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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1910)
I 1 10 1 " THE MORNING OREGOXIAX, SATURDAY, JANUARY 1,' 1910. wteriok torn- KftEE mm roiutaa As Markets Open To Wealth Of Forest And Field, Thriving Cities Will Spring Up' THE story of the man who once let slip 1)' an opportunity to purchase for a sons the lot on which now (rtantls a towering office building will undoubtedly be repeated again and again In Central Oregon, some day, to the generation now prow Ins to manhood. It is Inevitable tliat-in the awaken ing: of an undeveloped country of the magnitude and resources of Interior Oregon several substantial cities will ktow from what are now country vil lages. Perhaps one will he another Spokane several embryotic. cities In Oregon's Inland Empire are already claiming the title and If any man lives who can point an unerring finger to- . ward the city that is to be, a bound less fortune awaits him. Mora prob able'' Is It. however that instead of one great distributive point and several minor ones, there will be in Oregon a half dozen substantial cities perhaps a dozen. In strictly Central Oregon there are now four towns that will receive early railway service, each of which Ts a substantial city of promise. These towns arc Madras. Redmond. Bend and Prlnevllle, the largest of which now has a population of but 1500. Madras, lying farthest north of all, will be the first to receive railway benefits. The town, which has a few hundred Inhabitants " is about four years old and Is yet unincorporated. It lies in Willow Creek basin where In earlier days the big stock roundups of Central Oregon were held. Willow Creek Basin was apparently once cov ered by a large lake but to the west the outlet into the Deschutes River gradually cut through the rlm-rocked hills until the lake was drained dry. Willow Creek now meanders over a big flat through the town and leaves it through a gap In the higher plateau. Steep sloping walls rise 220 feet each eide of the outlet. Through this gap the Oregon Trunk Line will emerge from the Deschuttes River onto the plains of Central Oregon, while across the gap. 260 feet above Its rival, the' . Harriman road will bridge the creek. Up Willow Creek 12 miles east lie valuable coal deposits awaiting the coming of the railroad to make them active mines. Eighteen miles southeast, Frank Forrest, a wealthy stockman, has installed an oil-drilling outfit and la prospecting for the burled lakes of petroleum of which there are strong in dications. To the east lies a belt of pine timber. In which It Is said there are 2,000,000 000 feet, not in forest res ervations, that will be brought out by way of Madras. South is a big acreage of dry farming country, now producing from 17 to35 bushels of wheat to the acre, according to the intelligence with which the soil is tilled. To the north west lie the Madras and Agency Plains, areas of large extent devoted to grain growing. Boisfr capitalists are propos ing to irrigate 70,000 acres of this land. The estimate of the agricultural area tributary to Madras is In excess of 750,000 acres. Twelve miles east Is the Hay Creek Ranch, owned by the Bald win Sheep & Livestock Company. This ranch of 28.000 acres is the biggest producer of blootfed sheep In the world, and It is also famed for Its Shorthorn and Hereford cattle and Its shire horses'. Madras counts on becoming a division station for both railroads, and it is about the right distance in the interior to have its hopes in this respect real ized. In the next election the town will incorporate, and a movement is also on foot to divide Crook County and make Madras the county seat of the new county of Jefferson. Jeffer son County, as now proposed, will be that portion of Crook County lying north of Crooked River and west of the Blue Mountains. For ten miles up Willow Creek can ion the Oregon Trunk Line will have Its most expensive construction work. Tito railway grade will be blasted out of solid rock walls for practically the entire distance at an estimated cost, complete with rails laid of $150,000 to the mile. Madras will be the dis tributive point for all this work and 2.000 men will be employed In the vi cinity for nine to 3 2 months. The town has hardly awakened yet to the possibilities of the future. Farm lands have gone up in price only 30 per cent in the last six months and can be purchased now for from $20 to $30 an acre. Town lot prices are low in comparison with those of the other towns of Central Oregon. Close. In residence lots are listed at $100 and lots In the business district up to $500. Lumber for buildings is hauled about IS miles and costs from $17 to $.'0 a 1000 feet, according to the season of the year. There are brick clay deposits near town. Juniper wood is used for fuel, and the demand of the railway camps has lately increased the price of wood from the old figure of $4.50 a cord to $6 a cord and more. - Recently half the townsite was pur chased by the Interior Land Company, composed of Portor Brothers. V. D. Wil liamson. J. B. Kerr and others intimate ly connected with the building of the Oregon Trunk line. This company has also purchased 7-0 acres near town and plana to dam Willow Creek, provide irri gation for that tract and give the town a water tupply. Madras now has a small flouring mill and a Walla Walla company is prepar ing to establish a large one. The town lias three churches and a schoolhouse of eight rooms. Twenty-six miles south of Madras and acrcs Crooked River is situated Red mond ill the center of the present irri gated land section of Central Oregon. Redmond now has perhaps 250 lnhabit nntt. Surrounding it are about 19.000 acres of irrigated land under plow, and brought into cultivation only within the last two or three years. Next year the cultivated area surrounding Redmond will be 30.000 acres. The cabins of new settlers on the irrigable lands are goim; tip in all directions the knowledge that the railroada are coming has livened the country. Redmond is the pie.ent an nounced terminus of the Deschutes Rail road Company's line, hut no one believes that the Harriman road will stop there. While the railroad graders are estab lished right In Madras they are still eight miles north of Redmond. Since railroad work started. $10,000 worth of town lots have been sold In Redmond and they have brought from $100 to $200 a lot. There has been but one Increase in lot prices within the last few months and that was a raise of $25. Redmond Is soon to re ceive some of the advantages, other than Irrigation, to be derived from the Ies chutes River. A company of Redmond men has commenced work on a $240,000 power project at Cline Falls, four miles away. A 25-foot dam is to be constructed. 1S5 feet between banks, by the aid of which 30,000 horsepower will be devel oped. A wood pipeline will bring water into the town. Surrounding Redmond for miles is a juniper dotted plain, set down in which are the irrigated farms and fields. Red mond boosters say that this juniper, aside from its fuel value, is the best lead pencil wood that grows. The berries that the trees produce every other year ar worth 7 cents a pound in New York, if properly picked and cleaned. Juniper berry picking, however, isnot an in dustry among the whites, although the Indians on the Warm Springs Agency, across the Deschutes, send two or three tons ICast every year. On the Deschutes near Redmond, are unlimited quantities of a light silica formation that looks like chalk but will not make a mark on a blackboard. Tests have shown it to be an excellent porcelain material, a per fect silver polish and an excellent dyna mite base or absorbent for nltro-glyc-erlne. The deposit Is similar to that near Mos-ler. When the present irrigation project now reclaiming the land in the Redmond country are completed, the town will be the center of a district comprising 150.000 acres of fertile and highly cultivated lands. For miles, as he journeys southward, the traveler can see In the distance a cone-shaped hill rising out of the plain and which has been known since ear"y days as Pilot Butte. Pilot Butte now is a landmark that rises over the thriving town of Bend. Bend reached, the trav eler is In the edge of the pine timber. Unlike the timbered country of Western 'Oregon, the pine belt Is free from under brush, and Bend, located in the edge of the forest., is in a natural park. The Deschutes roars through its there shal low canyon on the edge of the town, and along its bank property owners have built a row of pretty cottages and have had foresight enough to leave a few of the tall pines to beautify their lawns. Timber is counted on to make Bend a large city. It is estimated by timber owners that IS.000,000,000 feet of timber can be brought to Bend on downhill grades about half of which is now In private holding. South of the town, one and one-half miles, the Deschutes forms a natural mlllpond. An Inexpensive dam will increase the area of this pond to 145 acres and give pond room for five mills cutting 1.000.000 feet of lumber daily. In the immediate vicinity of Bend the DeschuteB River will provide 250,000 horsepower. On the edge of the town the Pilot Butte Development Company has well under way a power dam which will provide a head for generating 1700 horse power and which can be increased to 3500 horsepower. Bend will be getting electric current for lights and power from this plant next Spring, and then It is the plan of the company to extend transmis sion lines to Prineville and other towns. . A sawmill having a daily capacity of 30.000 .feet Is now in operation by the same company and the two projects give employment to 55 men. Bend Is also the headquarters for the Deschutes Irrigation & Power Co. For its age Bend is a lusty youngster. In 1901 the town had three houses, and school held in a log cabin was attended by four pupils. Today the town has a popula tion of 850. two good hotels, a bank with $100,000 in deposits, a schoolhouse that cost. $7500 and in which 250 pupils are now receiving their early educa tion, a public library. Board of Trade, good stores, churches and handsome homes. There Is a small real estate boom on. Business lots, similar to those that may be purchased in Madras for $500 and In Redmond for $200, are selling In Bend tor $2000. Acre tracts one-half mllo from town are offered at $1000. Lots have been platted far into the timber and are selling at $160. A boom in Bend is not without rea son, for the town is in a strategic location for becoming a railway and manufacturing center. On the west side of the Deschutes is a large area of country cut off from a railroad out let cast or south by the bluffs over looking the Deschutes and Columbia Rivers and barred on the west by the Cascade Mountains. Bend Is practi cally at the head of the Deschutes Can yon and the trade of the west slope of the Cascades north of Bend Is likely to go southward to Bend If governed by steam or electric railway transpor tation. To the east are the "High Plains." a vast undeveloped agricul tural country, and for a branch or cross-state line tapping the High Plains, Bend is a natural diverging point. Extensions on southward open other rich countries and if Bend once secures a hold on the trade that will drain Its way its future Is assured. Slightly oft the line of present rail way development is Frine-tlle. the present metropolis of Central Oregon. The railroads, as now projected, how ever, will pass within 14 miles of Prlnevllle and a branch line is looked upon as certain. "If the railroad com panies don't build it we will." say Prineville citizens, and they have the capital and energy to make their word good. Prineville is the outer distributing post for the great stock country of Interior Oregon. It has occupied that position since the early days of Ore gon history, for a settlement was es tablished there in 1866 and the town was incorporated ten years later. To day one cannot find a store at which to purchase supplies south or east of Prlnevllle for a distance of 90 miles and stockmen and ranchers now travel 100 miles and more to trade in Prine ville. There was once a time when the great stock territory from the Cascades east to Cheyenne was known as the Prineville country. North and west new towns and settlements have grad ually encroached on Prineville's terri tory, but its own diminishing area has built up In the meantime and In the last six vears the town has doubled its m:mEmmim 'te';:?:5KS SivsssS population. It now has 1500 inhabl tants. For an ordinary town of 1500 Prineville's business district would be "top-heavy." 'Its stores are numerous ind are in -substantial brick, stone and frame buildings, with plate glass fronts. It is the county seat of Crook County, and Its Courthouse, built last year at a cost of $80,000, is one of the best in the state. The building, too, was constructed of "rim rock" ob tained within three miles of town. A county high school building: was constructed of brick and stone three years ago at a cost of $24,000. Prlne vllle has a handsome stone hotel build ing, comfortable residences, electric lights and waterworks. In this town, 65 miles via the roughest of roads from the nearest railway point, clothing, groceries and drygoods may be pur chased from complete stocks at prices that rival those of the interior rail way towns of the Willamette Vallev. Its two banks have deposits totaling more than $500,000. A flouring mill, where last year wheat brought a bet ter price than when laid down at Shan lko. takes care . of much of the present grain output of Central Oregon and ships its product as far as Burns, 115 miles away by wagon road. ''" tuwaro oetween Prineville and drv-farmYn " bench lan rt, " X f these land T lat - On some, of tnese lands last year wheat yielded 40 IS X vV . : (r . . s i 3uvrv V U, Jr Sf ? . g ,1 I.bJJuJdL ill M ll re z.,a.z?," rr TL'tr' -8VJ4rii frit il 4$ ufT?D a -m)i I'W - - - - - - -'j H .57 " . Lr--satah:fca x-4f-- V'JQ M i".lt I t THOUSANDS OF ACRES OPEN TO ENTRY UNDER FEDERAL HOMESTEAD LAWS Rush of the Land Hungry Is Under Way Into Central Oregon, Where Last Large Stretches of Unappropriated Public Domain in. United States Await Development. THE race by two great railways for Interior Oregon that began last July, brought into prominence the last opportunity of any great magnitude in the United States fors entry upon Gov ernment homestead lands. The call of the soil has been felt by hundreds and a rush unprecedented in the West outside of those attending the lot tery distributions of newly opened In . Ulan reservations, is under way. There are two main districts in In terior Oregon that offer opportunities for homestead entries into which landseekers are now flocking, one of which is in Crook County and the other in Lake County, and the total area of which is approximately 750.000 acres. . These two districts are in sections of Oregon which it is reasonably certain will receive early railway transportation, and before Spring has come it rs likely that further exten sions of railway construction will be an nounced that will direct attention to the -'immense acreage of other public lands lying vacant in Harney and Malheur Counties. In Crook County, southeast of Bend and south of Prineville. lies a tract of ap proximately 470,000 acres on what has heretofore been known locally as the "High Desert.' Interior Oregon, however. Is learning to frown upon the word "desert" as appljed- to lands in that lo cality" and the name is being changed to yiS iiii -.:?:?: -sk.-..;'.". bushel to the acre when grown only experimentally. The town Jies in a deep valley at "high plains." for the land is by w means a desert as the world i applied to the Mo.iave Desert ois Death Valley In at an altitude of 4000 feet, soil ot rich volcanic ash mixed with clay, water procurable at depths ranging from six to 30 feet and having an average yearlyr rainfall of fully 12 inches, the high plains' present an opportunity for graingrowing by dry farming methods not excelled in any country. The land is level, frea, from rocks and trees, while sagebrush growing six feet high Interspersed with bunchgrass speaks for the fertility of the soil. - Lands on the high plains are open for entry "under the dry farming homestead act, 'by. the terms of which" continuous residence on the land for five years la required and commutation at an earlier period is not permitted. The entries may be of 320 acres, however, wnlle 160 acres is the limit under the old homestead laws. Residence on the land within six months after date of filing is required and the entryman must show in. making final proof that at least one-eighth of the area embraced in his entry was continuously cultivated to agricultural crops, other than native grasses, beginning with the second year of the entry, and that at least one-fourth of the 320 acres was so cultivated beginning with the third year of the entry. Homesteaders are taking up lands on the high plains under the provisions of both homestead laws, some preferring to limit their holdings to 1G0 acres and .ro the confluence of . Ochoco rivers. Tl very fertile and the Crooked and The valley lands are nd produce alfalTa. commute under the old law after U months by paying the Government $1.25 an acre. In the latter months of 1909 more than 500 entries were made on high plains land and approximately 170,000- acres were taken up, according to estimates made by realty men in Central Oregoif. The country Is brand-new and the new settlers have not yet had time to show what their lands will produce. It is known, "however, that the character of the soil is good, the rainfall ample and the climate not severe, so there is appar ently no reason why with proper methods of cultivation, wheat, rye and barley should not be grown successfully. Portions of this tract are within a reasonable distance of Bend or Prine ville. both of which will soon have rail connections with the outside world. Other portions are Isolated, however, but If reports are true the Oregon Trunk Line will extend eastward across the High Plains to a connection with the Burlington, thus giving the district good railway facilities. In any event development of tonnage will bring branch lines into the district. In the northern part of Lake County lies the other goal in the present home steaders rush a basin -45 miles long and averaging ten miles wide and com prising what are known as the Christ mas Lake. Silver Lake. Fort Rock and Fremont districts. The Government chart of Lake County shows that this district was occupied ages ago by a lake which on draining left a sediment meadow hay, grain, fruits and veg etables. To the south are the High Plains. now being rapidly settled. Twenty-five miles east is the May flower mining district, a" country that promises much when given railway trans portation. Land prices in the Prlne vllle district have felt the influence of railway development. Farms have gone up in value 50 per cent and in some instances 100 per cent. Valley lands now sell for $60 to $80 an acre and bench 'lands from $20 to $40. Residence lots sell in Prineville at f from $25 to $100. Business property brings from $50 to $150 a front foot. The advantages of Prineville are re alized by an active commercial club, which is installed in a large building, where the members have the use of billiard and pool tables, bowling alleys, gymnasium, card rooms and assembly hall. Climatic conditions in the four towns mentioned are practically the same. The climate is equable, the thermom eter rarely going over 90 degrees in Summer or under zero-in Winter. The high altitude gives cool nights in the Summer, no matter how hot the day. deposit with the original volcanic ash that makes an extraordinarily rich soil. On three sides of this basin lies a high plateau covered by the magnificent growth of pine timber that makes up the Fremont Forest Reserve. Thus pro tected, the valley, although having an altitude of 4000 feet, has a moderate Winter temperature. Snow melts shortly after falling and stock grazing continues all Winter. Good well water is found at a depth of 20 to 30 feet and the sage brush grows so luxuriantly that It Is not grubbed out but burned off and the roots plowed under. In the latter part of 1D08 fully 1000 homesteaders filed on lands In the basin and about 400 have already gone on their land, built houses and begun their improvements. Two' sawmills, now In operation, supply the homesteaders with lumber at $10 to $15 a thousand and fuel and fence posts are obtained from the forest reserve free. Each of the four main settlements has its general store, school and Postoffice and at Sil ver Lake there is a special commissioner from the Land Office to receive entries. Silver Lake bears the distinction of being the farthest settlement from rail way connection in the State of Oregon. It is 185 miles south of Shanlko and about an equal distance from Klamath Falls. There is a daily stage line each way through the valley, however, rail connections being made at Shaniko, and a rural mall service Is provided. ..The settlement entries have been most numerous at the western end of the valley and there practically all of the Government land has been taken. In the vicinity of what is now Fort Rock, one year ago there were two home steaders and the stockmen passing through the country and stage travelers thought they were crazy. Today from an eminence In the same locality a gen eral store, two schoolhouses and more than 150 settlers' cabins may be counted within a radius of five miles. The set tlers who were in early enough to raise 'if 'i'S'-: .'. vflv. :ir " "5Hw& , 5 Usually there & about one week of ice producing weather in the Winter, dur ing which ice for Summer use is stored. In temperatures, some hot and some cold exceptions have been noted. The record of greatest Summer heat ever recorded was 110. Last Winter, which gave a period of almost unprecedented cold throughout all Oregon, saw the thermometer in Central Oregon go to 44 beiow zero In some places. small crops last year produced oat hay five and one-half feet tall, turnips and rutabagas weighing eight to 25 pounds and good yields of potatoes and cab bage. . The western section of the valley was first settled, probably because of the certainty of railway transportation within a reasonable distance and within a comparatively short time. The Klam-ath-Natron cutoff of the Southern Pa cific will pass within 18 miles of the western end of the valley, and the Ore gon Trunk line, it is expected, will also skirt the western end. Still more direct railway transportation, however, is in prospect, for the east-and-west line ex tension of the Oregon Short Line from Ontario to Natron is surveyed through the valley. Surveying parties have been working in the valley this Fall getting rights of way and seeking satisfactory grades. At the eastern end of the valley where it widens and its confines are not clearly marked there are lands still open for entry. Some claims ,have been taken up there under the dry farming law. but in the western portion the reg ular homestead has been the preference. For lands in the High Plains country the filings are made at the Government Land Office In The Dalles. As herein before stated, there is a special commis sioner at Silver Lake. The stranger In the country, however, who starts out to secure a claim on his own initiative is confronted by several difficulties, chief of which Is the discovery of the tracts that have not been .entered upon. Prob ably the best course for him who has no friend in the district who knows the location of the best open tracts is to seek out one of the numerous land lo cators who are in the district. The land locator's fee runs from $80 to $150 for each claim. The usual contract pro vides that the agent shall point out the land and if It is not satisfactory to the homeseeker the agent shall receive no fee. b Hi UJsS ill