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About The Medford mail. (Medford, Or.) 1893-1909 | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1906)
Section Two Pages 9 to 16 VOL XVIII. MEDFORD, JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON, FRIDAY, MARCH 9. 1906 NO. 10 EXECELLENT EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES ARE FOUND HERE Good, Healthy School Buildings, Advanced Methods, Progressive Teachers. OUR GOOD SCHOOLS AN INDEX The Condition of Our System of Schools in Building, Equipment, and Teachers, is a Fair Index of the Material Prosperity and Intellectual Culture of the Community. Tbe settlers of tbe Rogue River Val ley earl; showed tbe American 'proa t'ivlty for good schools, and there has never been a 'time since pioneer days when It was not possible for an ener getic young person to acquire -a good common school eduoation Inside of Jackson county. Almost every community -or the oounty today has reasonably good Bohool houses and many improvements are contemplated in the Immediate , about many things. The onsftoms future. Here in Medford in spite and manners aie more unsettled and of the action of the founders of tho:eo-tilianga more easily "than oldenand town, who, against a strong opposi-j more firmly establishes communities, tion df the old-time element, who There are both advantages and aisad could not see the wisdom of taking '"vantages growing outo'f this oondition precautions against tbe time when its of things. Disadvantages, lest we would be imperative to provide tor'fdllow whims and lads; advantages, the rising generation, -erected aiibecause wo can more easily leave off sohool building which is one of thejthe harmful and adopt the helpful. -ornaments of the city ills now found j that it will be necessary totake a Iodr look ahead and soon duplicate it. The fact of the matter is that It is now especially true in the western -etates. necessary to provide fonr additional 'The movement of populations has rooms to meet present requirements :been to the west, 'not always -along of tbe school ohlldien, and the matter parallel lines, but the Hues nave is now being debated as to whether itioroeeed So wo frequently null corn will be best to build another brick ' municies made up of people from buildlDg on the east sid.- of Bear! every state in the union with less creek, or to add to the present build- ' than fifty per cent of tbe whole popu ing to accommodate this number at , lation native to the state. The result rooms in one building Tbe people ! is we have a heterogenuous maBS to be will act wisely in tbe matter, as they, always do. Good schcols we must and! will have, and wbeu it is considered; that this is one of the strongest fao-: tors in drawing the attention of the best class of homeseekers, the local residents will not stop short of the ao tual best interests of the oity, looking to its rapid growth in the future. Our neighboring town of Central Point but recently voted twelve thous and dollars in bonds to provide a nice, briok school house, and the re s " , Garl T. JoneB, Clerk. Prof. Chas. Strang, President. ' , cent extensive transfers of realty in that neighborhood isconvlnoing prool of the fact that such action looked good to the intending settler. The new-oomer and the more progressive element among our oitizens oan always be counted on to do the right thing In such matters, In spite uf the vigor ous opposition of the "heavy" tax payers, who cannot see that tbe very thins wbloh they oppose so strenuous ly has a tendenoy to advance the value of the property on which tbey pay taxes. All the towns of the valley have tak en the same view of the educational fMtnm a lit MAHfaird. ami . tr proud of the conditions, whicn will Attract so many here tor 'the purpose of schooling their children. One of the tbrit questions which the settler or homcseeker asks 1b as to 'sohool faoiri tios, and this is what gives a large proportion of its vat tie to "close-in propert.'." Oregon as an organized community is only a little moie than flf ty years old In a sense there is a newness A new oommuuity is the best place for tbe development and carrying into elfect of new ideas i'his-aeems worked over into a community having definite, fixed characteristics But as tbe people, as a rule, are more progres sive and have better notiouBuf what a self governing oommuuity should be than those who oome from Europe into eastern states, so we may reason ably expeot a more rapid development and, shall it be said, a more deBirable sooiety in the western oities than we have In the eastern. There is muoh to improve, much to learn in any community. But the advantages are T M. B. Signs. M. Purdln 0. D. Owen with the western oity. And when some of them are celebrating their 200th anniversary, posterity 150 years henoe will be able to recount some in teresting tbings. Faults we may find nd should ex peot to find. But we think we find some things In which the peple may justly take pride, and for which their thanks are due to tbe men and women both teacher of former year and memben of the board of eduoation who labored to arduously and so well. Aa to equipment and sohool room appliances te boards of eduoation are potting for every effort possible to Dnwidi tha taaAhara with all that la TO PROSPERITY tieosssary for up to date Bohool Bys- toma. Fcr the past ten years a certificate of graduation from the Medford high school, oomplete in its twelve state courses during all that time, has ad mitted to the State University at Eu gene. This important fact haB fcr Borne years past drawn numerous stu dentB irom the oountry distriots to Medfoid's Public Medford and is in some ways account able for tbe present crowded condi tion of onr sohools. We have been particularly fortunate in the faot that neither nepotism nor politics has fig ured in our school system in the past and will not be allowed to do bo in the future. BeBide tne .excellent publio schools of the county, Jaoksun oounty has a nourishing state normal Bohool located at Ashland, which attracts students from all over'the Boutbem part of the state. Jackeon oounty oan Well be proud of tbe schools and of the pro gressive and competent oorpB of teach ers whioh conduct them. As stated above Medford'8 sohools are in an over crowded condition, so muoh so that overflow olaBBes are taught in another building seoured for the purpose, but this state of affairs wiU.be remedied In the near future. The number of children of school age in the district totals 700 and li teachers are employed to teach them. The total value of taxable property in Medfordschool district, acoordlng to the assessment of 1905 1b 81,060,616, upon which a levy of 4.5 mills has been made for school purposes. THE MARCH OF EVENTS The Rogue River Valley will Keep Pace ... .: with the Progress of the Times It'does not require the "sight of a eeer" to view the ohanged conditions whioh will surround the Kogue River Valley a decade hence. Every portion of tbe valley will be oonneoted with a system of turnpiked . highways, all hard and smooth, summer and winter, the streams - bridged with structures which will bear the weight of traotion engines or autoa, whioh will be a ne cessity in handling the fruit produced in the foothills. The towns of tbe valley, quadrupled in size, Medford the Queen City, of course, which towns will be sur rounded with; faotories, filled with busy empluyes, engaged in working up the timber of the upper valley for export,and every hour during months, a train load of lumber and manufact ured lumber products, leaving Med ford for the east and California points. All the large farms of the valley di vided into ten-aore tracts, each graced with a modern home and lighted with eleotrio lights and having free rural delivery and the farm telephone. Tbe greater portion of tbe valley reached by motor oars on a belt line, thread ing the valley and penetrating th hills. The sinuous outlines of pipe line after pipe-line, onrving over the ridges and bringing the fertilizing waters of -the higher cxteka to the thirsty orchards in the higher foot A oompettng transcontinental rail way system, penetrating the valley from the eaBt, and having a deep- water outlet at Port Orford, giving our fruits direct passage.to the Orient as well as the American east. Bisect ing also the great Klamath basin, de veloped into one of the greatest dairy and feeding seotlons of the United States, with ten times its present pop ulation. Penetrating, too, a fruit section at the head of the Rogue River Valley, oompared with which the lower valley is limited, on the present site of the big sugar pine tim ber. Here is a laige distrlot, com posed of the very best type of fruit land, rich and deep, a mixture of the red foothill soil and the volcanic ash, whioh .haB proven the best apple land, and with the added advantage of hav ing an abundauce .of water for all pur poses for irrigation. This tract is far and away the best traot of land adapted to Spitzenberg apples in the entire northwest, and has an advant age in the line of Bartlett pear land whioh few realize. It is here that Mr, School Building. J. H. Stewart, with bis years of ex perience, decided to plant a large pear orchard, forty mileB from the railroad, with the knowledge, that, before the trees beoame old enough to bear. that tranportatlon would be pro-. i .1 i ri i a . li pears in that neighborhood mature i-i v i 4.1 n k. bUlDi; WDTJILB lULHl bIJllU LUUBD Ul bUtl lower valley, wbloh gives the pears of tne upper oountry a .great advantage In the Xew York market, for just at the time they mature there is a short age of summer fruit In Now York and the ptioe for Bartlett pears always booms up to tne highest figure alter the produot of the rest of the north west is UBSd. Tbe importance of this will- be realized by all orohardmen. A Lawyer's Opinion of Our Valley. Publisher Medford Mails Enclosed find money order, etc. My brother and 1 were at tbe Port land fair and on our way through Ore gon we stopped olf at Central Point and oalled on our friend, S. K. Adams, of Table Kock. I am sorry now that we did not stop at Medford and Ashland, but got a good idea of Rogue River Valley and we liked it better than any other ' place that we stopped at and we stopped-at a good many plaoes, among others at North Takima, Washington, whioh is cele brated for Its fruit, yet we thought that taking everything into consider ation that we preferred Rogue River Valley. I don't like tbe name of your river. It is an insult to Providence to call such a productive region by any such name. But barring the name I was delighted with the valley. It has a more diversified production than must other western places. It is one place in Oregon where oorn can be grown. Of course yonr apples are very fine and your Spltzenbergs are more expensive than oranges in New York. My friend sent me copies of a number of newspapers published . In that region and I selected The Mall as being the most likely to give items from Central Point, Table Rock and vioinity, where I am the most inter ested. Truly yours, R. M. STOCKEK, Honeedale, Pa. If you have made the mistake of selling your birth-right by disposing of your young orobard just as it was ready to become a dividend payer, do not despair, but buckle on your armor and begin over again. There Is Jnst as good orchard land in this val ley available as ever was set You will have the benefit of your own and , your neighbor's experience and you will make bat few mistakes. THE FUTURE UF THE VALLEY ; ' - . . A Glimpse of What is in Store for Rogue River Valley It has always been tbe dream of the progressive agrloulturls; to surround himself with all the oomforts of city life and yet preserve intact the sturdy independence which has ever been the charm and tbe boart of the farm ers existence. Until reoent years it has always been an Iridescent dream. But it has oome true in the Rogue River Valley. Here, harnessed to a turbine, the foroes of nature embodied in running water, have been trans- mitted to the dooryard of the farmer and now enables him to equip house, i barn and workshop with electric lights, cheap and reliable power for pumping and the thousand and one purposes tor which It is wanted on the farm, and now indeed it is a luxury to live in tbe oountry. - The end is not yet ; for the great tratSo engen dered by the growth of the fruit in dustry makes it imperative that loopline belt eleotrio railway be con strncted in the immediate future, which will really make one great teatr ing town ot the entire valley, provio lug rapid inter-urbane communication and bringing the productive foothill irun oeit practically to tne ovenana ' dnnntn . r . . ttml ture(,.0urrns or tne exorDiiauc All over the oontiuent there Is a re-! obargl!a m&de foI thB be8t California Wulsion of sentiment baok to the farr UndB ,8 HUrlbutable to "climate." .from the city ward movement of the I Tq gugrt that the cash value of olimate -I last half century. But the re-awaken- , CaUfornlB 1b t.eo timea the value, i ing of the agrarian instinct does not I o( ner beat 1md(li The Kogue Rivor point tne way oaoa to tne tarni oi our; VuUey haB tne be8t ..Catrornia" cil fathers. It is alien to the hardships mut ' n. AnD., attA n,n ra M- and privations ot two generations baok which weaned our own age from the soil aud built up our oities out of all proportion to tbe agricultural element. . It la a movement, which, appropriating the best of urbane life, comes back to nature an rduoated child of nature, fitted to apply all tne amenities of civilization to tbe uatur- al life whioh man was intended topdaP180"1 10 t,!tcen81TB upeoiaiizea live. -A virile.sentient being who oan .farming, the modern fannei-'B portal bring to tbe oontoBt with the little tyrant of hiB fields all the knowledge oi nis own and former . ages, inteusl- ages, Han nnri ananln hvarl rrt mar. mnHarn r-n. . quirements, a being who will rekindle in nnstuTltv thn nvfl of hnmn whmh U " makeB an English gentleman tbe OFFICERS MEDFORD J. A. Perry, President. U. L. Davis, "lord of hismauor," and keeps the home In the family from father to son, from generation to generation, It Is a happy thing for tbe American people that this revivifying of our love of country comes at a time when cap ital Is free and ready tn enlist in the work of surrounding country homes with the oomforts and conveniences formerly Impossible exoept for tbe ur bane masses. It Is a particularly for tunate thing for tbe people of tbe Rogue River Valley that the capital ists consolidated Into tbe Condor Water & Power Company were at traced to this wonderfully fertile spot . , , ,, . . oar , glorloas surroundings and , balmy climate to inaugurate tbe work -7-. - ... r-. of proving what can be accomplished! In the betterment of oouutry life bjr the dissemination of power and light With their initial uuits installed at. Gold Ray in the lower valley, develop Ing some six thousand horse power it was found that the valley was read, to use all this generated power a nnnA. And with n lnnff lnnb- ahnAfi ttf the wants of a hundred years hence. the oompany seized upon the great falls at the bead of the river, excavat ing and blasting out a high line chan nel, carrying the waterB of the river from a point above the falls for a dis tance of three miles, where the whole volume takes a sheer drop of five hun dred feet back into the river ohannei. This will generate power sufficient to -operate the Southern Paolflo from the Sisklyous to Salem, and then Borne. At the present rate of development oi Southern Oregon its mines, its towns. Its timber, its horticultural and dairy lntOTe8t8i M tnl8 pow6r wlU be made - use of before a score of years goes by. E'er' that time elapses, the urbane -population, with 'its increasing de mands, will be ten times tbe present enumration ; every teu-aore traot iu the valley will be the site of a hand some home, equipped with lights, tank towers, and motors tor pumping plants, and thousands of household and farm uses. Eleotrio plants for oharglng latteritB for automobiles and 3pray engiueB will be scattered through toe valley. The very highways will be -illuminated by eleotrio lignts. , What is tne foundation for thes predictions? A recent writer on Call tornia,a olmral3 unhesitatingly statea I . ... ....... i oharglng anything for it. There ia no. part of California which will approach the Rogue River Valley in the aggre gate of attractions for the homooeek- . er, produotiveuess of soil, cheapness-: of good land, beauty of surroundings,, ahundanoe of water, gcod health, and to prosperity. How long will our lands, auuuully producing a greater ,.nn ,. n..n-i i - be priced at one-tenth of the cost of twnuruiu iuuub, wueru wo sumo iu California's best climate? COMMERCIAL CLUB. M. Purdin, Seoretary. Treasurer, Va&&&0e&&XH3 ANNUAL RAINFALL, Tbe averaee annual rainfall la about 21 inohes, which is suf ficient for moBt nuiposeB. Oood crops are raised without irrigation, duc ootter ones witn it. For tbe four yoais last past the lainfall has been as follows: 1902 20.05! 1903, 21.25) 1004, 23.01; 1905, 10.08. Tbe past year was tbe dry flat evor known, but what rain did fall came at op portune times and there wad nothing like a crop failure or i drouth. The River Valley Valley the Crcctn . of Creation.
