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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1915)
TTTE MOROTXG OREGONIAN. MONDAY,. SEPTEMBER !0, 1915. ELMA, WASH., FOUND TO BE PROSPEROUS CITY Much Street Paving, Construction Work of All Kinds and Well-stocked Stores Among Things Noted There. 0 1 p :--7 ft ' -r 1 -ft hotel. The Oddfellows and the Ma sonic orders each has a fine lodge building with business rooms down stairs. Attractive Homes Are Pound. A frame building .has Just been erect ed on one of the principal corners as a home for the postofflce. This is a fine structure 24x60 feet with a large vault. There are lots of attractive residences in 'all sections of the city, the lawns being spacious and well kept. The city has a splendid water sys tem, the supply coming from several mammoth springs two miles west of town. The water is pumped into a reservoir on the hills ' north of town, giving a good pressure. The city also owns a large city hall, the fire depart ment occupying the ground floor. Elma is a prosperous little city. The merchants are doing a good business and carry large stocks.' Jndeed the business section shows that the town is in a rather thickly- settled section, the stocks being out at proportion to the size of the city. : y-ZZ I I Bib - i t'H r-!r on BT ADDISON BENNETT. ELMA. Wash.. Sept. 19. (Special.) When i he settlers began to turn their eyes towards land for homes In Southwestern Washington, at about the time the Civil War was getting a good start, timber ,was considered a curse to the homeseekers. So they sought out sections where there were barren spaces or openings where there were no great trees: When these openings were of large area they were termed prairiea. It happened that there was a prairie of considerable extent and of good land in the vicinity of the present town of Elma: and after the town was started the surrounding lands were called the Elma Prairie. Just how the town got its name in a disputed question. I have heard two perfectly authentic accounts, but per haps both are wrong, for it is difficult to verify trifling incidents of more than 50 years ago. especially in sections were the actors were few when the in cidents occurred. First I was told that the name came from Elmer Brown, the first victim of the Civil War, who was killed just before the people in the little settlement here made application for a postoffice. In some way the name was made Elma in place-of Elmer. The other account says the people here settled on the name of Elmira, but the postoffice officials at Washington changed it to Elma. Bright PronpFrtu Seen Abend. Let me tell you that this same Elma ha great possibilities ahead of it. It will never be a New York, not eren a Portland; but if it does not make a populous and prosperous city then there is nothing in appearances or resources. Why. just think of a town of 1600 spending in times like these ?100.0(i0 for a school building and then before the mortar is dry spending three quarters as much in paving! Never was I more astonished at the Improvements being, made in a town than I was to see that magnificent school building and to note the closing of the work on nearly two miles of as good paving as any city has. Before the paving was laid there was a fine sewer system Installed and about four miles ofsidewalk, and as much of curb ing laid and all of the best concrete "construction. - - . Elma is situated on the high lands to the north of the Chehalis River, which is perhaps a mile away. The Mil waukee and O.-W. R. & N. roads run along on the south side of this river, the station for the convenience of the Elma people being reached by a good road and a fine bridge in less than five minutes by auto. Then the Northern Pacific passes through the town: so Elma has about 15 passenger trains a day. Gfeod Land Costs Little. There is good farming land with well improved farms all around Elma. Of course there are lots and lots of vacant lands, good lands, that have been logged off and are lying vacant and un productive. Yet these lands within easy reach of town can be had for less than $25 an acre on easy terms on your own terms. Indeed I had lands pointed out to me that can be bought as low s $10 an acre, and excellent tracts at $15. Isn't it a shame that such fine lands in such a wonderful climate should lie idle when lands in other places that are hardly worth taking free are fought ever? Well, there will be a change soon and good settlers will flock into Oregon and Washington like sheep. Then many people who know all about the ' present opportunities will regret it because they did not buy when the prices were so ridiculously low. This whole section will one day have great prominence as a dairy section. Already an excellent start, has been made and there is a prosperous cream ery here in town. E. L. Brewer, a suc cessful farmer just .west of town, has one of the best herds of Jerseys in the West World's Record Once Held. A few years ago his four-year old Olympia Fern made the world's record of the year for the production of but ter. George Simpson has a splendid farm of 400 acres adjoining the city limits. He has a fine herd of regis tered and grade Holsteins nearly 100 of them. Judge K. R. Brady, whose .place is close to Mr. Brewer's, has a large herd of Guernseys, and Homer Martin breeds a strain of Jerseys. So you can. see that a. good start has already been made towards making this a dairy center. No better location could be found for dairying, for no place' has more advantages of soil, cli mate, markets and good roads. Do mot forget that this is the county of good roads not merely good dry weather roads roads that are true to their name the year through. Aa ta the productivity or the toll let me say to those who know what a good yieldof oats means that Edward Fos ter, on his farm just west of town. had. this season 80 acres in oats that threshed 140 bushels per acre, and i small patch of the field went 170 bush els to the acre. Is that a fairly good yield: Berrien Easily Shipped. As to strawberries (the quickest money-making crop for the newcomer on stump land) it is said that the ad vantages are great for the berries raised here are excellent for' shipment. A great many people are now embark ing in this business. The town has an active citizens club, .lames Glancy Is the president, W. J. Burns secretary. I got much assistance from these gentlemen. There are two banks here, the Bank of Elma and the Farmers' and Lumberman's.' The former has a capital of $15,000 and surplus of $1,000. A. D. Devonshire is president. E. L. France cashier. Its deposits amount to $165,000. The Farm ers' and Lumberman's has a capital of $20,000 and surplus of $5000. Henry McCleary is president and W. L. Boomer cashier. Its deposits are $105,000. , The Elma Chronicle is the name of the town newspaper. It is now in its twenty-seventh year. It is owned and conducted by P. W. Harvey and Frank Jacobs. It is an eight-page, six column sheet. It is well edited and mighty well printed. Indeed it has all of the earmarks of a prosperous newspaper. Town Is County Fair Home. Elma Is the home of the annual fair of this county Gray's Harbor and the 1915 fair was the best and most pros perous ever held, there being iin the three days 12,000 paid admissions. Of course there are a great many lumber, shingle and lath mills here and near here, and the largest door factory is situated just east of here. The town has five nice churches the Methodi6t, Baptist, Adventist, Episco palian and Roman Cathloic. The Chris tian Scientists hold regular services but have as yet no place of worship or tneir own. There are a number of modern build ings in town, several of them being of concrete, tacn of the banks has a con crete home and two of the principal stores have edifice's of the same class. The Imperial Hotel is conducted in an attractive building which was erected by the Knights of Pythias, the lodge-rooms being on the too floor. The Imperial is a mighty good stopping place. Charles Allison is the proprietor and he surely knows how to run a CASTOR I A ) for Infants and Children. TTig Kind Yea Have Always Bought Bars the ignatox of ORDER OF UNITED ARTISANS A Social, Fraternal, Beneficial So ciety for men and women. Four plans of insurance based upon ade quate rates, and backed by a sur plus of nearly one million dollars. 20 lodges in Portland. Over 11,000 members in Oregon. Let us tell you about it. Phone Mala 1220. C. M'KEXXA, Supreme Secretary. 621 Beck. Bids, Portland. Or. SUICIDE USES DYNAMITE Despondent PowdieVnian Lays Head on Explosive and Lights Fuse. TACOMA. Wash., Sept. 19. Deliber ately placing his head on three sticks of dynamite and then lighting a fuse attached to one of the sticks, Michael Greeley, a powder man, calmly waited for the explosion that caused his in stant death today on the bank of the Puyallup River. His suicide is attributed to despond ency ana excessive drinking. He was employed by a dredging company, but was laid off several days ago and told to sober up. " Xorth Yakima Health Officer Hies. NORTH YAKIMA, Wash., Sept. 19. (Special.) Gerald Sheeley, assistant city and county health officer, died suddenly last evening at his home in this city, aged 81. He came here from Wisconsin, and has been connected with the health work of the city for a number of years. SEA WEDDING IS BALKED GOLD BEACH RANCHER CATCHES ELOI'ING GIRL AT WHARF. Daughter of , 16 Returns Home With Father Under Protest When Taken From Vessel. GOLD BEACH, Or., Sept. 19. (Spe cial.) What promised to be a highly romantic elopement here was narrowly averted by the timely intervention of the parents of the eloping maiden. Gladys Miller, the 16-year-old daugh ter of A s. Miller, a prominent rancher residing near Gold Beach, and Fred Hoge, a fisherman employed at the Seaborg cannery, were principals in the episode. Hoge and his intended bride attempt ed to gain . the consent of the girl's parents to an immediate marriage, but were told that they must wait until next Spring. The parents had decided to send the girl to Roseburg to attend school this Winter. Upon the arrival in Rogue River of the gas schooner Rustler, Hoge inter viewed Captain Peder Olsen and tried to prevail upon Olsen to take him and Miss Miller out to sea beyond the three-mile limit and there perform the ceremony. Captain Olsen was entirely willing to take the couple to sea, but balked at performing the marriage ceremony. It was arranged that Hoge should procure a preacher to perform the ceremony and have him aboard the boat at 2 o'clock Friday afternoon. The news in some manner reached Mr. Miller at his ranch. He Immedi ately mounted a saddle-horse and while Mrs. Miller telephoned Sheriff Bailey to stop the runaways he gal loped his horse at top speed to the dock at Wedderburn. Mr. Miller succeeded in reaching the dock in time to stop the proceedings. The girl returned home with her father under protest. Government Withdraws Power Sites! NORTH YAKIMA. Wash.. Sept. 19. (Special.) Announcement was re ceived at the North Yakima Land Of fice yesterday that the Government has withdrawn from entry a number of power sites in the Upper Naches Val ley. The withdrawals aggregate about 1200 acres. . EXHIBITS WIDELY SPREAD Willamette Valley "Exposition to Oc cupy Five Albany Buildings. ALBANY. Or., Sept. 19. (Special.) Five different buildings wll be used to house the exhibits at the Willamette Valley Exposition, to be held here Oc tober 14 to 16. inclusive. f The industrial school fair will be held in the Oregon National Guard Armory. The ' horticultural exhibits will be displayed in the old Central School. The fine arts exhibit will be shown in the Rhodes building, and the Young Men's Christian Association gymnasium will house Dr. Hill's large museum and the "home circus." The horses will be exhibited at the Palace Feed Barn and the display of cattle and other stock will take place there and at the Public Sales Day Grounds. Brakeman Falls Off Trestle. CATHLAMET, Wash.. Sept. 19. (Special.) Bert Stoner, second brake man on the logging train of the Cath lamet Timber Company at this place, was probably fatally injured when he fell from his train off a 30-foot trestle. He was taken to a Portland hospital for treatment. George Baxter Is Snlcide. MARSHFIELD', Or.. Sept. 19. (Spe cial.) George (Teddy) Baxter, a busi ness man of this city, formerly of Co quille, committed suicide in this city last' night by shooting himself in his room. Baxter had been despondent for some time. Koseburg Cement Plant Inspector. ROSEBURG. Or., Sept. 19. (Special.) A. L. Butchart, said to be one of-the best known -cement manufacturers in IP )J Ye Oregon Grille Offers You the Best In Cuisi tertainment. Donald Macgregor v e r satile Scotch comedian, will render standard bal lads and Scotch dialect songs, including Safteat of the Family." "We Parted on the Shor-r-r-c.'' Babe Fowler charming entertainer, will lead the all-star cabaret in an attractive baby-costume Bong entitled. "I Wanna be the Captain or I Won't Play." Our 'DOLLAR DIXXER" is on every evening from 3:30 to 8. A la carte at all hours. . ne. Service, En- Ye Oregon Grille Oregon Hotel, M. C. Dickinson, Manager, Broadway at Stark. "When In Seattle Stop at Hotel Seattle. i i the country, spent today in Ro6eburg inspecting the property of the Port land Cement Company near Green. He was accompanied to Koseburg by Amon Moore, secretary and treasurer of the company. Phono Merger Studied. WOODBLTRX. Or.. Sept. 19. (Spe cial.) Railroad Commissioner Clyde B. Atchison was in the city yesterday to take evidence in the proposed local telephone merger case and application of those contemplating consolidation to increase the ru.tes for service. No decision was rendered. There seemed to be no objection to the consolidation but the Commissioner heard some rela tive to additional charge for service. E2-3 ays Old 7 the B I'M. the original Mystery Man all others are lmiiauons. 1 m a living dare to every man, woman and child in America I I'm a challenge to your ability at discovering. "I'm the 7th point of superiority in Sterling Qum. And nobody knows me but the Sterling people themselves. reBut v perhaps you can find me for the point is really in Sterling Gum itself. It isn't masked isn't hard to capture the trail is clear and straight-away. "First study points 1 to 6: 1. Crowded with flavor , 4. Sterling purity 2. Velvety body NO GRIT 5. From a daylight factory 3. Crumble-proof 6. Untouched by hands "Have you perseverance? Are you good at discovering? Some say that Columbus won't be one, two, three alongside of the Suitable rewards for the discovery th point be offered of the 7t will later. Triepoint dnm PEPPERMINT RED WRAPPER CINNAMON BLUE WRAPPER JTe Sterling Cum Ga Xnc Long Island City, Greater New York