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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.