8
OREGON CITY COURIER-HERALD NEW YEAR NUMBER.
OREGON CITY
SITUATED AT THE FALLS OF THE WILLAMETTE, THE
NIAGARA OF THE PACIFIC
Oregon City is located just below ttie
falls of the Willamette, on the east bank of
the river, 12 miles distant from Portland by
water and .15 by rail. It is reached from
Portland by the Southern Pacific Railway,
the electric road of the Portland City & Ore
gon Company, the steamers Leona, Pomona
and Altona, of the Oregon City Transpor
tation Company and the steamers Ruth, El-
1
more and Modoc, of the O. R. & Co.'s Wil
lamette River service.
Aside from her location at the falls of the
Willamette, one of the greatest water powers
on the continent, and which in itself is des
tined to make her a manufacturing city of
no mean proportions, Oregon City has other
features of interest that attract attention and
challenge admiration. While the business
center is on the bank of the river, the resi
dence section occupies the commanding
bluffs to the east. From this eminence one
of the most magnificent views imaginable is
afforded. Below these nigged hills, dotted
with mansions that would be a credit to any
Eastern metropolis, lies the city, with its
noise and bustle of mill and factory, the river
winding its serpentine way toward the Co
lumbia, and the mighty falls, with its never
ceasing turmoil of waters. In every direc
tion the eye is greeted with a stretch of farm,
field and forest a panorama of picturesque
ness that must be seen to be appreciated.
Oregon City does not rely merely upon
what it promises to do, as is too often the
case with ambitious communities. But in
OREGON CITSf RESIDENCES
addition to this claim, she can point with
pride towhat she has already accomplished
in the line of developing her own powers
and bringing out the resources of the adja
cent country. The woolen mill draws its
raw material from the Willamette Valley and
Eastern Oregon, employs 350 hands ami
sends out an annual product worth $1,000,000.
Many town as large as Oregon City do not
do as much manufacturing in the aggregate
as this one concern amounts to here. It
keeps busy a large number of people in the
city, and it furnishes a desirable market for
an important product of the country. The
large flouring mills here are eager buyers of
wheat in this valley and they also draw on
Eastern Oregon for supplies. Their capacity
is 270.000 barrels of flour a year, requiring
more than 1,000,000 bushels of wheat. The
products of these mills are found in many
of the markets of Eastern Asia, and even
down in the settlements about the Straits of
Malacca. About 350,000 tons of news paper
are sent to market in a year from the Ore
gon City mills. This vast quantity of man
ufactured output requires many millions of
feet of timber cottonwood, white fir and
spruce that find a ready market at the pulp
mills. Hundreds of men have steady em
ployment in and about these mills, and the
logging and wood camps connected with
them. A shoe factory of the Capen Shoe
Company is meeting with gratifying success
and is likely to grow to be a very large man
ufacturing concern. Its output is valued at
$5,000 a month. The Portland General
Electric Company has a pay roll in this city
and Portland equal to 200 men during the
year. The sash and door factories, ice fac
tory iron works, and numerous other manu
facturing concerns swell the company ol
wage earners on the payrolls of Oregon City
factories to near tooo, among whom about
$700,000 is annually disbursed.
Merely to mention the large manufactur
ing institutions of Oregon City shovs it to
be already a place of no small importance as
a manufacturing center. It has achieved
some things, and is proud of every one of
them. Oregon City probably stands alone
among the twons of the country, big or lit
tle, in the distinction of having made greater
iWl It'll 1 it 7 rvfiifiS'i vW
fa?7iltf J
Charles Albright Dr. Stricklaud Mrs. Dr. l'aiue
Mrs. Burmeister John G. Porter John H. Walker
J. E. Hedges G. W. Church