:ts8
THE WEST SHORE.
Itnndo rirer near where the .tream enter, the valley
lhe river ha. a considerable volume and fall enough
to admit of water Wing uied three or four times
within a mile of it. course. At Oro Dell, about a
mile from the city, there is an excellent water power,
tut a mere fraction of which ii utilized. It is a val
oablesita for factories There are now twelve saw
milli within a few mile of Laflrande, all in the
country legitimately tributary to the city, which u
1 the Doint from which the bus-
in. 1. ,,n.!nniivL Theio mills are all in the bills
to the westward of the city. A lumber syndicate
fmm Wisconsin is constructing a large saw mill
.;tt,ln tl.riwi miU of LtGrande. where preparations
It IIUIU " -
.r. Uina madn for an extensive manufacturing plant,
mill, shinnle and lath mill, planing
mill and sash, door and blind factory. This plant
will I read for work the ooraina fall and have a ca
t.ltv fur manufaoturinn one hundred thousand feet
of lumber a day. It will employ two hundred and
fifty men. This will raise the daily manufacturing
capacity of the saw mills in the LaGrande district to
two huudred and fifty thousand feet The timber belt
tributary to this city extends back in the mountains
distanc of about a hundred miles and most of it is
MWMiblft immediately. Instead of attempting the
somewhat difll ult task of getting the timber from
the forest to the city before it is manufactured, it is
found more economical to erect the mills near the
timber and 11 t the lumber out by means of flame
or draw it with teams to suitable points for shipment
The mouutain streams generally have a too rapid de-
ocut to make them satisfactory for driving logs. In
some case it is found advisable to bring the log
fron (he niouutalus before they are sawed, a treat
deal depending on the character of the land from
which the timber is rut and the location of the man
ufactorins plant The vast timber suphW lvins im
mediately to the wett of the Grande Hondo valley af-
h k ft I A . t m
oMs a oroM ficia lor tlie operation of saw mills am
all manufactories of wood. There is an abundant
of od of the Wat quality, never failing and eaiily
i i . i . ... .
oevriopea waur power ana smppiug laeilities to a
grimly market are gtxxl
lWde the twelve saw mills mentioned above,
I Grande ha car shops of the Orogou lUilway A
Navigation Company, two brick kilua, a aah and door
factory, a emmery rwutly construct-vl, a brewery,
and a grain elevator jat being completed having
capacity or one nundrtM thonaaud buahla, t K
divisional point on the railroad, and one of the Wg.
h ahlpplcg stations on the line. 1Ui,U the lari r
portion of the Grand Honde valley, which pours it
products Into U Orande lor transportation, the lu.
dian valley and fclk fiat Country Wow, u well at a
considerable part of the Wallowa valley, are also
drained in the same direction, lne cnier snipments
are grain, live stock, wool and lumber, and the groat
6 , . ... mi i 1 -V..' i- .1
amount is prodigious, ino auium uui omyiuuuis w
produce from La Grande last year aggregated twenty,
six hundred car loads, of which one thousand can
were grain, six hundred cars railroad ties, four hun
ilrwl cars live stock, two hundred and fifty Chrs lum-
ber, one hundred cars each of hay and flour, fifty cars
wooL The grain, live stock and wool are raw pro
ducts of the country that might be utilized to much
better advantage by the building up of manufacto
ries. Flouring mills, creameries, cheese factories,
meat packing houses, tanneries and woolen mills may
be mentioned as among those manufacturing institu
tions for which the valley is best suited by reason of
having abundant supplies of raw materials and favor
able conditions in which to operate. At the present
time LaGrande offers special inducements to secure
the location of a good flouring mill or woolen mill in
or near the oity. Parties giving proper assurance of
building and operating enterprises of this kind will
have no trouble in getting bonuses from the business
men that will make it an object to invest there.
There is no doubt that the business would, in itself,
prove profitable.
LaGrande is an unusually attractive place for
people from the east Those accustomed to the Mis
sissippi valley, or even the rocky hills of New En
gland, do not often fancy locating in a country where
they can not see green graBs throughout the summer
season. One of the things they are seeking to escape
is the drouth that so frequently carries devastation to
the erstwhile promising fields of the region from
which they have fled. It is difficult to convince those
people that there is much merit in sage brush or
bunch grass land, even if irrigation is easily obtain
ed. They want a country that has moisture of its
own-where some of the same grasses and flowers
they have seen wither in the scorching sun of their
eastern homes flonmh tbrnncrh the entire season, and
whoro the same crops they have fruitlessly toiled
over never fail but ordinarily yield results hardly
dreamed of before. The very objections the eastern
farmer is fleeing from he finds to be absent from the
Grande It rode valley, and, naturally enough, that
seems to be the place he is looking for. But not
everyone is informed of the merit of that section.
Too many easterners have but a very vague idea of
the Pacific slope, Comparatively few of those who
pass through the Grande Ronde valley are induced
to makrt a close examination of the country; but those
1 who do stop are not in a hurry to leave. As a loca-
lion for farming, stock raising or manufacturing it i
' HH(J iu but few places in the world.