The Sunday Oregonian., October 10, 1909, SECTION SIX, Page 4, Image 62

BT GEORGE PALMER PUTNAM.
, RAVELING, or just going some-
rhere?"
Off In a cloud of dust, sure
enough, this time."
"Why don't you fellows bring the
land In. 'stead of going way out there
for It?"
Such are some of the greetings,
abridged and perhaps a trifle expur
gated, that speed the parting home
steader, as under the guiding wing of
the "locator," he prepares to fare forth
from Bend to look over the new land
he contemplates settling upon.
Altogether, it is quite an extensive
if not over-impressive outfit that starts
out. The hack, deep laden as a cattle
tramp steamer, with the various para
phernalia of a four days' dry camping
trip, is whisked out of town by a sturdy
tram, bound for the great untouched
plains to the east and south of Bend,
there to -pick out a homestead.
In the first place, there is the "vic
tim." Thus oftentimes is the prospec
tive settler dubbed, and for whom. In
his quest for one of Uncle Sam's sifts of
land, the expedition Is being made. He
may hail from the Willamette Valley,
or from the Canal Zone of Panama; he
may be a factory hand seeking the
; frit-si'
Aw"'
' 4 4' 5
c- . "-::v-'A -'i. Jill " - mi
Vg-raasTajiiii biiii iMsairHTwriin mm if imh mi him rmnriwii MrnrSr 1 I
m If - , i , vcso& " I .if:'1 ft.1 . r in mnmiii inn urn n n innii rmmn iwTwmff.iWiiitiiTnrwii Mnirwii.iMwinMiiWlg
Taking Up 320-Acre
Dry Farms Which
Uncle Sam is Now
Giving Away to
Actual Settlers.
i
v m. ja.
"freedom of the soil." or a city and
book-bred tenderfoot, equipped for his
new task chiefly with enthusiasm, and
primed with extra-sized ideas concern
ing the limitless Joys of ranch life; but
whatever he is or may have been mat
ters not at all. provided only that he
has not used his homestead right -nd
is a citizen of the United States. For
such the vacant lands are open, not for
the asking, but for the using.
Sharing the back seat of the rig with
the would-be settler is the Man Who
Wants to See. He has no Intention of
being located or of otherwise rendering
the least service to the party or his
country. His sole reason for serving
aa unneceeeary ballast on the expedi
tion is a superabundance of sheer curi
osity the kind that kills the prover
bial cat but thus far has permitted
him to escape tolerably uninjured. In
short, he wishes to see this first step
in the making of an Oregon home, and
in particular desires to get a glimpse
of the raw range lands whose wheat,
before many years have passed, will
support cities before the ties of the new
Central Oregon railroads are fairly
worn.
It was said that the two uninitiated
ones shared the back seat: they did not,
for the good and sufficient reason that
none existed. Instead, a canvas-covered
roll of bedding, placed upon a
foundation of feedsack, provided a seat
of backless comfort. In front were the
"locators," the leaders of the expedi
tion. A water bag, keg, grub box, bale
of hay, pail and other odds and ends of
a brief cajnplng trip completed the
equipment.
Thus outfitted, the landseekers, typ
ical of many who had preceded and
would follow them, left Bend for the
"high desert."
"What you got the water keg for?"
Thla In good-hnmored derision from
a "Bender." who watched proceedings
from the sidewalk.
"Taking it out to fill tip with some
real good water," comes the equally
good-natured response.
"Forgot your fishing rods, didn't
you?"
"Where's your boots?"
So runs the banter as the homestead
era drlva through the town. AU this
"Jollying" about the water because one
of the greatest drawing-cards adver
tised by the real estate men Is the fact
that water has everywhere been ob
tained In the wells they have dug,
transforming what hae hitherto been
styled a "desert" Into a land of oppor
tunity. Every one knows this; also
every one realizes that one dry night
must be spent en route between the
Deschutes and the new wells, explain
ing the presence of the cask.
The new land is new In every aense
of the word, for until it was put under
the 320-acre homestead law a month
or so ago, not a location had been made
upon it. Therefore, with humor born
from perversity, comes furthr re
marks. "gay " and after the team has been
slopped to grasp the expected speech
"how Is the melon crop out there this
season?" And many another Inquiry
pertaining to the wheat stand and the
prevailing prices of grain. To all of
which the travelers, under fire, have
their answers, appropriate and other
wise. ' Soon Bend and the Deschutes are left
behind. Some miles after the last of
the town'a houses la lost in the wake of
the dust, the most easterly of the big
Irrigation canals is crossed, whereupon
ensues a general "wetting down" of
man and beast, and filling of the
with many laborious trips from ditch
to wagon with the pail, the greater
portion of whose contents seem de
termined upon splashing over Instead
of genteelly entering the keg's one and
only small opening.
A mile further the first tragedy
the trio occurs. What is. next to wal
the one great and only factor in cam p
Inur hapnlness has been forgotten. At
the last minute the coffee was neg
lected no coffee a horrible situation,
indeed, for coffeeless camping is one
dea-ree worse than lceless Ice cream.
However, happily, a rancher Is found
In an outlying shack who produces a
plenty of the precious beans, which,
after a hasty trip through the grinder,
under the guidance of an athletic hand,
are added to the store in the "grub"
box.
Soon the land-seekers leave the last
of the yellow pine timber and continue
over the rolling semi-desert plains,
covered only by the sagebrush, bluish
and yellow where it flowers, and by
the chemise, while occasional sturdy
and always picturesque Junipers lift
their olive-tinted foliage against
the radiant blue aky. Westward
stretch the great pine forests, rolling
up from the banks of the Deschutes to
the snow-clad Cascades, which glisten
in steel-cut outline, seemingly close at
hand - in the clear atmosphere. The
ragged peaks of the Three Sisters,
minaretted Broken Top and Three, Fin
gered Jack are near at hand, while
more distant rise Washington and
Jefferson, and far away Mount Hood,
a beautiful sky snow dome, softened
by the intervening miles. Closer stand
the two cone-like hills. Pilot and Lava
Butte, the one an extinct volcano, sur
rounded by lava fields and still retain
ing a perfect crater; the other rising
from the outskirts of Bend, from whose
base stretches away the far-reaching
lands of the great Deschutes irrigation
segregation.
In front is the sage brush, extending
over the entire 60 miles of the Journey,
a journey over a country ever more
level, free from rock, and tillable as
the road reaches eastward.
Along this road lie some 3D0.O0O acres
of land practically ready for the plow.
Some of the 5S.000.000 acres these.
that have so long been without trans
portationacres that now at last will
have an opportunity to display their
value to the markets of the West
It is the new enlarged homestead law
which has awakened a popular Interest
in this vast area of embryo wheat land
and has made practicable Its opening
up to the settler. The new law has
happily combined with the promise of
the railroads in a development that
will mean millions of 'dollars to the
state at no very distant date.
The new law is known as the Mon
dell Act. and Its provisions make pos
sible the homesteading of 320-acre tracts
In certain specified localities which must
be designated by the Secretary of the
Interior. Lands subject to entry under
this act have to be non-timbered and
not susceptible to Irrigation, and cap
able of succesful cultivation only by
dry farming methods. The applicant
must establish his residence on the land
within six months after filing, and
must continue to reside upon it for a
period of five years, without the privi
lege of "commuting," as in the 160-acre
homesteads. Also, a given proportion
of the land must each year be put under
cultivation.
Under the'provlslona of this act 1,800.
000 acres of land in Oregon have been
made attractive to settlers, which other
wise might have remained open range
country almost Indefinitely, producing a
small amount of wealth relative to their
latent possibility.
It has been predicted by John F. Stev
ens, the head of the Oregon Trunk Rail
road, and by others, that the opening of
Central Oregon by transportation will
triple the state's output of wheat. Dur
ing the next few years the abilitlea of
this land will be tested to the full by the
settlers who are taking them up now.
and doubtless once the roads themselves
are prepared to tap the territory, aa they
must and will, with branch lines from
the north and south road, the develop
ment will bo almost unprecedented, even
for Oregon.
It is an old and wornout saying that
the 160-acre homestead proposition Is a
gamble entered into between si c Govern
ment and the settler. Uncle ftim, so the
saying goes, bets the homesteader the
land that he can't stay on it for five
years without starving to death, and :f
the settler Wins out the land is bla. Now.
however, in those days of universal "land
hunger" and high land values, when it
Is next to Impossible to secure any kind
of desirable Government land, a free 320
looks mighty good to the man who wants
to go ranching, and who has more pion
eer blood In his veins than money In his
pocket to spend upon expensive deeded
land. So now the settler who grasps his
opportunity to get a homestead le enter
ing into not the old-time reputed gamble,
but laying the foundation of a good thing
of no small dimensions.
The long drive had little to break its
monotony. In the middle of the day the
travelers "nooned" where chance found
them, aurrounded chiefly by sage-brush
and limitless space. The grub box was
opened and its contents enthusiastically
attacked, the water bag gave some of its
cool contents toward the wetting of
dusty throats, and the horees. having
had their full of grain from the nosebags,
wandered about muchlng the rich bunch
grass. Late in tne afternoon the keg
was replenished from the well of one of
the two ranchers which at present oc
cupy this vast territory, an island of a
house, corrall and windmill in the sea of
sape-brush.
The ranch is situated in what Ls known
as the Old River Bed, a curious relic of
a bygone stream that stretches through
this entire country, here and there a
steep walled canyon, and always an eas
ily perceived depression showing clearly
the course of some ancient river which
drained the great valleys before the vol
canic upheavals rearranged the topo
graphy of -the region. Occasionally are
seen water burnished rocks in the old
bed and other evidences of the ancient
flow, giving an almost uncanny Impres
sion of the nearness of the water in the
midst of apparently waterless surround
ings. A sundown camp under the shelter of a
big Juniper, a big camp fire and a
limitless supply of bacon and coffee, plut t'&J&JZIS
the inevitable "tin cow," were the pre
liminaries of a most satisfactory night's
rest. Being experts in the art of mak
ing racing time despite their hobbles,
our horses, of course, managed to give a
little early morning trouble by wandering
far along the homeward road during the
night, but were soon returned to their
nosebag breakfast. while the human
members of the party enjoyed ;h Invari
able flapjacks, without which a breakfast
in the open is an unheard of lmpossiou
lty. Sage hens were the sporting attrac
tion of the day plus an occasional coyote,
who invariably escaped unhurt after hav
ing provoked far more than his share of
long-distance ammunition wasting.
The unfortunate part of the hen-hunting
was that the only death-dealing in
strument In the possession of the party
was a Winchester 30-30. Now. such a
weapon is vastly more fitted to the ex
tinction of bears than sage hens that is
if vou want to find the hen after the
ODeration. If one can be certain of mak
lng connections between the bullet and
the hen's head, a neat job in decapitation
is the result, and all is well. If one
5sjr TZETJSjr "nvw jcjovta sat oteGteotssvi?.
HERBERT O. ROESH, CHAMPION SHOT A T CAMP PERRY, TO BE HONORED BY PEN
DLETON TOWNSPEOPLE.
" rT "" W Try-.i.i. i j. it ''CTTOCr'-T"1' --,,';V,V?T-'r "-'y"-n
r "K V ' 1 W h ! --'( i : i
; 1 n it - Hi U - I I' w bi
IN ABOVE PICTURE ROESH IS RECEIVING CONGRATULATIONS OF HIS TEAM MATES IMMEDIATE
LY AFTER HIS REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE IN WINNING GOVERNOR'S CIP AND DEFEATING
THE HITHERTO UNDEFEATED WORLD'S CHAMPION SHOT.
PENDLETON, Or., Oct. 9. (Special.) Herbert O. Roesh, the Annapolis midshipman who recently won
the world's championship at the Camp Perry rifle shooting contest, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William
Roesh. pioneer residents of Pendleton. Herbert Roesh was reared in this city. All of his preliminary educa
tion was received In the Pendleton schools. The citizens of Pendleton, in order to show appreciation of
the honor which young Roesh has conferred upon the city, have arranged to present him with the first
wool robe manufactured bv the new Pendleton woolen mills, which are just now opening up. The robe Is to
be the finest the mills can produce, and the money which is being subscribed for its purchase goes into
the park fund, as the Bishop brothers refuse to accept any pay for the robe.
fails to make such connection, about all
that remains for collection .of Madam
Hen. hit amidships, is scattered lnde
scrimlnately over several acres of Gov
ernment land, leaving little procurable
for the frying pan except a few feathers
and a possible foot or wing tip. But in
this particular case one of the leaders
of the party happened to be a good shot
nemtrating several hens from their heads
with a result highly satisfying to the
appetite after a brief trip through ttia
frying pan.
After spending the noon hour at Pringle
Flats, where a first-class sand spout per
formed for the benefit of the photog
rapher, the drive continued past the
etock ranch of "Johnny" Smear, and
ovr a country practically stonelees and
well showing Its wonderful richness by
the character of its big sage and heavy
bunch grass. On all sides were cattle,
drinking from the little creek that flows
from the springs at Pringle Flats, big fat
Durliamsi and whKe faced Herefords,
for the most part, as well as any num
ber of range horses, of varying degrees
of wtldness. Hundreds of these range in
this country the year round, supplying
the hardiest and often the handsomest
breed obtainable anywhere in the state.
They say their corralling Is a trifle more
difficult than catching a wreak of
greased lightning where the going is
rough.
For 30 miles all the land that the party
has traversed offers splendid opportuni
ties for the settler. But now. at last,
60 miles from the start, conies the prize
valley of It all. From the top of a
slight eminence the enthusiastic new
comers look down upon what appears a
perfectly level fi"ld. 30 miles In lencth
and probably three to ten miles wide.
Not a tree-or a rock breaks the clear
stretch.
The land seeker looks long. Then he
turns to the men who brought him out.
saving with pretended wrath:
"Whv in the name of all that's holy
didn't "you tell me of this long before?"
And the locators laugh; already they
know that they have planted the seed
that will grow Into another Central Ore
gon ranch.
"I've been up at Spokane," continues
the settler "for six months, looking for
a chance at some Government land. I
took a shot in each of the Indian reserva
tion lotteries Coeur d'Alene and tlie
others and like most of the fellows who
paid in their cash to the railroads and
hotel-keepers. I got left. But" and he
looked at the plains below and around
him. "I'm cussed if I would have bother
ed with the hills and stumps up there for
a measly little 160 if I'd known of 320
acres like this waiting for me here."
To which the locators explain that it
Is only since the close of the reservation
grab bags that this land has been put
under the 320 acre law and lias com
menced to be taken up.
That afternoon the party makes a
careful examination of the nearer portion
of the valley. They go to the well which
the locators have previously dug. where
the prospective settler sounds for him
self the water in the bottom of tne snait
that has been bored through the clear
soil a mixture of clay and disintegrated
lava with a common wood auger. They
look into the sources of the two little
creeks, which even at the hottest time
of the year, and despite the drinking of
many head of cattle, flow out upon the
valley from the buttes. Here and there
some giant sage brush is encountered.
one patch of which covers several acres.
with an average height of six feet ana ;
more, and a girth as large as a man's1
thlRh.
"Make cord wood of the sage," laughs
the locator, "and all you have to do is
split it for fence posts."
The settler Is then shown the buttws,
with their lsvy growth of juniper,
which will supply his fuel and fencing,
and told that but 3ft miles distant is a
sawmill whence he may procure lumber
for his future home.
And then the great business of the day
is taken up. Section corners are hunted
out, which were found and marked by the
locators weeks before, and the innnientoiM
question discussed as to which particular
half-section is wanted by the settler. Ho
Is shown Just what land has been taken
up, and by whom. Finally he makes his
decision; a 320 embracing a forty of juni
per, a pleasant house site at the base of
the butte, and some two hundred and
eighty acres of level, stoneless land ujion
the valley's floor.
Back at Bend the application for the
land Is made out and sent to the land of
fice at The Dalles, and the locating fee
paid over to those who have aided the
settler in his home finding. Such is the
official beginning of the new ranch. With
in the six months' following the filing,
the land must be occupied.
And so have the first steps in the found
ing of wheat land home in Central Oregon
been made. When within his alloted six
months the settler moves 'upon his new
possessions he will find a little community
already embarked upon the taming of th
raw land and the founding of what, may
blossom Into a future city. For so are
the cities of the Northwest born.
Next Spring he will fence his embryo
ranch and build his ftrsl modest bouse.
Then, with the plow and grub, he wilt
clear from sage brunh sin-h portion of the
land as he sees fit. pile It In wind rows,
and some breezy day let the flames put
the finishing touches to his work, clearing
for all time this first and only crop of
sage. Next will cmne the plow and the
sowing, and soon the reaping. A store
and postofflce will by that time he his
neighbors, and prohahly a stage line will
connect him with the towns along the
railroad. He will find the name of his
new town in the papers, and undoubtedly
become one of its most ardent "boosters."
And then but the future holds, too
many possibilities. Suffice to say that
where for years the cattle have grazed a
half hundred miles from house or human,
a developing country has been born.' A
fraction of that country's first commun
ity, the settler just "located" has chnsen
to make one more ranch and one more
home for himself and the prosperity of
Oregon.
Making a Boomerang.
St. --choias.
The material of which tln boomerarg
is made Is another feature which must
be considered. It can be fashioned of
ash or hickory, as stated, but ran also,
be cut or stamped out of celluloid, and
hard rubber. Boomerangs are now being
sold In tvo or three American cities.
Several expert throwers In this country,
however, have fashioned their own boom
erangs not only of celluloid but of heavy
cardboard. If the cardboard does not
get wet. it makes a serviceable missile.
Strange to say. celluloid is excellent fot
the purposa, because It is light, very hard
to break, and can be worked Into the
peculiar curve and twist which are so
necessary to give the boomerang it force
and direction