THE DALLES WEEKLY CHRONICLE, SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1895.
The Weekly Ghfoniele.
THK DALLES
ORKOOM
Entered at the postoffice at The Dalits, Oregon,
as necoDd-claa mall matter.
STATE OFFICIALS.
a jvernoi W. P. lord
Secretary of State H K Kineaid
Treasurer Pblllip Metwshan
Bur.t. f Publlo Instruction G. M. Irwin
Attorney-General C. M. Idleman
... ' G. W. McBride
B,Dtor J. H. MltcheU
1 B. Hermann
Congressmen A w. E. Ellis
Bute Printer . ... .W. H. Leedh
COCNTY OFFICIALS.
aw J
8beritf,.
Clerk
Treasurer
Commissioners . . .
Assessor. .4..............
Rnpvftvnr -
Superintendent of Public BohooU.-.Troy Shelley
Urnnr W. H. Butts
....Geo. C. Blakeley
,. T. J. Driver
A. M. Kelsay
Wm. Mtohell
Frank Kineaid
A. 9. Blowers
..F. H. Wakefield
K. r. snarp
five years yield a return of 1300,000, and
within ten years doable or triple that
amount. . While we epeak thai of win
ter apples, do not for a moment imagine
that the only fruit that can be, or is
in-own here. We have mentioned the
winter apple because that is a fruit tha
can be harvested .at leisure and sold
when the owner irets readv to sell; bat
all varieties of apples do .well. Th
Gravenstem. the kins of all summer
apples, grows to perfection, as do all
varieties, and in '93 a carload shipped
to Omaha was sold on sight at $1.50 per
box, or' bushel, netting the shipper 80
cents.. Pear are a certain crop, yielding
OLD WASCO COUNTY,
a nv
BRIEF FACTS CONCERNING
ITS RESOURCES. ,
Fruits, Fish, Farm and ForestsShe
Has Them All, and Unlimited
Water Power.
FISH. .
As puggested in the beginning of this
skeK-h the fishing industry is a large
one, and the.airount of money made at
it,' under favorable circumstances, is
fabulous. There are two modes of fish
ing on the middle Columbia one the
nsual one followed elsewhere, the gill
net, and tbe other peculiar to the loca
tion, and admissible only where there
is n good current. The latter is by what
a known as the fieh wheels, and these
in turn are divided into two kinds, the
stationary and tbe scow wheel. As the
mode is somethiug new, we will devote
a email space to its description ;
The fish wheel is simply three wire
dip nets mounted on a wheel, which is
turned by the foice of the current. The
wire screen, of which the net is com
posed, is a part of the wheel itself, act
ing as a paddle. The wire is put on
diagonally to the radius, and three nets,
or screens, compose the wheel. On the
scows these are fastened at the rear end
of tbe boat, tbe nets striking tbe water
at the up-stream side, dipping down
stream. As the fish are caught running
up to their breeding grounds, tbe net
gathers them in, and as It lilts rolls
them towards the center of tbe wheel,
finally emptying them into an inclined
'chute, down which the slide into the
scow. These scows and wheels cost
$500 to 1,000. They are generally
anchored at some point at the bead of
an eddy, which tbe salmon seek to avoid
the current. The amount of fish they
will catch in a day, with a good ran, is
-almost Deyona belief. .Last summer a
-wheel of this kind was left running over
night at tbe upper Cascades, near the
western boundary of this county, with
so one to watch it. The salmon were
running well, and in the morning tbe
owner, going to bis wheel, was sur
prised to find it sunk. It had caught
salmon enough to sink' the scow, proba
bly fifteen tons in twelve hours. This
of course was during an unusually good
run of fish. The stationary fish wheel
works on tbe same principle as the
scow wheel, but bring built on tbe bank
where it is exposed at high water to a
tremendous current, is a much more ex
pensive matter, costing from $3,000 to
7,0lK.
There are two canneries in the county
. where the salmon are preserved one at
Seufert's, three miles east of The Dalles ;
the other in the city. The latter was
built this spring, and the season that
has just opened (April 10th) it began its
first ran. The other has been in opera
tion several years. Last year, owing to
the extreme high water, although the
season ends August lOtb, and the can
nery did not begin operations until June
10th, 36,000 cases, of forty-eiifht pounds
each, were packed. These fish were all
caught near tbe cannery, and hundreds
of tons more would have been caught if
the cannery could have handled them
.Besides tuts, proDaoiy twice as many
fish were caught near the Cascade (this
county) and shipped a few miles down
the river to tbe Warrendale cannery.
Generally many carloads are sent East
in refrigerator cars, and sold fresh in
the eastern cities. The sturgeon fisher
! ies, although on a much smaller scale,
yield considerable revenue. The Col
umbia sturgeon grow to immense size,
an 800-pound fish being no great rarity,
and 1,100 pounds' being sometime,
reached. The latter business requires
no capital, but a boat and lines, proba
bly $100. " ' '
POPULATION ANI VALUES.
The population of the county by the
last census was a trifle less than 10,000.
The Dalles, tbe county seat, is a pretty
little city of about 3,500 inhabitants and
is one of the best and thriftiest business
points in the state. . It has two national
banks and one private one, with plenty
of capital. Four commodious hotels.
Two newspapers, Tbe Dalles Chronicle,
1 1 1 1, I iL.ffl!
to 1100.000. A steamboat line, owned
by citizens of The Dalles, plies the Col
umbia : daily to Portland, making a
transfer at Cascade Locks (this county)
fortyfour miles down the river. Al
though we have excellent train service,
this line of boats serves to keep both
passenger and freight rates at a mini
mum, giving The Dalles cheaper rates
proportioned to distance than any point
an the river, and putting her in a post
lion to control a large interior Hade.
The county has a floe brick court
house, costing 30.000. It has a debt of
$43,000. The tax rate county .and
state, varies from 18 to 21 mills. Its
roads are good, and solid and substan-abundantly, and the Bartletts are super
tial bridges are provided wherever nec- I ior in color and flavor to any California
eseary on the same. Tbe assessed yalu- I ever produced. Prunes will also soon
ation of the county, made on or about a prove an important crop, many young
40 per cent basis, is $3,450,000: but this orchards now growing being planted
will be lareelv increased in the near after experiments bad demonstrated
future, owing to the issuing of patents that they yielded well and were finely
to lands recently forfeited from the flavored. Plums and cherries ar botb
Northern Pacific railroad,' and which certain crops,' and" the trees bear enor
consisted of every odd section for a dis- mously. Peaches grow finely, but are
tance of forty mile back from the river not a certain crop, many years being a
and the full length of the county, total failure; but when they do bear,
These lands were non-taxable, as long the trees seem to try to make op for de
as they remained unforfeited. There is ficiencies by producing a phenomenal
a large area of government lands in the crop,
countv subject to homestead, but of All smrll fruits do well here, and the
course they are some distance back strawberry is quite an important one,
from tbe river. The United States land not less than $30,0000 worth being sold
office is located here, a source of great annually. Hood Eiver and Mosier are
convenience to intending settlers. las yet tbe principal points at which
the fruit belt. they are raised, both being on the line
As we have shown, the wool and sal- of the railroad, a necessary condition to
. . ... - I . . .... . i . mi
mon industries yield annuallv from tne snipment oi mis tenaer iruit. xne
$750,000 to $1,000,000. The stock ship- variety grown for shipment, and which
ments, which include, of course, the is the most perfect berry in the world is
country south of us and not in this the Clark's beedling. It is a deep red,
county, will amount to $300,000 more, highly epauletted, solid to the core, and
and our wheat will swell this to a grand a phenomenal shipper, this latter qual
total of $1,250,000. Yet notwithstanding ity giving it its principal value. These
tbe vast total, tbe fact is plain that in a berries find their market in the mining
few tears one other industry, at present towns of Montana, Denver and in Kan-
in its infancy, but a growing giant, will sas City and other far eastern points
yield a revenue greater than all that
from all other sources combined. Tnat
is the fruit industry. Wasco county,
although only a few years ago not
ranked as a iruit producer4, stands today
confessedly the best fruit county in tbe
At tbe Columbian exposition at Chicago
tbe Clarkes Seedling took the premium
over all other berries, even though they
had been four days in an express car
and had traveled 2,000 miles. They
bring good prices, too, and in '93 many
state. The climate and rainfull are per- of tbe patches yielded $400 to $500 an
feet for the growing of winter apples, sere net. In this connection it might
and this fruit will eventually place her be proper to add that we refer to tbe
in the front rank financially. year 1893, because in 1894 the unprece
The western boundary of the countv dented high water of the Columbia
- i
being, as we have stated, tbe summit of washed away miles of the railroad along
tbe Cascade mountains, it is also tbe I its banks, which was not rebuilt until
limit of the excessive rainfall of Oregon, I fall, so that for berries and other fruits
which commences to decrease at that I the market was cut off.
point, and by the time the agricultural I When one realizes the area here tbat
portion of the county is reached it is I is peculiarly adapted to tbe growing of
just right. Commencing at the Hood fruit, which in this connty at a low es
River valley, which opens to the Col- timate is 100,000 acres, and also the
ambia, 22 miles west of Tbe Dalles, and amount of money produced per acre, it
which is one of the best known fruit is easily seen that as the hills are set to
sections of the state, the fruit belt ex- orchards a vast amount of money will
tends to tbe east along the Columbia be returned. Acre for acre the winter
river, and as the mountains give place apple orchard is more valuable tban the
to the prairies, follows around the foot- orange or lemon orchards of California,
hills to the south, and extends across and besides there is not the same diffi
the county to tbe Deschutes river. Ap- culty in handling them. The orange
pie trees generally bear in . from four to and the lemon mast be sold at once ;
six years, according to variety, and tbe the winter apple is a friend that will
kitchen orchards, about all that were wait for you in tbe cellar, and will not
planted until a few years ago, hare go back on you because you leave him a
never been known to fail of a crop in few days on the tree. Santa Clara
the thirty years since the first were county, California, with 36,000 acres of
planted. The crop is sure, and the orchards, last year sold $6,200,000 worth
market in the United States for this of fruit. There is no reason in the world
kind of apples has never yet been over- why Wasco county in a few years should
supplied. Orchard lands are cheap in not produce at least as much.
the wild state, the principal cost being
in preparing them forcultivation. They
will run in value from $2.50 per acre to
$50, according to amount of improve
ments, location, distance from market,
etc. The trees are generally set about
108 to the acre, and are carefully culti
vated, potatoes and other crops being
raised between the rows.
While it takes time and work to grow
an orchard, yet it is safe to say that tbe
first crop will pay for the land, the
planting of the orchard and the cultiva-
il n. We call to mind a case in Hood
transportation facilities.
daily and semi-weekly, and tbe Times
Mountaineer, daily and weekly. Its
stores are the finest in the state, outside
the city of Portland, some of them car
rying stocks of goods valued at $75,000
One of the most vital questions to
every community is its transportation
facilities.. Wasco county has settled
that. Up to three years ago tbe only
transportation company was the Oregon
Railway & Navigation Company, oper
ating a line down the south bank of tbe
Columbia. Forty-four miles below The
Dalles thia great river is obstructed by
impassable rapids, there being a fall of
26 feet in a quarter of . a mile. As the
O. R. A N. had no opposition, both
river valley of one farmer, Mr. John freight and passenger rates were high
Sweeny, who planted two acres of orch- Oiviug to this, a corporation was formed
ard on a hillside, not suitable lor other know as The Dalles, Portland and Asto
crops. It yielded a few apples the ria Navigation Company, which put a
fourth year, and the fifth year produced fine steamer on the middle Columbia,
its first crop. The trees were the White plying in connection with the Dalles
Winter Pearmain variety, and the City, a fine boat on tbe lower river. Of
apples were sold to a dealer in the trees course there was a transfer to be made,
for 70 cents a box. Tbe crop netted Mr. but the state generously stepped in and
Sweeny $184 an acre. The land was constructed a portage railroad about
taken up by him, but could have been three-quarters ot a mile long, so that
bought in its wild state for $10 an acre; freight could be transferred cheaply and
its clearing cost about $30 more an acre, quickly. As a result, freight rates were
and its care and cultivation for five reduced one-half and passenger rates
years, at a generous estimate, $50, or almost as much.
a tAtal of $90. This left him as the net The government several years ago be-
profit on his venture, $94 for five years, gan tbe construction of a canal and locks
or almost $20 an acre a year, and all for to overcome the obstructions. Two
the first crop. The second crop was years ago the completion of the work
grown on tbe same land last year, and was let by contract, and in less than a
although we have not tbe figures at year this grand work will be completed
hand, we are told by his neighbors that so that steamers from tbe lower river
it far exceeded the crop of the first year, can reach us. These works have cost
This is but one of countless cases that $3,500,000. and are pronounced by engi
could be quoted. . , neers the finest piece of work of the
It is only within the past five or six kind in the United States. The corn
years that orchards were begun to be pletion of this work will make The
planted for other purposes than to sup
ply the home demand. . .Then some
small orchards were set with a view to
making fruit-growing a business instead
of a side issue. It was begun at first on
a smill scale, a few acres being planted
at a time, but the Idea has gained
ground, as a few of these smaller orch
ards began to bring in such handsome
returns, until now young orchards of
twenty, thirty and forty acres are not
uncommon. As these begin to bear,
the quantity Wasco, county will ship
will be surprising. We have no doubt
but that the winter apple will within
Dalles a "terminal point," giving us the
benefit of . through rales from the East,
and will thus put our city in a position
to compete with Portland for the whole
sale trade of a large territory. At the
same time it will give us very low rates
on our wheat and other products, to the
seaboard. As it is, The Dalles is now
the best market of any place in Eastern
Oregon. Wheat brings ten cents more
a bushel, simply because the freight
rates are that much lower, and they are
that much lower owing to the opposi
tion line of boats. They will be lower
still when the canal and locks are fin
ished and cargoes can be shipped with
out the expense of re-handling at the
portage. ' . .";."' ' ' ".
t WATER POWER.
;;. Wasco county has nnlimited water
power, not to speak of th rapids of the
Colombia, which has a fall of 70 feet
in nine miles ending, three miles east
of us,' but which would require consid
erable capital to control. Deschutes,
a fine river 200 miles long, which drains
the eastern slope of the Cascades, has a
rapid fall, and Hood river, a stream ris
ing in the glaciers of Mount Hood, falls
6,000 feet in thirty miles, and for the
last twelve miles of its course falls
seventy-five feet to the mile, and is of
volume sufficient to furnish 2,500 horse
power for' each twenty feet fall. These
streams will eventually be used to bring
the timber from the mountains, and at
the same time will furnish the power to
manufacture it into lumber. , And while
speaking of the timber it may not be
out of place to add that the immense
forests of hem'ock on the heads of these
streams will furnish nnlimited quantl
ties of bark for tanning purposes.
MANUFACTORIES.
The immense amount of wool received
here naturally suggests that it would be
a fine place for a scouring mill, which i
unaooDteaiy would ; and this is an in
dustry that will soon be established
here,' as the opportunity is too good to
long remain open. There is, besMes
room for numerous other factories,
woolen mid ought to have been running
long ago, and only tbe great difference
in wages between the Pacific and Atlan
tic coasts has prevented it. As wages
are gradually equalizing themselves
throughout the country, this objection
is not now tenable We already have a
fine roller mill, producing 100 barrels of
flour daily, if run to its full capacity
but there la room for more, as the sup
ply of wheat is unlimited and the local
market utilizes the bran and shorts,
cannery is another necessity, to use up
the surplus fruits and vegetables ; and
a soap factory would find plenty of ma
terial and a good market. We have i
fine packing establishment, its prod
acta ranking high and not beginning to
supply the demand.
A flume from the mountains brings
large portion of the wood supply and
lumber for the local market. At its
head are vast forests of hemlock, the
bark of which is the very finest for tan
ning purposes; and as there are hun
dreds of dry hides shipped from here
East and brought back again in the
shape of manufactured products, it is
evident that a tannery; and with it
shoe and harness factory, would be
profitable investments. Indeed, the
field is a promising one, aud the above
are only suggestions in the line of what
might be done here.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
Our educational facilities are good, the
public schools ranking with those of any
city in the state. We have in The
Dalles 1,240 children of school age, and
an average attendance of about 800, and
sixteen teachers are employed. The
city owns two fine brick school houses
and three wooden ones. Besides there
the Catholics have here a fine boarding
school for girls.
The religious denominations are well
represented. Tho Congregationalism,
Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics and
Lutherans all have fine church build
ings, and the Baptists two. In thvse
lines the city is ahead rather than be
hind the great majority of cities of its
size.
climate.
The, climate is delightjul, the seasons
being distinctly marked, but running
neither to the extremes of heat nor cold.
The west wind, sweeping down over the
Cascades, reaches as laden with tbe
odor of cedar and. pine, making it of
peculiar , benefit to . those who . are
troubled with weak lungs. . Generally
tbe climate is considered a remarkably
healthful one. It is not true that we
had to import a corpse to start a grave'
yard, but it is true that persona do not
die of l an not more than once. Many
ho find life unbearable in the wet cli
mate of tbe coast, find relief at once on
coming to the dry climate of i-astern
Oregon. Another peculiarity is that
diseases absolutely refuse to become
epidemic. Diphtheria comes; it is an
isolated case. Scarlet fever it claims
seldom more than two subjects, and
neither is often fatal. Several times
within the past thirty years smallpox
has found its way here, bat in nearly
every case it was confiued to tbe person
wljo brought it, or, at the worst, to
those who were in the bouse with him.
Tbe death rate, shows that the percen
tage is as small here as any where in
tbe United States. The nights are al
ways, as elsewhere on the coast,' cool
and conducive to refreshing sleep.
TEMPERATURE. .
The climate is equable for the latitude,
the thermometer seldom going below
zero or above 94. In either case the ex
tremes are very short. Our extreme
cold weather seldom lasts more than
three or four days, and tbe same may be
Bald of the heat. The reason for this is
the prevailing wst winds coming from
the warm Japan gulf current, and famiK
iarly known here as "Chinook winds."
In the summer this wind is moist and
cool, and blows almost ateadily a gentle
breeze full of moisture, and beneficial
to all vegetation, almost taking the
place of rain. In winter it is compara
tively a warm wind, catting the snow J
rapidly, preventing any long period of j
cold. There is little or no rainfall after (
the 1st of June, and consequently there
is no rush' in harvesting. Tbe grain is
stacked unprotected in the fields until
ench times as it is convenient to thresh
it. Light rains in the fall etart the
graf-e, aud stock generally find plenty of
good pasturage nutil Christmas, and
many years go through the entire win
ter without being fed, but depending
entirely on what can be found on the
range.
- conclusion.
- What we have presented are the aim
pie facts, told in simple language. We
ask yon, if you are a honie-seeker, to
consider them, and consider them well,
and in the light of their application to
you. We ask you to cast your lot with
us ; and heie on the banks of the grand
Columbia, in the shadow of snow-capped
Hood, to mate your home. The time
is propitious, the opportunity ripe.
There is yet abundance of unimproved
land to be bad almost for the asking.
The west wind yet waves the bunch
grass on the hills, where ere many
years busy hands will have made happy
homes. Let yours be of. them. In a
short time it wih be too late. Soon our
fields and our hillsides will in the spring
be masses of orchard bloom, and the
air, now spicy with the healthful odor
of cedar and- pine, will be redolent of
blossom, and in the fall fragant with the
odor of ripened fruit. Embowered cot
tages, the homes of a happy, prosper
ous and contented people, will be on
every side; while white-winged Peace
and golden-robed Plenty shall be our
tutelary goddesses.
Doctor H. R. Fish, of Gravois Mills,
Mo., a practicing . physician of many
years experience, writes: De Witts
Witch Hazel Salve has no equal for in
dolent sores, scalds and barns. It stops
the pain instantly, heals a barn quickly
and leaves m scar. Snipea-Kinerslv
Drug Co.
Dr. Mtles'TfCRva PLARTamr-nra RTTRIIMA
FI8M. WEA K BACKS. At drumrttta. only tst
Dr. PIERCE'S
Golden Medical
DISCOVERY
Cares NInety-elgbt per cent, ot mO
cases of Consumption, In all Its
Earlier Stages.
Although by many believed to be incura
ble, there ia the evidence of hundreds of
living witnesses to the fact that, in all its
earlier stages, consumption is a curable
disease. Not every case, but a large per
centage of cases, and we believe, JullygS
percent, are cured by Dr. Pierce's Golden
Medical Discovery, even after the disease
has progressed so far as to induce repeated
bleediags from the lungs, severe lingering
cough with copious expectoration (includ
ing tubercular matter), great loss of flesh
and extreme emaciation aad weakness.
Do you doubt that hundreds of such casea
reported to us as cured by " Golden Med
ical Discovery " were genuine cases of that
dread and fatal disease ? You need not take
our word for it. They have, in nearly every
instance, been so pronounced by the best
and most experienced home physicians,
who have no interest whatever in mis
representing them, and who were often
strongly prejudiced and advised against
a trial or ' Golden Medical Discovery,"
but who have been forced to confess that
it surpasses, in curative power over this '
fatal malady, all other medicines with
which they are acquainted. Nasty cod
liver oil and its filthy "emulsions" and
mixtures, had been tried in nearly all these
cases and had either utterly failed to bene
fit, or had only seemed to benefit a little for
a short time, extract oi malt, whiskey.
and various preparations of the hypophos
phites had also been faithfully tried in vain.
Jine pnotograpns ot a large numDer ot
those cured of consumption, bronchitis,
lingering coughs, asthma, chronic nasal
catarrh and kindred maladies, have been
skillfully reproduced in a book of 160
pages which will be mailed to yon, on re
ceipt of address and six cents In stamps.
Address for Book, World's Dispensary
Medical Association, Buffalo, N. Y.
The Wasco Warehouse Co. have on
sale at their warehouse Seed Wheat,
Feed Wheat, Barley, Barley Chop, Oats
and Hay. Are sole agents in The Dalles
for the now celebrated Goldendale roller
mills flour, the best flour in tbe market
aud sold only in ton lots or over. V-tf
Closing Out Sale
of DRY GOODS
CLOTHING. FURNISHING- GOODS,
BOOTS, SHOES, HATS and CAPS.
Past or present values cut no figure, as goods
MUST be SOLD LESS than COST.
The C P. and P. D., French Woven, Hand-Made, Dr.
Warner's Health, Coraline, French Model and other make
of Corsets will be closed out at extremely low prices. Call
and be convinced. You will be surprised at our low prices.
J. P. McINERNY.
Hi There I
o
Men's Straw Hats,'
Boys' Straw Hats,
Misses' Straw Hats,
Ladies' Straw Hats.
Largest Assortment in the City.
. ROBERT E. WILLIAMS,
Blue Front Store, ' Opposite Diamond Mills.
Blakeley & Houghton,
DRUGGISTS,
75 Second Street, - The Dalles, Oregon
r
A full line of all the Standard Patent Medicines,
Drugs, Chemicals, Etc. .
. ARTISTS MATEEIALS.-.'
Country and Mail Orders will receive prompt attention.
RUPERT & GABEL,
Wholesale and retail manufacturers and dealers in
''.".
Harness, Saddles, Bridles, Collars,
TENTS and WAGON COVERS,
And all Articles Kept in a First Class Harness Shop.
REPAIRING PROMPTLY DOSE.
Adjoining E. J. Collins & Co.'a Store,
ORBOON.