Image provided by: Independence Public Library; Independence, OR
About Independence monitor. (Independence, Or.) 1912-19?? | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1913)
O NIT OR , J. VOL. 1. INDEPENDENCE, POLK COUNTY, OREGON, FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1913 NO. 52 INDEPENDENC M OUR FIRST HISTORICAL AND DEVELOPMENT EDITION FOR POLK COUNT POLK, A COUNTY OF VARIED RESOURCES WHERE DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN MARKED The Soil, the Climate, the Timber, the Growth and Wealth of Folk County The County as a Center of Education of her telephone, telegraph and ; grain and stock farm. These are railroad lines. If we add those; being divided under the pressure values we find the total focting! for more diversified farming. $15,240,845. and placing the pop-j Polk county, while producing ulation at 15.000. we have an j well in wheat, oats and barley, average wealth in Polk county ! can do bdtter as a money making for every man, woman and child j and soil enriching crop from in the county of $1,000. Allowing clover. vetch, kale. rape, five persons to the family, we etc. In horticultural lines she have the average Polk county! can successfully grow prunes, Polk county is almost in the center of the Willamette Valley and is one of the best counties ty is divided into river bottom land of deep gray sandy loam, gray loam upland, red and gray t MIIU W vfv - ( . - in the state when It comes to; hill land, prairie and mountain considering soil, climate, timber, j - dairying, stock raising or educa tional advantages. While it does not excel as a fruit center as does Hood River or Southern Oregon, yet whenever a'horticul turalist takes hold of a fruit farm he gets just as good results here as he does in any section of the West. The soil is here, the climate is admirable and the re sults are what we could and do expect, but here the general farmer sees more profit in dairy ing, in hogs, in thoroughbred heep and goats, and in hop raising. When we consider that in the period from 1900 to 1910, the population of the United States showed an increase of but 21 per cent, while among tha entire number of states Oregon ranks fourth in the increase of popula tion with a percentage of 63 per cent, it is not a far guess to see in this state almost the greatest progressiveness of the United States. In this article we are froing to consider Polk county this county are all running much below their fullest capacity. In Polk county there are at the present time 3 planing mills, 1 family "worth $5000 at the assess ed valuation as placed by the county assessor. The favorable conditions of soil, climate, moisture and ele vation render Polk county won derfully productive of almusi. all 1 sir 1 .. t y i iff . h . 4 ft U m'i i.; r bu Mi; it The State Normal School, Monmouth, Oregon from the standpoint of develop- timber land. The soil around : shingle mill, 4 saw mills, 4 saw and planing mills. The average daily wage3 of the 244 men in the woods is $2.85; of the 140 skilled men, $3.28; of the 384 unskilled men, $2.00, making a monthly pay roll of $119,605 for the skilled labor, and $362,000 for the unskilled labor in the lumber industry of the county. The lumber output of the county will be greatly increased when timber of the Siletz is opened by ment past and prospective-and Monmouth is gray loam, of a we see no reason why one look- high percentage of phosphoric ing for a land in which to locate acic and humus, but is low in should look further. ; potash and lime. Thi3 is an ex- At the outset, we wish to state ' cellent soil and should be well that we will give you reliable ' drained. The red hills of the Eola statistics facts that you can section rich in iron, which gives prove by looking up county, state them their color, they carry an and government records. This : abundance of lime. These hills is not a real estate edition, nor have wonderful wearing quali r boom edition, it is not backed j ties under continuous cropping. i hnncf nr. Tha cnil in iht virinitv of Dallas by commercial cm u. u. .......... -, , -,irnnA anA tranizations It is an edition is admiraoiy suuaiea ior pi un v ouo xo... nublished by the editor from ; raising, while along the streams! the timber of that section of Ktatiatici that he can substan- hops do well, and in the valley i Polk and Lincoln counties is statistics tnai mM;nn ivn.pf and north brought to the market at the f vn-'n j '"ft l rru' wniomott. Vnllev. of there are some fine crops which Polk county is a part, has grain, clover, and other hay an area of 60 miles in width and j raised. The river bottom land 150 miles in length. Polk county : produces the largest and best extends a length of 24 miles crops and when all cleared and in north to south, bordered on its cultivation brings the highest, cast boundary by the Willamette : price for acreage. One reason river the whole distance, thus ; for the richness of this river giving it in its first organization j bottom land is that it overflows an outlet for its products, and : annually and a good crop is al transportation for its people by '. ways assured. This is the hop boat From east to west the section of the country, although county is 33 miles, giving the Ismail yards are profitably pro county an area of 750 square ducing crops annually on the :i.. .n evnf.r. acreaze ac- small streams in Polk county crops which flourish in the tem perate zone. The early entry of plums, cherries, pears and apples, while in the small f ruits no better strawberries, loganberries, or blackberries can be produced. Potatoes, cabbage, onions, as paragus,' beans, peas, beets and general garden stuffs grow abundantly. In hops Polk county produces more than any county in Oregon, nnd Oregon grows more hops than any state in the Union. Historically it might not )6 amis to mention here that probably the first hops in Oregon were planted in 1872 by George Wells at P.uena Vista, and Sam Beckett and J.W. Ilodson in 1873 or 1874 planted 10 acres at Eola and Ilodson in 10 years on this 10 acres cleared $10,000. Ed P. Dove started in the hop business with 2 3-4 acres and later this yard reached the extent of 40 acres and was then the largest yard in Oregon. This 40 acres is now a part of the E. Clemens Horst 600 acre hop ranch. Now there are three and possibly four hop yards in a radius of five miles of Indenendedce having aa acre age of 300 acres each and better. Polk county also excels in blood ed cattle, horses, sheep, goats and hogs, the early climate, win ter pasture, and pure water being important elements. These con ditions contribute largely to the successful and extensive industry recognized as the largest and best creamery in Oregon. This creamery, situated in the very center of the wealth of Polk county, in a state exhibit, took the blue ribbon at the state fair last year in competition with 70 of the creameries of the state. Polk county hi excellent rail road connections, a complete story of which is told in another col umn of this issue. The same is true of the stock and dairy in dustry and many other county features, but in closing we wish to call your attention to th edu cational features in Polk county. This county is the first, county to establish the home credit system and has made it a success. Prof. Muerman came to Polk countv to study the school system of this county as a part of his govern ment work and reported he chose Polk out of all counties in Oregon on account of her advanced posi tion as a school center. Then she Bottom. He is now a resident of Polk, and he's healthy, ener getic active. He has one ehild, 3 grand children one great grandchild. cording to the assessment roll of 476,860 acres. Of this acreage but 15,240 acres are unappropri ated and unreserved. All is sur veyed. Of the assessed appro priated land 281.704 acres are cultivated and 165,693 acres are uncultivated. In 1900 the cultivated and im proved area consisted of 256,847 acres valued at $4,977,240 or 24,- o--7 o laeo rVian in 1913. but evil unco itw v.. the assessed valuation has grown during that time to $9,746,990 or almost an increase, of 100 per cent in valuation. The popula tion in the period of ten years, from 1900 to 1910, grew from 9,923 to 13,469, or a little more than 33 1-3 per cent, and today we believe we are safe in esti mating the population of the county at more than 15,000 peo ple. Many people in looking up a place to locate wish to know the rationality of the people with whom they are to mingle. In ilk county the commissioner ot that fe.d the Willamette. Polk county has about the same rainfall that the rest of the valley has and at Portland the precipitation is placed at an av erage of 45.5 inches annually. Louisville, Ky., has 44.3 inches annually; Nashville, Tenn., has 48.5 inches; New Orleans, 57 inches; New. York, 44 inches; Vicksburg, Miss., 63.7 inches, showing that this section has no rreater rainfall than the section of territory bordering on the At larOi orvan and the Gulf of Mexico. One great weulth of Polk coun ty is her timber area, compris ing as it does about 300 sections in m11 or about 192.000 acres, we find her credited with 6,591, 853,000 feet of timber. This wealth alone sold to the mills and factories at $1.00 per 1.000 feet would bring a total of $6, 594,583 to the owners of the t'ir.ber. State statistics tell us that the plants in Polk county hurdling the lumber business for ir tates that 80 percent of this section are valued at $364.- i. rrnnlati,)n na- oon nrwt thpir dailv canacitv is rem cuum. a k" - ' " tive born. Of the remaining 10 ;j,0(H") handles. 81,000 feet of per cent one-fourth are from planing machine work, 480,000 Canada, the remaining 7 1-2 per feet of sawed lumber and 20.- ,t ,r Germans. English, Pais- 000 shingles, and if run at their P. labo of! mil's planned for erection this year by the Falls City Lumber Company at Independence. Next, turning to the income; that comes from the industries , and resources of the county, a low estimate gives us annually j $1,000,000 from our timber, our j hops will produce annually an ' average ol $1,500,000, our dairy and creamery products alone will bring in close to $700,000 an nually, and we think it safe to i estimate the wheat, oats, clover, wool and mohair crop at close to a $1,000,000 annually, and this gives to this county an annual income of about $4,200,000 or an average of $265 the person man, woman and child in the county; and this docs not include and consider the amount of product consumed at home, the amount of money that goe3 out in exchange profits, or the busi ness interests of the country that should increase the net re turns to every man, woman and child two or three times the figures given above. The assessmenc roll of Polk county shows the value of im-; provements on deeded and pat ented land at $612,210 lots at' $630,580, improvements on lots at $776,990, improvements on land not deeded or patented at $35,850. 21 miles of electric light line at $10,500, manufacturing machin ery $190,380, merchandise $264, 020. farming implements $87,970, money and notes $56,850, 1350 shares of stock valued at $90,790. household goods worth $153,530, 5080 head of horses and mules '.vorth $301160, 67)5 cattle val ued at $121,560, 11,912 shoe p as sessed at $29,200. 14,331 goats placed at $16,060, . 3421 swine valued at $16,700 and 691 dogs i" f V : K 1 x s ' , - ' " -... -. - t limn tffriili'i'ii -" : "-' n'ii 1 1 " ' Aim BENJAMIN BKERS TRADES FARM FOR HICXORY SHI3T And Sells Town Site Portland for Three Hundred Dollars of Falls City Falls on the Lucklamute has added in her high schools the manual training, domestic science end physical features that are helping to build up a perfect system. Polk county is also the homo of the State Normal School a technical school for teachers. No emigrant now living in Polk county has the story of an event ful life that Jas. E. Elkins has. In 1845, with the Tetherow com pany he came to Oregon, being in the noted Moeka cut off com pany th blue bucket mine com pany of Oregon. When he arrived he domiciled POLK COUNTY FACTS In 1901 the assessed valuation of Polk county was $4,146,110, in 1905 it had grown $4,388,970, in 1907 it totaled 8,7:18,670, in 1907, 10,079.430, in 1908 it was 10,506,460, in 1909 the figures have reached 13,838,629 and in 11)10 they are 14,519,130 and in 1911 it is 15,131, 720 and in 1912 and 1913 the amounts have made good, substantial increases show that land values are growing ev ery year. In order to give an idea of the climate we wish to say that for a period of ten years the average rainfall annually was 45 32 inches, amount of snow 4.8 inches, mean temperature 54 degrees, number of rainy days 139, number of cloudy days 170, number of part cloudy days 66, number of clear days 130. OUR OLDEST PIONEER The subject of. this sketch is Oroinn'n oldeit uioneer. He was horn in Connecticut Nov. o, 1835. and was brought to Oregon by his father, coming from New York bv water, via the Sandwich T-Mnnda stavinir there three ...... ., - tn large homesteads -the inability ;of dairying and.it was with this montns, am..K i " . " " to reach a ready market and the point in viw that K. C. Eldredge come to Oregon. II arrived in Court H'juse, Dallas, Oregon ,11 ir ' ,0 ''', v ' . a t v v Vf -n -v - -) ' J . l- V IV ' ' Hi U , .s , - f- - - " " ' JAS. EDWARDS ELK1NS ' ' " " I n . 1 - -wH.- . . (Z-if?.?J I ' I sans. canainavians Scotch and Irish. Turning to the soil. Polk coun- SwiBS, fullest capacity it would require 37 years to cut the timber of this J Lit f. : ' , --.'-'''Tri' The target Creamery In Oregon, at Independence, Oregon wortn ti,zv), mis wim me oeea-, , ,t-t j i a i t,ji, -.,,'. K0v.,f .,f fh xhlch wai r-am to Indf uen Jence and estao- u r-gon in may ir.,i, khsiiuh inarm uiiivt v 37 years to c jt the timber ol this ed land Dnngj roiK couniy s naoii 01 ihKing uiai imu ..am. Vj . .. -... v county alone, but the mills of j wealth to $13,149,000, exclusive easiest to do caud the extensive ! lished in Polk county what Is now himself at the place where Port land now stands. Me bought tin' whole townsile of Portland of a man by the name of Cornelius for $300 and sold it to a man named Pittigrow who started th' first store started at Portland. In May 1816 Elkins came to Polk county and ha been hr; over since. He took up a claim where part of Monmouth now tands, and sold it in 1HS1 to a man by the name of Hodge tot ting a hickory shirt for the farm. The farm wai later owned by N. L. Butler. In 1H4S ho took another cla-m near Monmouth, improving :t a-, j !atr selling it to a minister by the name of Parrott. He rot. $ ) in (told for this farm, thu b.'in;, the first gold ho had seen since leaving the eastern states. With this money he purchased apo d outfit and went to the man s m California where he took up a mining claim and worked two months, making good money. exposure brought on chilU fever and he returned to Oregon. He next took up the Elkim donation land claim on tho Luck iamute, south of Monmouth, where he farmed for forty year. He later rented it out and thon sold it aix years ago, moving to Independence. In May 1851 ho married a Miss Zumwolt. Hi first wages he earned of Mr. Thorp, working 1.00 days at $3.00 per day installing arid running the mill. He was a mill wright. He also worked in leather and bought leather of the Eo'.a tannery to make harness and shoes. Thay made a fair quality o' leather at Eola in those days i t imy be4 leather I ordered "m Portland. The and 1