THE
WEST SHORE.
Fifteenth Year.
JULY, 1889.
NlMIIKU 7.
ASHLAND AND ROOUB RIVER VALLEY.
HAT is known by the general
name of Rogue river valley,
in Southern Oregon, includes
much more than the strip of
ooontry whioh lies immediate
ly along the banks of the
stream that gives its name to
the region. Spurs from the
Siskiyou mountains to the south, the Cascades to the
east and the Umpqaas on the north traverse the sec
tion in all directions, and the many tributaries of the
Rogue river drain valleys having a large aggregate
area, some of them being nearly fifty miles long and
several miles in width. These valleys radiate from
Rogue river, toward which they all tend, and, while
they present many varieties of soil and surface, they
are all of a semi-tropical nature and are particularly
adapted to the production of fruit
One of the most important sections of the Rogue
river country is the valley of Bear creek, a stream
which rises in the Siskiyou mountains near the Cali
fornia boundary and joins Rogue river about fifty
miles to the northward. The valley of Bear creek is
more than forty miles long and of an average width
of about twelve miles. It extends northwest and
southeast and is bounded by spurs of the Siskiyous
and the Cascades. It is one of the most charming
little valleys in the west, and is reaching a high state
of development in every direction.
Some thirty miles above its mouth Boar creek is
joined by Ashland creek, from the south, which takes
its rise from the melting snows of Ashland butte, a
snow peak reaching an altitude of nearly eight thou
sand feel During the dry season Ashland creek al
ways has a good volume of water, while Bear creek,
above it confluence with the Ashland, sometimes
goes dry. On Ashland creek, a short distance from
its mouth, is situated the city of Ashland, from wbicn
the stream dorives its name. This is much the largest
city in the Rogue river country. It bas population
of about three thousand souls, and is in every sense
a flourishing town.
About the year 1851 a party of men from Ashland,
Ohio, erected a small saw mill on the presout site of
the city of Ashland, Oregon. That mill and, possi
bly, a small homo or two built at the same time, con
stituted the first settlement of the valley. In 1851
the flouring mill, that with greatly improved machin
ery still grinds sway at the old stand, was erected.
Then a few lots were laid off near the mill and busi
ness houses were erected. Gradually the plat was
added to until it assumed the air of a city, and all the
time sottlers were locating in the country atxmt tho
town and reducing the fertile valley to a rich garden.
But in the absence of railroad communication the
growth of that section was necessarily slow, and in
1885, when it was incorporated as a city, it had a pop
ulation of less than a thousand. For many years
Ashland was reached only by stage routes hundreds
of miles long overland, or from the sea coast at the
mouth of Rogue river, where ooasting vessels some
times landed. Then for some years the long gap in
the railroad botwoen Portland and ban Francisco,
from Roseburg, one hundred and forty miles to the
northward, to Redding, in California, one hundred
and sixty miles south of Ashland, made a woarinoiuo
stage journey of three hundred miles neoewary be
tween the two railroads. Ashland was always the
most important point in the valley, but that oountod
for little when it was so inaccessible, A year ago
last December the two ends of the railway met in the
mountains near Ashland and a continuous rail route
between the two large cities of the 1'aciflo ooast was
established. The historio mountain stages disap
peared from the scene, and the thrilling stage jour,
ney over the Siskiyous is now only a memory.
For some time previous to tho establishment of
through rail connections Ashland bad the benefit of
the line to Portland, and from the advent of the rail
road dates a new era for that country. The changing