributed so greatly to the progress of other sections of this country."
    The committee, at the same time, emphasized the possibilities of increasing lumber byproducts, contending that "lumber manufacturing cannot be expanded if timber is harvested properly and without diminishing a permanent stable supply. However, there is great opportunity for expanding the wood products manufacturing payroll through conversion of the lumber into remanufacturing."
    Two local firms to date have taken advantage of this opportunity. They are Cascade Wood Products and Medford Moulding, both of White City. Several plants engage in what is categorized as "cut stock," but only the two ship a manufactured product out of the valley.
    The timber crop of the future has commanded much more attention during the past 20 years. The first tree farm was certified in about 1941. There are now 30 in Jackson County.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 11, 1966, page B1