r9
1 .
M,
17
Crook
journal
VOL. VI.
PRINEVILLE, CROOK COUNTY, OREGON, MARCH 0, 1902.
NO. 12
County
s.
GREAT RESOURCES
Developed and Otherwise
. ' in Crook County.
Information for Settlers
Answering Many Question Asked
By Those Intending Locating
Her. i
In order' to aniwor the many
inquiries that are being received
huri almost daily we ha-e compiled
a nhort synopsis of the resources
ol ttiii county, Thia county was
nut off rum Wasco in 1882 and a
liberal slice of territory was added
to it In 1385 from Grant, making it
a large or jargur than many of
the eastern states, ill fact it if
turgor than Massachusetts, New
Jersey or Vermont and contain
in round ' numbers 1,000 square
mi leu or 6,100,000 acre of land.
Under the amo condition of
development ii obtain in ninny of
the densely iiopulittt'd states east of
I li Mississippi it would support
a population of no les than 2,000,
(W. It now contain about 4,500
which is being constantly in
creased by a toady influx of
immigrant. The general to
pography of the county is rolling
hills and gently undulating plain
rising abruptly into enow crowned
peaks at the western boundary,
where the 'Jhn-o Sisters rue
majestically above the evergreen
hill of tho Cascade range. ' A
"desert'' thirty miles wide traverse
Die entire' width .of the' county.
Tlii large ama of toil will bo in a
large measure reclaimed 'during
the next few yearn by mean of a
system of irrigating canals which
are contemplated being taken from
thi! Deschutes river, u niountuin
stream rising in the extreme smith
went corner of the county and
flowing in a northerly direction
into the Columbia 250 miles dis
titnt. TI.U is one of the fintst
trout streams on the continent,
many specimen' of that gamy fish
three feet in length being taken..
This desert i not a desert by any
menus a.4 it pioduc.es fine hay and i
vegetable without irrigation in
many places.
The town of Prineville contuiue
nearly l(j0() inhabitants and the
usual complements of store etc'
Last year thite was handled in
this j.luc.0 over 2,0lK),0()0 pounds of
freight which will he increased
when the railroad get here.
As to the general outlook for the
county wo can do no better than
to quota from the Shaniko Lead
er' write up of the county as
follow:
''Near Prineville the' waters of
Crooked Kiver arc to be diverted
and a tract of sagebrush land that
now supports one sagehen and a
dozen jackrabbits to the square
'ibile will be made to yield in stock
feed as nine!) per acre as it doc
now to a half a township. From
the Deschutes several big ditches
are projected that of the Throe
Sister' Co. being nearly com
pleted. These will bring undor
cultivation thousands of acre of
...l,r,wl, ln,l tl.n mmt tirnlifin1
soil known, and southern and
., , i l ... i
southeastern Crook,
...... m,ii.tii.n oriil Ko ih Imnnor
iion-produuie, win oe tne banner
portion of the county.
ill IS sec-
lion offer the most attraolivs
inducement to settlers, for a ha
been demonstrated all over the
Coast, irrigation make crop uie
and wealthy, it will tie but a
hort time until railroad trans
portation will be within reach of
all thi lection, and lands that can
now he had under government con
dition will bo worth more per acre
than the average man can dig up.
The writer hereof romember
back in the fifties, when the
Mormon wore leading the water
from the mountain canyon over
the barren lagebruih plain of the
Salt Lake Valley
Year ago their
intelligence and labor were re
warded with abundant returns,
and today the desert thy. found
fifty year ago i a "garden of de
light." He also rcmermVr when
at Riverside, California, the horni d
toad and the rattlesnake were the
principal products of the soil.
When the big ditch was brought in
the land below underwent a de
cided change. The land alove the
ditch still produce a good crop of
tonus aim snaKes, wime mat ueiow
is wu'i'ivft - with orchiirrlii . mid
iranii.n nnn in worm imm i.-uiti
c , ,
to li OU per acre. Lue conditions
produce like results, and we pre
dict that ere many years have
passed the famous "desert" of
Crook County will be a "witchery
of green." Orchards will make
the fur lieiLVi with iMrrfuma. auaH.i '
and clover will bloom purple and
led, and nod sle-pily to the hice.ee;
and fields of billowing grain, green
and gold, will delight the farmer's
eye, and fatten hi goodly wallet.
' Just think of tho possibilities fur
this great ureal '. Today each man,
woman und child within its bor
ders has two sections of bind to
turn around in. There are lM7!ai!il,"3' surrounding l.umoiita.
school children,, in the county.! Man.v ot the farmers have com
Now if the county was evenly ! nicuced their spring seeding. Kr
settled, this would give one toeach jnest Weigand began last week, Lee
i) ,.rti, nr four of the towMxhii. ' Moore, J. R. Dennett and others
With an average of Uti to the
school, thi would make the dis
trict eighteen mile square. You
see, there is room for more- people
to crowd into the corner, at least.
Imagino Rhode Island with only
four school districts ii. it!
There a .-e fi.400,000 acres of land
in the county, and they have
running over them, and living!
principally from the natural pas-i
tures (we give round number),!
12,000 l oibcs, 22,000 cattle, and j
180,000 sheep. This would give to i
i.'uch animal 30 acres to eke out an j
existcncH in. Clearly there is room dustry, because it is a very profii
for another cow or two, and a few' uble way to dispose of his larjie
more sheep. Yet the county j grain crops. An unfailing sign of
makes a good showing financially, prosperity is improvement in farm
in spite of its sparse settlement lands. The wholo country seems
and undeveloped wealth. With to be awakening from its lethargic
cattle and horses valued at 111), condition and assuming an air of
each, and sheep at $1.75, it showed! business activity. We read of im
at the last assessment, 1,71)0,388.! provement and advancement in ex
There arc MO.OOO acres of non-jery direction. I predict that as
tillable deeded land, and 30,000. soon as the people are assured of
acres of tillable deeded lai d in the regular and profitable marketing of
county, and nearly 6,000,000 acres their products, they will branch
yet open for settlement. (out in their ventures, and more
The county also gives promise j homeseckers will buy homes and
of being rich in precious metals. ; tuko land und a fertile country will
At Lookout Mountain, cinnabar, soon assume the importance that
carrying six per cent quicksilver j should attach to it.
1ms been found. At Ochoco, 30, Jknnik .
miles east of Prineville, mining ; Lamonta, Or,, Feb. 23, 1902.
has been going on for several! '
" AinWOOU, " Ue
northeastern tinrt nf the enimtv.1
nraetieallvlthereia much active development
pracucany i
worn being aone, with at least one
. ,., t.
Kg nonnanaiit ujine and of irro'it
vaiue
I The county in out of debt; and
when Wheeler county wa cut off
three yean ago it paid 115 a it
portion of the entire indelslcdueas.
With the area of a state; with
incalculable water power; with
vast bodies of magnificent timber;
with great urea subject to
irrigation and abundance of water
for the purpose; with hills waving
with bunch grass and meadow
green with alfalfa;with the earth
ttscii generous with ' precious
metal, who is there who shall say
to what proud place among the
jewel of Columbia's crown Crook
county may not aspire?,
From La mo n U.
Livestock of all kinds looks well
having passed through the winter
' in good condition. Col. Smith and
some of the other ranchers are still
J feeding their stock.
Quite a heavy shower nccompa
nieil by a high wind is fulling this
afternoon and the indications point
j to jta ating for menii hmtt
which will delay seeding.
i .
. urmv sws upavr ,u our
Mimmunitv a
couple ot days last
week. He leaves the impression
with us that he devotes his spar
moments to telf culture, self im
provement and growth of charactei.
Mrs. Joseph Weigand' mother,
i a sistor and brother arrived about
ten day ago from Missouri. T.iey
are very much pleaded with the ap
pearance of thia part of the coun
try and the motherland slaughter
have taken homesteads near La-
rnonta. They mm to have money
with whieh to commence operations.
Excel lent progress has been made
in farm work in the country inime-
will begin the first of this week.
The acreage of spring sown grain
will bo almost double that of last
year. Tho full sown grain has
passed through the winter without
injury and now look well. A large
yield from fall sown grain is con
fidently expected.
J. C. Rush is making a special
effort towards beautifying hi resi-
dance by way of planting trees und
shrubbery. He also lis under con-
struction a wire-netting fence
around his hay pasture. He is go-
ing quite heavily into the hog in-
ui; tt antra.
The Journal would liku to Innke
8've.i,c,.t with a br.glu M' wt.or'" ' , ' '
,.,.,.,, uar ,i,B liriiH. tr,uh company reclaiming the. Jund, ami
r i
Onion letn and evirytliins; else in
ti Bee B-e Hive. --
OUR ARID LANDS
In the Deschutes Valley
Being Reclaimed.
Under, the Gary Act.
Tha 8tate Land Board Will Reg-u-UUt
and Fix the Amount
of Lien.
The state land board has decided
upon a form of contract for the re
clamation of arid lands that is ex
pected to be acceptable to all con
cerned. The state is to make the
estimate of the cost of the recla
mation works, thu governing the
amount of the lien to be establish
ed under the contract, and for thi
purpose will appoint an engineer
to act for the state. The appli
cants, it is understood, interpose no
objection to thi course. They have
contended that the estimates of
cost must lie adopted in the begin
ning, or it would be imposiible to
film nee the enterprises, and this
seems to be provided for now. The
estimate of con will be made in
advance, so there can be no future
quibble about the amount of the
lien, and it is to be made by a rep
resentative of the state, and not
left to the unquestioned estimates
of the applicants. Applications to
reclaim more than 250,000 acres of
arid land are now on file m the
state land office, most of it being
in the Deschutes valley.
In brief, the board ha decided
that it will give an applicant a
contract for the reclamation of arid
land at a price to be estimated by
a civil engineer appointed by the
state land board. This price will
be the amount due the reclamation
company, and the amount for
which the company will have a
lien upon the land. The state en
gineer will nko fix the rate the
company may charge per year for
use of water by settlers upon re
claimed land.
The state land board has reached
this decision after consulting with
a number of well-known attorneys
in this stute. A difference of opin
ion has existed concerning the
proper interpretation of the law.
and this difference has caused the
delay.
The board has been advised by
its attorneys that the amount due
should be fixed in the contract,
and that in determining this
amount the board may adopt such
means as it may deem best. Con
tracts will therefore be drawn ac
cording to this view. Applicants
will be required to furnish the state
land board with maps and plan
and specification of the work that
will be necessary in order to ri-j
ela:m the land. The hoard will j
submit the plans to an engineer j
appointed by the board, uud will
require him to furnish an estimate
of the cost of constructing tbe
ditches, flumes, etc, and also the
annual charge per acre which' Notice is hereby given tlmt the linn
should be allowed for the maicite- u-,vi 'm,l:li' li"lv, 1
nance of the irrigation svstem. hy mulu"1 consent, Arlington Davis
rr, I retiring. All hil's will be p.iid ty tin
The compensation of this engineer ' h ,,. . u, , ,,
.. ... . ,. , , new fiini, Solium & luit, wiio will
must be paid bv the applicant for, , ,, . , .
' ',, , .! "I"11 eulleut all acertuiiU doe t tie In a
a contract. All the expenses ot,tiim Cluss luvis.
reclaiming the land and securing! MuimIi 4. l'JUi.
.:.). .1 I :.l I... .1... I
, . , , , ..,
the campanv niiift look to settlers
who wish to purchase land for rc-l
1)avnu.nt for the cost of reclamation.;
The law provides, in brief, that
any person who desires to reclaim
arid land shall make application
therefor to the state land board,
submitting at the same time maps
and plans of the proposed irriga
tion system. The application must
also contain an estimate of the toft
of constructing the irrigation sys
tem, and the annual cost of main
tenance. The land board then
make a contract with the appli
cant for the reclamation of th
land, and the state land board
makes an application to the secre
tary of the interior for a contract
binding the United States to con
vey the lands when reclaimed. The
irrigation company is given full
and exclusive possession of the
land from the time the contract is
made. The company must begin
work on its ditches within six
months after the contract shall be
made with the secretary of the in
terior, and by the end of the first
year 10 per cent of the necessary
expenditures must be made, and.
must complete the work within
such reasonable time as may be
fixed in the contract. After land
has been reclaimed, any citizen of
the United States may secure title
to 160 acres thereof by paying the
holder of the lien the proportionate
amount due on the tract desired,
provided the state land board shall
designate the proportion of the
amount, of "the entire lien which
the d-sired tract liears to the whole
tract subject to the lien. The deed
to the land is to be executed by the
state hind boiwd and will be in the
form of a quit claim. ,
The most important application
is that of the Pilot Butie Develop
ment Company, for a contract for
86,000 acres on the Deschutes river,
in Crook county. The company
estimates the cost of reclamation
in that case at $10 per acre. Ore-
goman.
Notice of Appointment.
Mr. Clay A. Simpson, formerly spe
cial for the New York Life Insurance
Co., wishe to announce to his many
friend ami the pucilio neoeraily that
he lias accepted the lnunne.rjhip vt
the Interior Department of Oieoi
lor tho WVliinuUm Life Imauauon
Co., o( Jiew York, and will probably
wlublUh a liranoh office for the com
pany tit Pi i ivville. The Wellington
Life, "The Old Defendt-r," is 42 years
old, and has a rtcord and tiiiauuiui
standing excelled by none, is up-to-date
and has wane new sjieeial policies thai
are well worth careful consideration.
DIxHtilulluii XotU-e.
Kyi ice i hereby given thst the c
partiierwhip heretofnie vxistiti); be
tween Frank KUiim and .1. H. Wigle,
under the name of Kr.uik Elkins &
Co., this day dinaelved by mutual
com-enf, J. H Wlle retiring. All tu -ei'imU
owing aid Him will Iw c.llect
ed by Krank Klkiusmid all indented
liens of 'aid firm will lie settled by taut
Prank fcUiiiir.
Kr.vnx Ei.K1.s-s it Oo.
1'KiKKVit.l.s, Or., Fell. 8, ISK.
HUKoIuiiim Xoilve.
f '
Our siicocm last fall was cimrmmi.
KvcryUxty saiiidjetl. If yon want a
unit made to order give n atrial. You
will also be att.4icd. oej lie Uiv.