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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1906)
TRAHSPORTAIIOH FMIflltf. m No Valley on me Pacifc (oast and Few in the United States. Have Transportation facilities Equal to Those T of the Orande Ronde 4 r au mm Resources end Advantages tf Grande Ronde Valley North Powder, North Powder la a town of over 400 population, located on the Powder river 20 i.ill-s south of Le Grande. It has a live weekly newspaper, a bank. . and aaw mill, besides a number of tore There are several large tock ranches nearby. In the vicinity pre Nome Itnpor ant mining properties. Island City. Inland City, two mites from La Orande, is the home of the Pioneer Mill and the Island City Mercantile Milling company, one of the Urgent mercantile enterprises of tlie valley. It Is an Incorporated town wltn a population of about 300 and Is ad mirably located on the Flgln branch of the O. R. & N. line alongside the urHiiue Konrte river. Thers Is a fine brick school house, and the full state Course. Including the eleventh grade. Is tau?ht. Is'anJ City has an ade quate water system, which affords am ple fire protection. Imbler. Imbler, a town on the Elgin branch, lias about S00 people, several stores, a large flouring mill, a planing mill, grain warehouses, blacksmith rioo, te. Educational facilities are decid edly good. It Is a thriving 'Ittle place, la about the center of the valley. - i wr -srTr-'-t.'--- vr TURNING THE SOD IN THE Wheat and beets are raised e'enslve ly In this vlrlnlty In fact, there Is scarcely an acre of waste land In this part of the Grande Untitle. A number of new orchards haw been uet out, and the trees are doing extra well. The older orchards are all money-makers. Alicel. Allcel has about 100 people. It Is surrounded by wheat and other grain fields, and has large warehouses. It, too, Is located on the Elgin branch. Allcel has a fine public school, and Is In the center of a populous district. Niblsy. Nlbley Is Ihe baby town of the valley In point of ate, but already numbers about 100 penp'e. It Is located In a rich farming district. Perry. The Orande Ronde Lumber com pany's mill Is locaied at Perry on the O, R. N. main line, and the Grande Ronde river, three miles west of T.a Orande. Perry has about 100 Inhabit ants and a well-stocked store. Is con ducted there. It Is essentially a saw mill town. Hilpsrd. Eight miles west of Iji Grnnrte on he river and ral'road Is Hllgnrd, a LOCOING SCENE IN BIRDSETE VIEW aw mi l town of about 260 people. There Is a hotel, a store, saloon, black smith shop, etc. The town Is In the heart of the lumber section of Union "o inty. Several saw mills are operat ed In and near the town. STOCK HOR8E8, CATTLE AND 8WINE THRIVE HERE GREAT IM PROVEMENT OF STRAIN3 IN HtCtNT YEARS DAIRYING. Cattle-raising was at one time tne chief Industry of this section, fostered am encouraged as It was ,by the abundance nf natural forage grasses, he unlimited supply of pure water, and Ihe mild climate. Until lit the "80b II! tie attention was paid to the quality of catt'e raised, numbers be In? the object There was ample free paaturage up to about that time. With "Vvy 1 GRAN .IE RONDE VALLEY. the development of farms the rane cattle were forced back Into the hills, and ihe reduction of herds led to an Improvement of the breeds. In 190S Union county had 17,418 cattle, most of them, however, being graded stock. Hen-fords, Shorthorns and other thoroughbred cattle now predominate, and cattlo-rainers are all prosperous. Hundreds of fnrmers maintain dairy herds. Ilmllng a cash market for the cream at 1m Grande, Union and North l'owcl-r creameries, which are all modern buttcr-muklng p ants. In the nuiure of things, the dairy Interests are yearly becoming of more Importance. No section of the state has finer horses than are seen In the Grande llonde Valley. In etri ly days much at tention was paid to running a ock, and there Is still a considerable demand for sndd'e horws, but of late years breeders are most Interested In trot ting and ilnift animals. Standard bred trotting horsi. Pcrcherons. Clydesdales, and French and English coach horses are raised In ever In ereaslng numbers. The high-class horses used by va'l -y f:irmers Is a subject of favorable comment on the UNION COUNTY WOODS. MS OP L GRANDE part of all visitors to this section. Th-re a'e no better or cheaper hay foods than alfalfa and wheat, and as these are both grown to advantage In the Grande Ronde Valley, this branch of stock-raising is naturally qui e general. Swine are healthy in this valley, and hog-raising Is decided ly profits b e. While sheep do well, they require an Immense acreage for pasture, and this branch of the stock Industry Is waning. Only a few thousand sneep row remain in Union county. I : I - U' HERD OF JERSEY CATTLE IN THE GRANDE RONDE. WM RONDE VALLfY HAS FERTILE FARMS i r:zrj .... .'Vr.t 7" .. . , . . STACKING A LFA LFA IN THE GRAND RONDE VALLEY. Cordltlons favor diversification of crops In the Orumle Ronde Val'ey for both soil and cllumte suit a wide va riety of products. Th soil is rich In all the elements of fi rtl I y. It Is a black, sandy loam. eaclly tilled, nnd contains that admix ture of decomposed lava which rend ers It remarkably" retentive of moist nie. Owing to this fac; the rains, tr sulllrlenily copious at some time of the year, need not be speclu'ly opportune In onler to produce abundant crops. Timely rains lire how ver. the rule. Whl'e desirable. Irrigation 1h not esen ial to successful farming. al though it undoubtedly Is a valuable adjunct. Already a considerable ttereng- is under ditch, and plans are now being matured that will bring wa er to the major portion of the val'ey lands. Wheat, oats, bar'ey. hi.y.sugar beets, vegetables, fruits and b rrles are the principal crops. Corn, the great stapte of the middle west, receives little at tention here. The yield of wheal, oats and bar ley per sere are frequently enormous. Large tracts of land have averng 'd 80 bushels of wheat to the acre, and In stances or 10 bushels of oats and bar ley are by no means rare. Such yields are, of course, above the general aver age of the valley, which is. however, very hlsh. In the production of hay, no locality , In Ore;on svirpasi'8 this valley. -fne hay brines a premium over the com mon mark t price becausv of Its high quality. Grain, aifa fa timothy and wl:d grasses are cured In great quan t'tles every year. The annual na crop reaches about l.'o.OOO tons. Location of Union County, Oregon Union county Is situated In the northeastern part of he state of Ore ion and contains about ninety town ships or 2,000,000 acres of land. An Idea of Its extent may be better ap- i predated when H Is known that this Is hree times the size of the state of Rhode Is'and and nearly double that of Delaware. The population of the county Is about 20,000. - v'.w: - .t: , ...... ... Sugar b-ets have become an lm por ant farm product since the estab lishing of the big beet sugar factory at Iji Grande. The yield per acre Is ! heavy, and the quality of the beets exce'lent. The warm days and cool nights of this valley tend to the de velopment of unusual quantities of sugar in th - beets. The heat of mid day deve ops succharlne matter In the i leaves nnd he cool nights, by caus ! lug contraction, force It down into . th roots. There Is a magnificent fu ! ture for su;ar beet culture here, and, i as a pursuit open to the farmer, it Is j second in profit only to frult-ralslng. Potatoes tomatoes and garden veg -tables generally do well here, and his Is a'so true of small fruits, straw her les. raspberries, gooseberries, cur rants, etc., all of which are of notably tine navor. A separate article In this edition Teats of apples and cherries, which are the chief commercial fruit crops. Peaches, pears and plums are also rals d to some extent. The demonstration of the returns from Intensive farming has had Its effect In showing the real value of Grand Ronde Valley lands, ana the t -ndency now is toward small farms. True the major part of the land Is owned by a comparatively few men, but they are becoming aware of the fact that this land Is entirely too well adapted to fruits, bee s, vegetables, etc.. to be profitably held In wheat fields, nnd are s lllng small- tracle to those desiring same. The day is fast approaching when a 50-acre farm will be considered large, ami already many are content with 20 or 30 acres. 11J Elsewhere in this edition Is an ar ticle on the Central Railway of Ore gon, now being built in the valley, which will tap every Important point, and become probably the most Im portant feeder of the O. R. 4 N. The transcontinental system of rail roads, known popularly as the "Harrl- man lines," Includes the Oregon Rail way & Navigation companjrs road, which traverses the state from Port end to Huntington. It is the shortest transcontinental line, effecting a tlme avlni of ten hours from New York to Portland.. This road crosses the Grand Ronde Valley, and affords out lets through Its connections wiin mi parts of the United States. LA GRANDE A DIVISION POINT La Orande Is a freight division point and an Important one. Every 24 hours about 14 freight and four passenger trains get their orders at the aepoi and pull out east or west The following table shows the freight originating in the Grand Ronde Valley In a slnile year, that Is hand ea u llio O. li. it K. trains: Commodity. Carloads. Lumber 3.000 Wheat Outs and barley 0 Wood " Ir- BOO Fruit 250 Sugar 2 Po atoes 200 Hay Cattle 160 Hogs 100 Horses and mules 5 Total '."50 A LOO BOOM ON THE I Ideal Conditions in Union County Afford Sport for Anglers Th-re are few Indeed of the local readers of this edition who have not enjoyed the excellent trout fishing of this secilon. Many regard the hours spent In summer with rod and reel along the swift-flowing waters as the happiest In -their existence. The outing pleasures experienced on the beautiful and picturesque trout streams of this section are treasured memories of hundreds. It Is not alone the thrill of hooking and landing "a big fellow." on tackle that makes the fl-iht fair and even, (although this is the crowning Joy), but the mere being out In the open, the getting close to Nature and the mastery of her secrets that brings unforgetable pleasures to trout fishermen. Some there be whose only happiness lies In a full creel, and who bend every energy unceasingly toward the cap ture of the greatest possible number of trout In the shortest time. But they make work of spo t. and mtes much of the possible enjoyment of their outing. A reasonable number of trout should reward the ang er, but It Is not neces sary nor desirable to catch 100 or more In one day. Take time to look about you. If you would und-rstand this. There, did you see that mink slipping so ea,l'y through the thick underbrush on the edge of the stream? Watch him fearlessly turn and coolly regard you H Equal to 194 olld trains of 40 can each. This means a solid train load every other day on an average the year round. Of course, most of this freight is moved in the tall and- winter. The ral road payroll here is about $20,000 monthly. In the machine shopa and round house about 120 men are employed. There are some ISO men. In the operating force out of here engi-s neers. firemen, brakemen and train men generally. Then there is the de. pot force, the yard men. etc. Altogeth er about 360 railroad men live at La Grande. A new round house and shops to cost $200,000 is now being built, an4 on its completion the force will be ma terially Increased. Oil storage tanka are a'so to be erected and oll-burnlnf engines used exclusively In the near future. A branch rond connects with tha main line here and runs to Elgin. It was built In 1889. This brancn Is now being extended Into Wallowa county.?IQr Another extension will soon be built ' from Klein to Lewlton. Idaho, and thence to connect with the main line at he Columbia river. When com- ! pleted this wl'l lve the O. R. & N. i water grade t orn La Grande toPort- I land, and over it wl'l be sent most of I the heavy freight trains. The main line of the O. R.'& N the Elgin branch and the belt line of ' . .. - ,1, the Cenlral Kauway or Oregon win nffnrd this valley Id'eal transportation facilities, which could scarcely be more complete. Every part and por tion of he valley will have railroad conveniences. GRAND R ONDE RIVER. before he slips silently Into the pool below a fal en tree. What's that rustle you hear a short distance on the right. Investlsate, and the family of pheasants you discover will make you want to bring at least a 22-callbre rifle up here In the fall. What are these tracks in the wet sand alongside J this shndy pool? A deer has certain- " !y passed this way recently. It's a 1 Interesting. The language of the woods Is hard to learn, but close observation soon works wonders. In Union county alone there are over 400 miles of clear, swift trout streams, and w l h care and general Interest fishing can always be maintained a good as It Is today. In fact. It can be Improved. The Eastern Oregon Fish and Game apsoclatlon, organized October . 11. 1904, Is a most potent factor for the improvem-nt of fishing' and hunting. conditions. Your membership Is high- ly desirable, and your support is need ed. The membership fee Is only $1 yet every dol'ar helps In the good work of stocking streams, posting itame law warnings and maintaining a local game warden. During 1906, a million fish will be planted In the streams of Union county, and several hundred thousand will grow up to gladden the hearts of future fisher men. Every stream In this county will be annually stocked with brook and rainbow trout from the government hatcheries. Expense Is unavoidable. True the government delivers the fish) at railroad points, but they must then be taken to the streams and properly liberated. Surely no reader of this edition who fishes In Union county would be ao selfish as) to knowingly benefit from the commendable work of the associ ation without a desire to assist by paying dues of only $1 a year. The officers of the association are: II. J. Hock-'nberry. p-esldent; A. V. Andrews, vice president;' G. I Cleaver secretary, and C. T. Bacon, treasurer. Get a membership card from the sec retary before you go fishing again.
