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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1909)
Y A AT Y : PHERE Was Everytning Y I Grown-in the Ground, In-eluding- Fine. Apples; Educa tional Displays; Wild West Shows and Indian Dancing- 4 t 1 rj, '.rV if - , . ll; - . , . . .. -ft IL t . --C .' ,r'w ' r rr V k -UK-it 1- v. 1 IV II III- :V' '?'it rr -14 ii iifA-n xtwkwr-w j 2 LI ill I f - : 111 J l Ear i " ' f ;,J & jk. Ilr -! -4 . . 'a i-a f 'artlft ; - - reJ 1- l -? $ : t f if - - ' ' ; i -'' - , jfr p. Ill M l I't T BT GBORGB PALMER PUTXAM. ROOK COCXTY h Just had It an- ual fair. A strenuous, up-to-date ex hibition It was. with a fflddy week of J fun-malcing and sightseeing, plus all kinds i of attractions "on the side," combining ' to crowd the county seat to the limits of ' Its vastly elastic hospitality. Central Ore Con may still merit the appellation of : 'Isolated." but If it can make the show ; Ins; It has this year, even without rail l roads, what great things must bp expect ed when th coming transportation links : it with the cities and markets of the outer lands? On the 19th of October the five days of concentrated good times commenced. ' ; though Prinevllle retained some of the crowds and the echo of the holiday mak ' 1ng long after the fair gates had been closed. When it is remembered that Crook County has an area of more than 8f square miles, is the equal of M&ssschu antts In seres, and lamer than Connecti cut. Rhode Island and Delaware com bined, the significance of an exhibition representing this enormous territory can weli he comprehended. Add to the vast six of the county the fact that today it , Is in the public eye probably more than any other in the Northwest, thanks to - the railroads that are preparing to tap Its long-neglected resources, and the Interest In its products, agricultural. Industrial and social, is still greater. There was racing, rough riding, athletic - contest!, music speech-making and all the other attractions of the usual county ; fair, each and every one possessing Its I full measure of Interest, snd combined t Into programme rich In picturesque de- tails. But first in real importance comes the I economic side of the celebration. Tomor I eow. with the advent of the railroads. Central Oregon will be the scene of quickstep development seldom equaled, 'even In the Northwest. And today a glimpsing of tee productive possibilities of the awakening country Is not wtthoui interest. What of the Crook County prod ucts exhibited at the fair? Perhaps the greatest and certainly one of 'the most pleasant shocks that came t the visitor unfamiliar with the diver sity of the county's climate, was experi enced when he encountered the exhibit of fruits. The stranger is not spt to think of Central Oregon as a frult-pro-dmMng district. Tet In the pavilion ,was displayed an exhibit of applea which mould have done credit to any of the famous fruit valleys. Some of them, no tably the Wolf River variety, were raised near the junction of the Crooked and Deschutes rivers, in what is known as the Cove orchard. At this place a cuii 'oua canyon-like depression or cup is raxved out. several hundred feet below the level of the surrounding country, wherein Is situated one of the most pros perous little fruit ranches in the state. lt Is under Irrigation, and produces ap ple of an exceptionally high grade, wide ly known throughout the county, as well us many varieties of small fruits. The msjorlty of apples, however, came from the dry-farming districts' In the vicinity of Powell Buttes. lying between Prinevllle and Bend. Clustering about the slopes of these- hills, where five year ago was nothing but sagebrush and Junt . per clad stock range. Is today the most ,- prosperous dj-t-tormU'sT coujUrjr iq the. central part of the state. Kvery foot of the land .has been taken up by home steaders and probably two-thirds of It is now under cultivation. While grain-raising is the chief agricultural pursuit in this section, the orchards which for the most part- are very young and Just be ginning to bear, are attracting a wide spread local attention by their excellent yields. Pears, plums and prunes were also on exhibition, and are coming to the fore as jjossibilities of the future. While the season, of course, prevented the display of berries, an Interesting fact In connection with local berry raising was there called to attention. This is that the strawberries of the Deschutes coun try have been found to mature several weeks after the products of the great fruit districts are off the market. While strawberry raising is still very limited In Crook County, Its devotees declare that when transportation furnishes an outlet to the markets. Central Oregon will enter the field on a considerable scale, when they maintain the local berries will find a large demand, Inas much as they will enter a field practic ally without competition. Easily most remarkable among the products In the exhibition ball mere some bunches of peanuts fresh dug from Crook County soil. Big husky peanuts they were, reminiscent of "Old Vlr ginny," snd so much larger than the cus tomary "6 cents a bag"' variety the chil dren were eating, that one little fellow asked, "what those queer little potatoes with the clover tops" were. An exhibit of walnuts also came In for a fair share of attention. Another great economic possibility hitherto little considered, because of the lack of transportation, was suggested by an exhibit of bituminous coal. The senst-developed mine from which the specimens came is the property of a group of Prlnovllle men. and was discov ered three years ago, some 25 miles from the town. It Is. so far as known. thel only coal find yet made In the county. The owners declare that they have some 2bM acres, underneath which exist three or four known' veins, and. of course, countless possibilities in the way of fur ther discoveries. Under the land is at least one vein of anthracite of good quality, while It Is expected that further development of the property will bring others to light. Grains, both from the Irrigated and dry farming districts, occupied the most prominent place among the exhibits, with vegetables, notably potatoes, a close sec ond. Wheat of which more than 1.000.000 bushels were produced last year in the county oats, rye and barley of all kinds made a display the equal of that which could be produced in any county In the state, while the clover, alfalfa, vetch and grains in the sheaf gave conclusive evi dence of the richness and productive abil ity, of the soil. A particularly notable feature of the grains and grasses was the remarkable state of preservation of color and condition. Despite the fact that many of the exhibits had remained in the fields for several weeks. In almost every Instance the bright original colors were retained. This absence of bleaching and deterioration is due, say the experts, to the dry and equable character of the cli mate. The work of the ladiea of the county was appropriately evidenced by the usual displays of sewing, embroidery and per hps even more attractively, at least as concerned the inner man. by appetizing displays of pastries and tempting concoc tions from the kitchen. . - Not only were the ladies represented, but the school children came to the fore In decided fashion, through the medium oX MigAs. Industrial exhibits. It happened that the annual Institute of the teachers of the county coincided in time and place with the fair. In connection with this In stitute was held the school clifldren's ex hibits. This feature of competitive ex hibition of the pupils' handiwork is an in novation, having been first tried In Yam hill Cpmty five years ago. under the au spices of the State University, the result being that in that county there are 1500 school gardens today. So it was that the Crook County youngsters had on view everything they might or might not be expected to be proficient in the making or raising of. from onions and rabbit traps to knitting wqrk, maps and brown bread. There were the laborious and wonderfully well-constructed products of the primary departments, . drawings, compositions, cakes, and a thousand and one other ar ticles, useful and ornamental, ali com mingled in a wonderful display. In connection with the educational side of the county's activity, by the way. the mention of a couple of characteristic facts may prove of Interest. On the menus of the banquet with which the in stitute closed appeared views of the past and present in Prinevllle school history. One picture, marked "W" showed the tiny cabin constructed from hand-hewn timbers, wherein the first school was held, while the other pictured the substantial brick high school building of today. On the western side of the county, at Bend, is a similarly striking instanco of educa tional development, -the new $7500 school building standing in .gunshot of the log cabin which eight .years ago accommo dated the four pupils of the first school, whose numbers have now increased to al most 250, since 1901. Today in Crook Coun ty there are 66 organized school districts and 2153 pupils, with two high schools whose certificates admit their . graduates to the State University without the neces sity of examination. So much for the Industrial and educa tional features of the fair, the most char acteristic event of its kind in Central Oregon. What were its attractions that brought the funseekers from .every cor ner of the vast old-time "cow county" and from beyond? . Firstly, they were as spicy as they were multitudinous, and as entirely attractive to the unaccustomed man of the city as to hira of the ranch and the saddle. Everybody was out for a good time. What was even more satisfactory, every one succeeded in having it. Given a live town and a county fair in full blast, races galore, teachers' institute to lend the affair an educational flavor, a ses sion of the Circuit Court, and a. grand Jury sitting to supply a desirable uncer tainty as to developments, and an evan gelistic meeting to cap the cliDi'ax. and the assimilated production must meertho wants of the most fastidious. The fun began. In a mild way, the evening before the actual opening of fes tivities, when some one's horee went a-bucking down the street, climbed on the sidewalk in front of "Billy" King's store, and there contrived to spill himself in the course of his neck-breaking gymnas tics. On Tuesday afternoon" the fair proper was opened with an address from J. H. Ackerman. State Superintendent of Ed ucation, who had much to say concern lag the vast possibilities of Central Ore gon's future. Then there were races, as on every afternoon of the week. Judging of livestock and exhibits, parade of the animals, entered, and all the customary events of a large fair. But it was in the unusual features that Prinevllle's week of festivities surpassed. In the bronco-riding contests, the Indian races and the general air of care-free enjoy ment that seemed to accompany the "buckeroos" who had flocked In from the ranches and ranges, while the pic turesque contrast of cow ponies, automo biles, gaily cjad squaws and wbjte-coj.- lared 'city.' visitors awakened a lively In terest in the fairgoers themselves. But if the cosmopolitan character and appearance of the sightseers gave the Impression that the affair was to be per haps enlivened by any disorder, good natured or otherwise, a brief experience about the grounds .and In the city was disillusionment enough. Indeed, the gath ering smacked more of Sunday school procedure than any htlariousnesa which the environment might have hinted. A prime factor in the production of this condition 'of affairs is probably that the county is now "dry," both In the letter as in the spirit of the law a spiritless law, it might be called. Seeondly, this year, for the first time, the hardest kind of screws were put down on the conduct of the fair itself. Poolselling and book making were banished from the track side, and even the hitherto unattacked near-beer, prime beverage in a land of legal drought, was pounced upon by the abstaining powers that were and placed upon a stern taboo within the gates of the fair ground. A wild bronco race was scheduled as one .of the attractions, wherein wtis to be given a taste of the ways of the old days, which are now about to receive their death blow at the hands of the building railroads. I'm an old-time bronco-twister, from oft the Western plain-: My trade is cinching saddles and pulling bridle reins; Although I work for wages, my pay I get In gold. And I'm bound to .follow the lone cow trail until I am too old. Such Is a characteristic ditty of the days of the open range, or rather, a verse from one of the hundreds, chosen perhaps because It requires no expur gating. The three horses- entered in this bronco race were hitherto unridden youngsters, whose chief equine asset was supposed to be their distaste for saddles and riders. These hopefully unknown broncs" were led out on the track In front of the grandstand, where the Initial steps in their proposed rid ing were accomplished. First, each "buckeroo," aided by the assistant the rules of the contest allowed him. threw his "fuzz tall." This feat developed Into a far more difficult task than the telling can possibly hint, for it quickly became apparent that the broncos' pet aversion was the ropes with which the "buckeroos" endeavored to encircle their legs. .Even sfter a leg or two had been caught In the noose and secured more or 'less permanently, the horses put up the liveliest kind of fight, wildly rushing, rearing and dragging about the men who held them, until finally the desired hold was secured and the surprised animal found himself floundering In the dust. But even when downed the little horses continued their scrapping until ail four feet were hope lessly "hog tied" and nothing remained to be done . but to look as savage as possible. Then, by slow and arduous degree, the saddles were slipped on and the cinches fastened. "All ready?" ask th Judges. Each "buckeroo," standing by his prostrate bronco, answers in the affir mative. A couple of quick turns, and the pony finds himself free free that is, from the ropes, for before he has fairly gained his feet the rider is in the sad dle, glued there, apparently, to Judge from the graceful ease with which he retains the seemingly untenable posi tion, despite the broncos frantic en deavors to loose him in the dust. - As the horses find their feet, for the briefest second they stand, undecided what fo do under the novel circum stances. Then, with a rush, the show commence. Quirts and spurs find the sides of the snorting animals, dust flies as thick as Winter snow, and the ponies concentrate themselves on the business of the day, bucking and pitching in the vain endeavor to rid themselves of their unaccustomed, burdens. In the meantime, the crowd howls ap plause, advice and good-natured "Josh ing." "See the kid hunt 'leather" (hold the saddle). "Scratch the blamed cayuse. Give him the spurs, there, you bronco twister." "Say," the voice of the speaker Is deep laden with pity, "The feller there by the fence couldn't ride in a carriage unless he was tied in." "Oh, you buckeroo! You ought to do well all yer need to ride a bucking bronc is- a weak mind and a strong back." But the bucking is not of the hardest, and lest- the exhibition become too se dately tame, the onlookers take a hand at the ponies wltri rope ends and waving coats, to excite , further efforts. A minute or two of this and the "broncs" are tired of the game and about ready to obey orders, though with a bad enough grace. So away they, go around the track, working off. en route, the last of their bucking properties before final ly being forced under the wire. Then the winner, Loyd Lancy. of Prinevllle, Is awarded the purse of $!0, and the others divide the remaining $10. always In advance of tne picture mak ing. . . But the dance. Imagine a brass band minus all the inlruments but the drum, combined with a f unerallstic side hitch ing of the feet upon the part of the alleged dancers, ami all this accom plished by an incessant, vibrant wall ing. The old men, led bv one of their num ber who was blind, knelt about the drum, beatthg It in time with their slow and mournful chant. Bemnd them were the old squaws grouped as a sort of chorus to lend volume to the noise making. As the drum beat out the time and ,the quaint song rose and fell in slow cadence, the dozsn dancers, picked from among the younger women, exe cuted the dance. Th"at is. they formed in line and shuffled by slow side steps in a circle about the musicians and their blind leader. Then one of the braves, unbravely clad in overalls and sundry other en tirely picturesque articles of white man's raiment, gave a sort of shuffling clog dance, with a lot of jingling bells fastened to lrts legs and feet. - r DANGER PURELY IMAGINARY Officeholding by Women Xot Likely to Deplete the Human Kace. PORTLAND. Oct. 27. (To the Editor. As a refreshing end appreciated variation from the Oo..k-Peary controversy and tn 1. in York comes the of M. Langley. The many Indians attending the fair were pressed into the amusement-makina service before the week was over, and contributed not a little to its .general sue ess, while at all times their presence lent a dash of color, more vivid than strictly "local." to the scene. The first contribution of the red men to the festivities was In the acceptable shape of a bareback race of Indian Donles. wherein neither bones nor time records were broken. Ihe braves seemed to enjoy the occasion about as thoroughly as the onlookers. The second racing effort on the part of tb first Americans developed an im promptu and highly startling climax. It was a squaw race, in which the bronze skinned lady Jockies.. with much gay fln erv, some face paint, and no preliminary training, competed for a tempting purse. The half dozen racers found no diffi culty in getting off from In front of the erandstanrt, but oeiore tne nrai quai tor was reached the mounts un mously decided to quit the racing busi ness, and equally unanimously bolted the track in the direction of the en trance gate and their dinners. One nag went over the fence, a couple' crashed through It successfully, and one or two more piled up in a marvelous melee of ponies, riders, shawls, ribbons and dust. When everything had been picked up and put to rights, the horses caught and everyone properly soothed, it de veloped that, purse or no purse, there would be no more racing that day amongst the Indian 400. The crowd seemed of the opinion that the unlooked-for exhibition had already more than made up for the canceled race, which was duplicated witlrtmt mishap, on the final day of the fair. The next Indian offering was a dance a 'song and dance," if the curious droning chant which accompanied the equally curious foot movements can be classified as singing. Also, to be exact, the performance was in no wise "of fered." but liberally paid for. and the outcome only of much urging. One of the disadvantages of civilizing the red man. it seems, is the resultant Intensi fving of his pecuniary wants."- No In dian, for Instance, after he has bene fited by an extensive acquaintance with his white brothers, will permit the photographer to snap him. unless a satisfactory fee -Is forthcoming, and, V.U.. ...'atontont hV MlSS Forest Grove, recently admitted to the Ore- con bar that, as a whole, women qualified' to accept the duties results from . -...rw.. if tiiev are to remain the ! caretakers of the home and the mothers of children. The reason urgea ir i.... slor, by Miss Langley is that the duties of public life are inconsistent with those re quired of women who discharge their ob.iR.i ttons as faithful wives and who keep their children in the ways they should -go No woman can maintain a career that keeps her before the public eye and at the same time maintain a home as It should be." she avers. But with all due deference to, the opinion of Miss I.angley. who is entitled to much credit f"r her energy and application to a course of study which promises her a use ful career, it la to be remarked that so few voters have a "public career" that the fear for the homes of the land In the event or equal suffrage which confronts the I- orest Grove voung woriian is manifestly unfound ed, or at least exasperated. It ' further de .hr "rt woman can bear and bring I up children and at the same time do public I work." Here again is the expressed fear that so many women wouia De oit the public service in case of- the adoption or equal suffraee that the function of child bearing would be neglected to the extent that the state wuld suffer either through the lessened r.umber of Its budding children or In thel' degenerated character. . The basis of Miss Langley fears is thai, though she claims the mental equality or the sexes, she denies thai, women "have the p'-.ysical ability to do ftouble duty.' But this is evidently a perfectly groundless alarm. There are enough women in every county who are not bearing children, and who Evidently never will, to fill very ofnea ni- I In It from top to bottom, over and over again, even at tne ... v two public positions where only one pro truded before. And they are not of what are sometimes called the lower classes, either. Indeed, the chlldten In the main come from the so-called middle classes, en erallv too busy to care for a "public career" and entirely neglecting to quallly for a duty which never engages their attention. This rule Is not universal, however, since many of our best women rear large fam ilies, but there Is no resting place for the belief that the percentage of women office holders would be so large that the effort would be noticeable in the decreased num ber of children yearly presented to the realm and In their consequent neglect in the mat ter of direction and guidance. It certainly has not proven so in Idaho, Colorado or any other section of the country where equal suffrage has prevailed for a sufflcent tiinS to have demonstrated the fact. Besides, per haps not one man in a thousand ever holds any public position whatever, and. in cases where he does, his tenure is so abreviatcd that it would not materially interfere with his duties as the father of a family; and since. If women were admitted to the voter's list the proportion would be cut in twain, assuming that as many women as men were to become officeholders, it is clear that the number of the fair gex who would be re quired to hVe the "physical ability to do double duty, would leave so many patriotic sisters perfectly free to devote much of their time to the well-known biblical In junction as to disarm every apprehension concerning the welfare of society and the race. ' Neither Is Miss l.angly's conclusion that Uu KL niiaiaer oX-divorces ftnuA by. our courts Is the direct result of the les par taking sjf public duties well taken. Fur from It Indeed, not one wife in a thou sand who has succeeded in severing the bonds which tied her to an animal." a the fair lawveress of Forest (.rove desig nates all husbands, ever gave a single thought to a "puhlln career. About every other reason which the lugenully of woman could conjure has been assigned as a l.asla for divorce but the one pointed out is an entire stranger to the court records. N doubt most of them are abundantly jusllfled but the wail never arises that the tyiant man has interfered with the Inborn aspira tion for entrance Into a "public career." These few remarks are not intended as a plea for eyual suffrage, but merely consti tute an effort to illustrate how easy it is for people to magnify unreal flanges and to create out of them the most real alarms. Miss Langley boasts that she Is an old maid and without giving any credit whatever lc the universal jurisdiction and startling power of one Dan Cupid, aided and abetted by the insistent young men of Washington County. Intimates that sh will remain one. Of course, in this, as. well ss In her other allegations, she has made an evident error in her complaint, to which she Is liable at any time to. interpose a demurrer and a.k for a nonsuit, for the chances are ten to one that so bright a young woman will in tha M of time become as successful a mother of a splendid family as it seems sura, she will adorn tne proiessmn ene nun recentlv joined T. T c; V, K R LITTLE SUFFERER E FROM CZEMA Grew Worse in Spite of Six Months of Ablest Treatment Sleep Ter ribly Broken Face, Head and Hands Masses of Dreadful Humor, A SINGLE SET OF :. CUTICURA CURED HIM "I feel it my duty to let you know with what success I have used the Ctiti- oura Kernedies. When our baby was seven weeks old he broke out with what we thought was heat but which gradually grew worse. W called in a doo tor. He said it was eczema and from that time we doctored six months with three of the best doctors in Atchison but he onlr got worse. His face, head and hands were a solid sore. There was no end to the suffering for him. We had to tie his little hands to keep him from scratch ing. He never knew what it was to sleep well from the time he took the disease until he was cured. He kept us awake ail hours in the night and his health wasn't what you would call Rood. We tried everything but the right thing. Finally I got a t of the Cuticura Rem edies and am pleased to say we did not use all of them until he was cured. We have waited seven months to see if it would return but it never has and to day his skin is clear and fair as it pos sibly could be. I hope Cuticura may save some one else's little one's sufferin and also their Docket-books. John Lesson. 1403 Atchison St., Atchison, JKan., Nov. 3 and 17, 1908." 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