BAKER MAKES GREAT STRIDES FORWARD
Addison Bennett Tells How Prosperous Eastern Oregon City Surprises the
Visitor Many New Buildings Give a Metropolitan Appearance.
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BT ADDISON BEVXETT.
BAKEK. Or, Jan. 1J. tSpeciaL)
Much h been printed about
Baker during; the lait few days,
owlnic to the ceremonies coins
to Keep irreen the memory of
Colonel Baker. for whom the
city and county were named. But
If one would undertake to five the
reader of The Ore(onlan only a rllmpee
of what ha been done here lnce my
lam Tlelt. In May. 110. the article would
have to be mlshty Ion- one. Thl 1
the ixth city In the atate In 1900 It
nas the fifth, but Medford ha now
paued U. And yet In postofflce recelpu
It la exceeded by four cltle only
Portland. Salem. Eua-ene and Medford.
while Astoria equals It.
The postofflce Is now housed in a
splendid new GoTernment bulldlna-. W.
J. Lachner. the pontmaeter. rave me
some statistics of the business of the
office. The cross money-order business
exceeds l.'.OO.OOO per year. All of the
money-order funds from the offices In
Baker. Malheur. Harney and Grant
Counties, except Ontario. Canyon City
and Burns, make their deposits her.
Aside front the postofflce butldinc
there have been erected many fine brick
and stone business Mocks during- the
last two years, but promises to be
a record-breaker In that respect, for
the money has been raised to construct
T. M. C. A. building- to cost something:
over l".00o. which amount was donated
after a very short campaign. Much of
this money was given by the farmers
In the valley, several of them giving
iriO each. Then 117.000 was raised
towards the erection of a Catholic hos
pital, which will be the finest in the
state In many respects. The foundation
for this structure has already been
laid, and work Is now promised to pro
gress as promptly a the weather will
permit.
And this is the hesdquarters of the
Catholic diocese of Baker City, which
embrace all f Eastern Oregon. Bish
op C. J. O'Reilly has his official resi
dence here In a very handsome building,
and the Cathedral and Ft. Francis Acad
emy belmc-tnir to the dieceee are mag
nificent buildings. All of these, like all
of the public and society building, and
many of the stores, are constructed of
native building stone, quarried near
here, which Is a magnificent building
material. It Is had In two colors, light
and dark gray.
Baker Is a banking center of large
resources. The deposits per capita are
over $100. which Is about J1 more than
the Portland people have.
A year ago on the th of December
Baker passed into the so-called com
mission plan of government, a mayor
ami two commissioners taking the place
of the old mayor and city council. Th
mayor. Charles L. Palmer, has general
oversight of th city' affair, and di
rect control of finances, police, pound
and city property: Anderson Flnley ha
charge of department No. S, embracing
streets, lights and ewer. and depart
No. S I presided orr by George W.
Henry. In charge of water, fire and
sanitation matters. The mayor re
ceives a salary of IIS0O. and the oth
ers j:0'0 each. Those salaries amount
to $3550 more than the old salary list.
A large number of the Baker people
will tell you th commission plan has
been an unqualified success; many oth
ers will Just as strongly aver that It
has been a failure, and there Is now
bilng circulated a petition to bring th
question of returnlrR to the old sys
tem up at the next election. So If the
Baker people themselves are not
agreed. It can be seen that it would be
mighty difficult for me. a stranger, to
pass an opinion.
The report show that the receipt
of the city for the year were $47t,7.0,
and the disbursements I95.51.7. leav
ing a balance of JI3.JSi.7J. and $30,000
of this balanc Is drawing Interest at
I per cent
But this balance ha all been allotted
for work on street and sewers already
done, or to be don In the near future.
Th city now ha .4 mil of bltu
lithlc pavement. LI mile of grl
road. T.7 mile of cement walk, ll.tl
mile of cement curbing. I J mile of
sanitary sewers, and J4 mile of
storm wer.
Baker has a good water system by
gravity flow, with a pressure so strong
as to do awav.wtth th necessity of
fir engines. But the supply will soon
have to be augmented If the city goes
ahead, as it undoubtedly will.
Th city of Baker baa grown because
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the county has grown, and It Is pleas
ing to not that the county has done
better, outside of the towns, than any
other In the state. In 1S0 this was the
17th county In Oregon in point of popu
lation now it is the 11th. And this
growth has been largely In the rural
districts. Supposing there are now
11.000 people living In the various
town of the county, which I about
the actual number, the rural growth
during the last 20 years has been larger
by far than in any of the other coun
ties. Had they all done as well Oregon
would now have over $00,000 inhabi
tants on the farms in place of the 365,
000 shown by the census.
The tax roll shows a total of $:5.917.
659. which Is for 1910. the 1911 figures
cot being available. In 1909 the amount
was $10,003,600. on a (0 per cent basis
the 1910 assessment I on an S6 per
cent basis. So it can be seen the county
is making splendid growth financially.
There are 112.80B acres of land In
the county under cultivation, and
nearlv that much is watered, for the
rainfall here Is normally but 13.20
Inches, and very little dry farming Is
done. There are fully 600.000 acres
still subject to Irrigation and cultiva
tion, much of It as fine farming and
fruit land as there Is in Oregon. There
s-re 9369 horses and mules, 17.042 cat
tle, 120.020 sheep, and 3633 hogs shown
on' the assessment rolls.
Looklnc at the shipments, and taking
only the two principal shipping points.
Baker and Haines, the following fig
ures will show that when Baker
claims to be prosperous in her rural
districts the truth is told. For the
year ending June SO, 1911, there were
shipped from Haines the following full
carloads: Lumber, 62; wood, 50; poles,
2: grain, 109; flour, 29; hay. 810; stock.
SI: ore. 15; stone, IS; and miscellan
eous, 13. During the same time the
Baker shipments were: Cattle. 30:
flour. 27: hay. 211; hoa-s. 2; grain. 25;
horses, 28: lumber, 10S3; sheep, 103:
wool. 39, and ore. 35. making a grand
total for the two places of 3318 car
loads. (The number given me was 69
more than that, a total of 3387. but I
have missed the difference In my
notes.)
When you consider the broken lota,
and the shipments from North Powder,
Durkee and Huntington, and the
smaller places, like Pleasant Valley,
and the priints on the Snake River
road, it will be seen that Baker does
some shipping.
"More gold was taJten from th
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Baker County mines last year than
from the entire State of California,"
was a remark made to me by Mr.
O'Gorman, the secretary of the Baker
Commercial Club, and the statement is
probably true, for California does not
turn out much gold these days. Any
how the Baker output Is about $2,000,
000 a year, and there is no doubt im
mense deposits of the precious metals,
as well as copper and lead, In the mines
east and south and southeast of the
city. There are here already In opera
tion the richest mines in Oregon, and
those best posted say the day will
come when a strike will be made here
abouts to startle the world. Be that as
it may Baker County is rich enough
In agricultural possibilities to satisfy
the most optimistic enthusiast.
Baker and immediate vicinity ha
more than a dozen sawmills of varying
sizes, which together manufacture from
50,000,000 to 70,000.000 feet of lumber
annually. The lumber Is for the most
part what is known as Western white
pine. The market for this lumber ex
tends Kast as far as Chicago.
The Eastern Orepron white pine Is
gaining: a reputation all over the
United States as a finishing: lumber
next to none. The lumber Is shipped
Bast and manufactured into sash,
doors, window frames and various other
uses, such as finishing and for com
mon purposes also.
Tributary to Baker and lying to the
south and west, is a vast timbered dis
trict, 15 miles at least in extent and
averaging 30 miles In width. This tim
ber is tapped by the Sumpter Valley
Railway, a narrow gauge railroad
with its present terminus at Prairie
City, 83 miles southwest from Baker.
Beginning about 20 miles northeast of
Baker and extending north and east to
the Idaho line. Is another large tract
of at least 300,000 acres of merchant
able timber, a yet practically un
touched. Baker is the northern terminus of
the Sumpter Valley Railway, which
runs to Prairie City, about S3 miles to
the southwest. The most of the lum
ber shipped from here is sawed at the
large mills west of town, but the logs
are all hauled in over this railway. It
runs through a large body of magnifi
cent pine and other timber, and the
supply will last for many years, per
haps three generations to come. This
road has been one of the factors in
building up the city, for it does a large
business and brings an Immense
amount of trade to the town. It is said
to be one of the most profitable rail
ways in the United States.
The principal valley In Baker County
1 the Powder River Valley, In which
altitude i
being 3400
There are
the county,
Baker is situated. Its
uround 3300 feet. Baker
feet above the sea level.
tcL-n nthpr fine valleys in
Eagle and Pine, but they are consider
ably lower than the powaer niver v al
ley. Wheat, oats, barley, rye, alfalfa,
timothj', clover, potatoes, cabbage,
cauliflower, kale, rutabagas, carrots,
beets, onions, peas, beans, celery, toma
toes, lettuce, spinach, apples, peaches,
pears, plums, prunes, apricots, cherries,
strawberries, blackberries, raspberries.
Loganberries, currants, gooseberries,
are some of the poducts of Baker
County soil. Anything grown in the
temperate zone may be raised with
profit, and with greater success than
in many other localities, for the reasod
that the yield is larger. The grain has
thicker stands and weighs more to the
bushel, the cuttings of grass average
higher and tree and vine bear mor
luxuriantly.
There are, as said before, nearly hair
a million acres of land in Baker County
susceptible of irrigation and the wa
ter to cover it. Just why the reclama
tion service never did anything in the
county except to tie up large bodies of
land by withdrawals is one of those
things past finding out. There are
better opportunities here for the ex
penditure of a few million dollars than
on seven-eighths of the projects under
way in other sections of the country.
There is, however, a large Carey
project to cover In all over 100,000
acres, now being carried out by the
Powder Valley Irrigation Company.
This company has met with many ob
stacles in the way of getting in shape
to give title to the land, but every
thing Is now cleared away and work
will go on with renewed vigor. They
are already watering several thousand
acres. -
And there is lots of room, with
a sure reward, awaiting men of money
who wish to avail themselves of oppor
tunities to water smaller bodies of
these lands
Baker has an active Commercial
Club. It has always been a fine or
ganization, but recently it was reor
ganized, took splendid quarters under
the bank of the Baker Loan & Trust
Company, and is doing a large amount
of publicity work. . The president is F.
A. Harmon, and H. J. O'Gorman is the
secretary. I am Indebted to Mr. O'Gor
man for many courtesies, and the pub
lic will find bim ever ready to give any
Information about the county and its
resources. And. quite property, he will
be more willing to perform some duty
to bring a settler to the Baker County
lands than another business or profes
sional man to the city. "Build up
Baker by getting people on our land"
Is the slogan of the club.