THE MEDFORD DAILY TRIBUNE, MED FORD, OREGON. MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 20. 1000.
Medford Daily Tribune
Official Paper of the City of Medford.
Published every evening except Sunday.
MEDFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY
George Putnam, Editor and Mauager.
Admitted as Second-Class Matter in the Postof f ice at
Medford, Oregon.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES :
One year, by mail $5.00Ono month by mail or carrier. .$0.;"0
The Tribune :s for snle by Hotel Portland News Stand, Portland; Or.;
Ferry News Etnnd, San Francisco, Cnl.
southern California, with Crater Lake and other unsur
passed seenic attractions, witli its wide-awake, progressive
citizenship and its' metropolitan characteristics, Medford
gives every promise of becoming the second city in Oregon,
the metropolis of that vast tributary region lying between
Portland and Sacramento.
CURTIS WRITES
OF HOOD RIVER
MEDFORD 'S BRIGHT FUTURE.
It is estimated that two million and a quarter dollars
have been spent in building materials in Medford during
the past year in business blocks and dwellings. Both bus
iness houses and residences are of a better class than pre
viously erected-
This estimate does not include an additional half mil-
, lion dollars spent on water works, sewer systems, street
paving and other public improvements. It does not in
clude still another half million now being spent in con
structing the Pacific & Eastern railroad.
In 1908 more cars of commodities were shipped into
Medford than into any other cit y in Oregon outside of j
Portland. The Southern Pacific did a greater passenger
and freight business at Medford than at any other station.
Already the railroad traffic record for 190S has been
passed, and when its many hundred cars of fruit exports
are considered, Modford ranks as the banner traffic sta
tion of the Harriman lines in Oregon, barring only the
metropolis.
More miles of streets have beeii paved with first-class
pavement and more miles of cement walks built, more
miles of water mains laid, and more miles of sewers con
structed in Medford in the past 12 months than any eityof
its size in the northwest, and probably in the United States.
Medford, in the center of 50,000 acres of planted or
chards, is the banner fruit city of Oregon. From the
'Rogue River valley, between 800 and 900 cars of fruit will
be shipped this year, and but a fraction of the acreage is
in bearing. More cars of pears are shipped than the rest
of the northwest produces, and the fruit sells at the high
est prices in the' world's markets. Over a hundred cars of
Bartletts have been shipped from Medford this year, net
ting the growers an average of $2 a box, or approximately
$1,200,000, and Bartletts are but one of many varieties
that grow to perfection. .
Several hundred men are rushing the construction of
the Pacific & Eastern, recently purchased by John R. Allen
of New . York, to the Butte Falls timber belt, with excel
lent prospects of the railroad's extension to the Klamath
country to meet the new Hill Central Oregon line on the
east and to the Blue Ledge mine on the southwest, with
later an extension to the coast. Eight billion feet of tim
ber, half of it sugar and white pine, will be made available
for manufacture hy the Pacific & Eastern before spring,
supplying work for hundreds of men.
At the very doors of Medford lies the greatest coal
field in Oregon. The coal is of an excellent commercial
quality.' Development, Avhich. stopped a few months ago
through disagreement among owners, will probably be
shortly resumed, as there is every probability that reorgan-
ization will be effected at an early date and the coal prop
erties amply financed, insuring a large payroll.
A million and a half dollars are deposited in the local
banks. Postal receipts, which five years ago totaled $5000,
will exceed $20,000 this year. In every line of industry,
similar growth is shown, and in spite of improvements
made, building does not keep pace with the demand. There
is not a vacant storeroom nor a vacant house in town and
has not been for months. ,
There has been no boom in Medford just a steady
,five years' growth. 'Conservatism has ruled investment
and the city lags behind its tributary country in develop
ment. With'' the resumption of work in the Blue Ledge
copper district, in the coal mines and in the timber belt,
payrolls essential to the growth of any city will be pro
vided and Medford will advance by leaps and bounds. J
At no tjmc in its history has the future been so bright
for Medford. With its great natural resources being de
veloped, with its orchard area, already the greatest of any
region in the northwest, being extended at the rate of
10,000 acres a year, with its fruit commanding higher
prices than those of any other district in the world, with
its superior climatic condition, excelling even those of
Correspondent Chicago Record-Herald
Tells of Marvels of Hood
River Orchards.
(By William E. Curtis, Special Cor
respondence of the Chicago Hecord
Herald.) HOOD RIVER, Or., Sept. 12. The
apples from Hood River valley are
worth more than oranges "in the
wholesale markets of the world, and
sell at about the same prices as pine
apples. About 250,000 crates are
furnished from this valley annually,
and most of them are sold on the
trees before they are picked, and are
shipped direct to Europe, where the
consumers are willing to pay liver
prices for apples than the people of
the United States.
one gentleman expressed it, you havo
to cultivate your strawberry beds
with a fine tooth comb.
The profits of apple orchards have
been quite as large and in some cases'
even larger. The books of the Hood
River Apple Growers' union and oth- j
er organizations are open to tho in- i
speelion of those who are interested
in the subject, and Leslie lluller of
the bunking, firm of lluller & Co.,
who is the first citir.cn of Hood Hiv- ;
er, and well known throughout Ore
gon, will vouch for their accuracy. I
The tales that are told about the'
profits from apple trees are so in-i
credible that the Commercial club, I
the Apple Growers' union mid the!
various fruit companies givo tho
names of the men in eAch instance. :
For example, E. H. Shephard in 1007
mardo a net profit of more than $000
an acre from his orchard of 102 1
acres; Lmlwig Struck sold his crop:
from an orchard of three acres for:
$11258; A. I. Mason sold his crop from
three nnd n half acres for $2502;
F. Eggert sold his crop from an or
chard of l.i acres for $8500, and ,
,.., ...,. I,., , ;...i..
linitelv.
There are tastes and a fashion for. There are frequent failures, but
apples as for everything else, tier
mans want red apples, am will pay
a mark apiece for Spitzcniiercs from
Hood River. The English like a yel
low apple and will pay a shilling for
a Newtown pippin from Hood River.
You will hear people from other
parts of the country say that better
apples are raised in. Vermont and
New York.
Other towns in Oregon, Wahing
ton nnd Idaho insist that their fruit
is just as good as any that is grown
in Hood River valley, and that may
be true, but nevertheless, the epi
cures of Europe arc willing to pay
the top prices for apples from Hood
River nnd the people out here are
trying to furnish them as many as
possible.
The industry is comparatively new.
The" oldest orchards were planted
about 25 years ago; the apples be
came popular on the market about
18 years ago; they became famous
ten years ago; and since the Portland
exposition everybody in the world
knows about them. It takes five
years to develop an orchard, and the
entire vnlley is being planted with
trees. About two-thirds of the avail
able acreage has been taken np al
ready.
. According' to an official report
compiled at the state agricultural
college there were 340.435 trees in
bearing last year, of which 174.648
were New to-.vn pip; Spit-
zenbe s, .71" -?nche
and 4527 cherry trees. At least 82
per cent of these trees have been
planted within the last six years, nnd
when they' ore all bearing they will
produce at least 1,000,000 boxes i
year. It is estimated that the nn
nual crop ten years from now will be
2.000,000 boxes nnd when you know
that these apples sell for an average
price of .$2.50 a box on the tree,
you can have some appreciation of
the value of the industry. The cash
value of last year's cron was some
thing over $750.oT?0. and that mon
ey came into the hands of a few
men. '
While the young trees are growing
it is customary to plant strawber
ries between the rows, and Inst year
there were 750 acres which produced
an average of 175 crates of Clark's
seedlings per acre, which sold as
high as $3.35 a crate. The people of
Hood River boast that their straw
berries have never suffered the ig
nominy of going to a cannery, and of
the 00,000 crates which have been
shipped, from this town in a single
season every basket has been sold
for the table at the top prices, often
as high as $1 a crate. The straw
berries arc large and firm and have
been shipped ns far as Hongkong in
one direction and London in the oth
er without decay.
It is asserted that the average cost
of cultivating Clark's seedlings is $20
an ncre, and that the average net
profits derived from the 750 acres
in this valley will range from $150
to $250 tin acre. Some strawberry
growers have made as high ns $350
an acre, but every man is not so for
tunate. It requires intelligence, hard
work nnd the highest degree of pa-
thev are the fault of the man and
not of the trees. No fool can make
money in apple'growing here or cl-e-
where, and the size and value of the
crop depends entirely upon the man
ner in which it is planted and cul
tivated. In driving ubout 1 1 1 valley
you will see orchards of ragged trees
Jui t haven't been trimmed for year-,
some of the limbs will be drooping to
the earth under the weight of ap
ples, and the ground will be covered
with weeds and various' forms of un
dergrowth. The next orchard will be
neatly trimmed; the soil will be n
bare and as fine as the lu-t of an
Oregon roadway, and you will be
told that about half of the apples
have been picked off while they were
green. When ripening time comes the
expert will tell you the clean and i
neat orchard will produce a crop of;
Iperfeet fruit of high flavor that will j
sell for the maximum price. There
will not be so many apples as in the j
neglected orchard, but they will be j
worth three or four times ns much. ;
BIG CROWDS AT
E SALE
Wonderful Display of Furniture
Shown and Prices Are
Right.
If you arc li Medford booster and
want the cockles of your heart warm
ed by hearing unsolicited praise for
Medford nnd her progressive mer
cantile establishments you should
mix with the crowd that throng the
magnificent store of the Weeks &
McGownn Furniture Co. or stand
with them in front of their immense
display windows and hear such re
marks as "Hid you ever sec such a
splendid line of furniture outside of
Portland or , San FrnnciscoT" or
"Look at the price on that beautiful
bed. I really can't see how'thcy enn
sell them so cheaply.' I was going to
Portland to select furnishings for our
htfme but I am sure I can get things
cheaper here." Such remnrks but
lend to show the interest, Weeks &
Go wan company have aroused in their
gigantic snle of the finest line of
furniture ever seen in southern Ore
gon, in tact everything considered
they can place the stock on their
15,000 feet of floor space alongside
that of the finest in Portland and not
suffer by comparison as not only
the moderate price stock usually
found in furniture stores is seen here j
but also that which cannot fail to
satisfy the most, critical taste in such
woods as mahogany, walnut, birds-
eye maple, etc. '
Not only are the crowds unstinted
in their praise of the store nnd its
stock but are taking advantage of
the many bargains offered in a man
ner that most emphatically bears out
thovontciition of Mr. Dawson, the
salesman in charge, thnt tho nennlo
of southern Oregon know
tience. to make this money, and, ns when they see it.
THE ETERNAL
QUESTION
How Many
Trips
Over the
Washboard?
THAT question worries you when your nicer things
begin to show the wear and tear of rubbing.
But rubbing is bound to be hard on clothes it
wears away the board in a year I
Throw away your washboard!
Treat your clothes right!
Try the CoHeld Power Washer. It washes entirely
without rubbing. No irritation washboard inside, like
other machines. Nothing to wear or tear your clothes.
Pays fr itself many times over by the saving on the
clothes.
Let us put it in your home and do your washing
for you. Examine it. Examine its work. You won't
let us take it back after that.
City water runs it while you rinse and hang out.
If you are still doing your washing by hand, wast
ing your energy and strength, or are using one of
the old style washing machines, we would suggest that
you call at once and inspect
Coffield
Power
Washer
You will find a pretty good cut of it in this ad, but
it does not show the beauty and simplicity of the mo
tor which operates the machine-
No Labor on Youf Part
It washes while you rinse and hang out, and the
expense is less than 5 cents a week. Sent on free
trial if desired.
Medford
Hardware Co.