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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1907)
I .. . 1 t..- :: : . 'v..- III -VrrYVJI I i?'i;i,;Wf: I r 1 f.rv 1 r - ... ...... .. . , , . Mitt T x A V? H 1 1 1. 5 im :S$ ,. ?. Jr-,ji$3WSy4?K Mil II ' VV&!Mijra I 1 By J. A. Currey. the city is not even talked about. To cccdrd by more than 2,000,000 bush hundreds of citizens to whom the els all the wheat exported from Puget ORTLAND dirt as good as wrjter pias talked, nearly every one sound. This means a difference in . has expressed itniorance of what dollars to Portland of $2,000,000. This is a trite saying, ,iese grcat railroads are doing. Some While the wheat shipments for May the truth of which is illus- of thenl )avf sai(1 rca( in are flattering in themselves, the flour trated every day. Not only nanrr .),,. 1 1 ; l ) w.i tuiilrlintr a rail- shinmenls were much ereater in favor is '.Portland dirt as good as gold," roa(1 dpwn (he Columbia river to of Portland, for this city set afloat but is better; for, while gold put away parallel the Harriman line," but none in May 2,142,445 bushels of flour, wilf not increase in weight or value, of tllem rfai17r trlf magnitude of while all the ports of western Wash Portland dirt does increase not two- bridging the Columbia river and ington shipped 1,772.847 bushels, fold, but many fold. The gains made building what, when completed, will during the past few years, and which 1)e the longest bridge in the world. Real Estate Active- are constantly being made today in Not one nf frn rmzenSi ,f vo talk Only a word or two is necessary to Portland real estate, are not due to wj,j, trlcm can tfll vmi how at one show the activity in the real estate any boom or wild speculation, but are pacc wjtrun the corporate limits of market, and these few words can be solely the result of the natural growth Portland Harriman is burrowing in obtained from the local record of of the city. There is no boom in the ground, digging a mighty tunnel, real estate transfers, which shows that Portland such as has marked other so as to mAkc nf his long haul into in May, 1907, there changed hands cities on the Pacific coast during the Portland a down grade haul. Few property valued at $2.3.14.867. Two past five years, and what is more, it know that Hill is doing just the op- years ago, in May, 105, when the is impossible to have a boom. A few posite and building an elevated road Lewis and Clark fair was about to have attempted boom movements, but anj a bridge so that he can come into open, the realty transfers totaled only they have been so frowned upon and Portland and reach the waterfront $8.1.1.446, and in the same month of squelched by the powers that control without encountering grades. Only 1906 the transfers were $1,550,226. In the situation that they have desisted, real estate operators themselves know 1905 the total realty transfers in and increases in the values of realty that within a year Hill and his Xorth- Portland reached $15,132,067, while holdings in Portland are based en- ern Pacific and Great Northern roads for the five months of this year the tirely upon the growth of the city, its have purchased block after block of transfers have reached $14,515,890, or development, the rapid opening up cjtv property, investing in the neigh- nearly as much in five months of 1907 ot the wonderfully ncn country he- borhood of $5,000,000, just to get ter hind it, and the fact that the leading minal yards for his great systems railroads of the country have recog- And, mind, these blocks were not pur- nized it as the only city on the Pa- cific coast having a water-level en- trance from the east, consequently it ercd with homes and warehouses shows by its carefully compiled ta is to become the great port on the and there are few citizens today, un- hies that Portland has led not only western coast of the United States. less their business takes them into the west, but the entire union, in the Portland occupies a unique position at district, who know that all these percentage of increase in the number in the topography of the Pacific coast, homes, warehouses and factories have of building permits issued, som A study of the map will convince been moved to make way for the months the percentage of increase : any one of that fact, and its peculiar Krt railroads. running higher than 600 per cent over ' position is the thing that is causing . . . , the corresponding period of the pre the great railroads, such as the North- Outsiders Make Money. vjous year The last number of the ern Pacific, Great Northern and the Portland people are ignorant of the Construction News issued in May St. Paul to make it their Pacific great development that is going on showed that Portland during May coast terminus. Look over the map around them. It is so great that the made a gain of 167 per cent in the of the United States and you will find native-born can scarcely grasp it, and number of permits issued over the ' there is only one river on the entire that is why during the past two years corresponding period of 1906, being reach of the Pacific coast that pierces a few people from other sections of the greatest percentage of any city the Cascade range mountains, and the country have been making money in the United States. No other city that is the mighty Columbia, which in Portland realty and others to come in the Pacific northwest made such passes Portland's door. It is the only n...;.kl. - . 1. n :r:- t c- a f .1 pjii uicsu, ai me souinern Dounaary of California, to Alaska. It drains an emnire in itself anrt nafralU tfe market for that emnir is Pnrtl.-mrl It is only by following the Columbia river that the railroads can reach the Pacific coast and the orient beyond by a water level. That is why James packing industries complete their trol the realty situation and will not shops and shipyards, in another the Any residence lot within a circle the city ot homes to rent lor it must J. Hill is spending the millions of plants, covering 1,000 acres or more, permit booms, which are always dis- railroad terminals and warehouses, three miles distance from the court- be understood that big building op dollars that he is to build a water- or when other industries now under astrous to a community. The banks "! intermingled with all will be the house can be relied upon to have an erations like those that mark eastern level road down the north Kant- of t1, e instruction pet intr artnni nrw.rat.nn ar- allv, tn th aroat vmth nf the various residence districts; therefore immediate future, and those closer m cities have never struck Portland, for Columbia river and will span that . ;. mitrhtv stream onnosite Portland with the longest bridge in the world, already more than half completed, That is why the St. Paul road is also coming down the Columbia river and will build a bridge across this great stream just east ot ivrtland. that js why Harriman and his Southern J'antic system is paralleling the Hill system to Seattle, so that he can bring from the Puget sound country its products and ship them forward to foreign climes. , , Portland's Location. Portland's geographical position is without an equal anywhere. To the Pacific coast it occupies relatively the same position as New Orleans does to the gulf coast, but with this im- portant difference that the constant- ly increasing trade with the orient means a greater and more rapid de- velopmcnt than New Orleans can hope for, for New Orleans has for competitors the Atlantic seaboard cities, while Portland is without a rival, for here can be hauled into -Portland from the big factories in the east and the middle west with one engine a long string or treignt cars, while to reach Seattle, Tacoma or San Francisco it requires several en- 4-4tft -weight trains over the Cascade mountains, Dut rortiaod being on a water level, the doubling up of freight trains is not necessary, Portland "has not had a boom. The building of additional railroads into city, cov- will also reap the benefits. Portland is growing, and steadily : . , k'owmik, anu reaiiy values are grow- ing in proportionbut the wav it is orowino- will he no rrrlr alnn.U. of how it will lean anH hmmH nrn all the railroads now reaching for it actually reach its doors with their lines of steel rails, or when the big " Kx...xr.. within the next year or two. The crowth of the ritv is stp.nrtv anH thi. growth being steady, increasing month by month, shows that the in- crease of Portland realty values is not the result of any boom. It must be remembered that the vast timber re- sources of the state, something like 300.000,000.000 feet, have scarcely been touched, although in Portland alone the ctit is running about 1,000,- 000,000 feet a year. The earth, which hides untold wealth in ores and min- erals, has barely been scratched. Rapid Growth Shown. Already the growth is being felt, Evidence of it is on every hand in the construction of thousands of homes, the erection of large office buildings and warehouses and manufacturing plants. Only a few figures, and none of them dry statistics, will convince the most skeptical of Portland's steady growth. Take the wheat ship- ments from Portland for the month of May, which is acknowledged by all to be the smallest month of the year, because it is the clean-up be- fore the new harvest, yet in May of this year Portland shipped more wneat Dy steamship and sail than the combined ports of Puget sound, in- eluding Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Everett and Port Townsend. Port- land in that month shipped Wftjll bushels of wheat, while all the ports of Puget sound shipped only 763,094. For the 11 months of the cereal sea- son Portland's actual shipments ex- chased on the outskirts of the but right in the heart -blocks as for the 12 months of 1905. Further evidence of the unprece dented growth of Portland is fur nished by an unbiased source, the Construction News of Chicago, which a gain, for Tacoma made a gain of only 48 per cent, and Seattle showed . r 11 t,,.- a l Pcl -cui, aim Lucat uB- ures were those for the time when the aclive buildine neriod in the Pa- cific northwest begins. p t r 1 Banks m control, It is the banks of Portland that con D - city and what is going on, but they not rlisronntinir the future, as has been done elsewhere. With such con- servatism and such control as the banks can exercise and do exercise, a boom in Portland real estate is an ab- solute impossibility. Attempts have been made and are still being made to arouse the speculative fever of the small investor by purchasing sub- urban lots, an unfortunate condition that marks the rapid development of any city, but fortunately the Port- land public is almost as conservative as its bankers and these attempts are not meeting wjth the success their promoters hoped. Portland property purchased with ordinary judgment is sure to bring big returns, whether it be business lo- cations or residence property. The ordinary investor in residence prop- erty and that class makes up the bulk of the city does not have to go more than three miles from the heart of the city to find investments that will reap for him quick, sure and large returns. . v . investments Varied. Necessarily, in every city, and par- ticularly tn a growing city, the char- acter of investments, as to income and future increase in value, are varied. It would be practically im- possible to go into details and give the data that an investor would want or could see for himself if he could see the property and its surroundings and what development is Uking place Bl -r - - if if "J 1 -'jr?v-- v' if Me 1 "V 'V "O rf i" 1 jr- 1 ' j II IE' r?f 11 BR wJTrT V-3i - 'it iBh If! -ir it IJII "irifiKfnK" "'iiiiriF II Br -M&tV If If I li I cwnri i nitrw . Jill in that immediate section for Port- ........ land is not developing m any one sec- fon. At one end will be an Indus- trial district made up of big packing- houses and their kindred industries, at another place will be the big saw- mills, at another car shops, machine ... . , eacn district could not De treated sep- arately. In addition to this there are investments in apartment houses, flats and houses for rent, office build- ngs and rental stores, each of which may have some peculiarity that may aPPl to an investor. Therefore, "''"8 i" m m detail, the writer will speak of only and any miormation mat may be desired the writer will be glad to rP'y to bY private correspondence, giving details. Residence lots are always a source of profitable investment, when they are purchased, under two conditions one when they are purchased in the path in which the city is growing, and the other when they possess peculiar advantages, such as scenery and ac- cessibility. The east side of Portland will be the large residence district; that is, the home of the mechanic, the merchant. In fact, it cannot be lim- ited, for the west side of the river is now filled, except the hills surround- ing the city, and within the past two years the people have, owing to im- proved trolley transportation, climbed mtQ these an(j probably appreciate their homesites more than do the ma- jority ot the residents ot other cities, ... mmt m L'ots' On the east side are -esidence dis- tncts which for beauty and improve- ment cannot be excelled in any city; but the east side of the river, being level, does not have the scenic charm, except in certain districts, as the hills of the south and west of the city , . . , ... , proper, but the east side will always be the big residence district of the city, for property on the west side outside of the heights is so much in demand that the prices asked are not within the reach of the average man. i i 11 i man mc i e nines are M..en purchases. Money, and plenty ot money, will be made within the next few years in Portland realty. Get all the information you can from a re- liable source and you will find that an old saying of the writer that "Port- .a..w y., vv. Fu. k. produces prosperity is true. Business property of any class in Portland today, whether it be a lo- cation for stores, warehouses, fac- tories, apartment houses or flats, is safe and sure and will within the next few years yield large returns. Acorn- parison of values and the relative lo- cations of the property as to the busi- ness center of the city will show that Portland business property today is cheaper than in any other city on the Pacific coast. Profitable Investments. Profitable returns can be secured from the erection of buildings of al- most any class in Portland. The steel-frame and reenforced concrete era has just struck Portland, but within the past year buildings of the first" class have been erected or are now beins: erected. Office buildinci and there is a crying need for mod- ern ones offer an especially attract- ive investment, for in some of the steel - frame buildings now beino' erected a rent greater than $3 oer square foot of floor space per annum is being realized, and it is exceedingly doubtful if many of the big buildings of New York show such a large earn- . . m. r mmm M y m 1 Mp...x x ing, for in many cities the prevailing ,.i k.. ; to .,, rental base .s $2 per square foot per annum, Attractive investments can be found in factory sites and factory buildings, warehouses and structures of almost any kind. There is a crying need in :t U...-U ... -: 1 u ime u.,u puis up six uuumi at one time it is considered quite an op- eration. Operative builders who would come into Portland today and start an operation of 100 or more houses of a modest type suitable for a workingman would very likely find x..x... ... . "i"-"""" was half finished, so great is the de- "'anu iur noracs iu nuust u.c army 01 workers now flocking to Portland to fl11 ne demands of mills, factories and railroads. There are other classes of invest- ments in Portland that will make big earnings within the next few years. These are so varied and great in num- ber that it would be impossible to treat each, but information can always be secured and there is no necessity for any investor to go in blind and realize only too late, probably because at fjrst carried away by alluring ad- vertisements; that his money is tied UP probably for years to come. Some very meritorious real estate opera- tions, involving only a small payment down and a monthly payment of a lew dollars, are offered in Portland today, but it is not always the one with the largest advertisement that "r,ngs tne quicKest returns; there- fore, before taking advantage of these, the best plan is, if you are a non- resident investpr, to get the help and guidance 01 a gooa, rename real es- tate concern. Portland property within the next five years will make many fortunes, It will make fortunes in proportion JZESDJ&SCE or to the amount invested. The time ti make the investments to reap thes fortunes is now. Invest while the cit; is in its infancy of development. In vest now, just when the wonderfull rich country back of Portland isbeinc settled and arid lands are being turned into blossoming farms. Invest now while the railroads are reaching to ward Portland, and don't wait unti. they have their depots built. Inves now and the returns will come quicke than you anticipated. Invest wherj no ill effects of Wall street flurrieJ are felt, for "Portland Property i Panic-Proof" and "Portland Property Produces Profits. TRANSPORTATION ADVAN TAGES. Portland is the terminus of thd Portland & Asiatic Steamship com pany, Portland & San Franciscq Steamship company, California & Ore gon Coast Steamship company, The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Naviga tion company. Spencer Line, Colum bia River & Puget Sound Navigation company, Kellogg Transportation company, Shaver Line, Kamm Line Washougal & La Camas Transporta tion company, La Center Transporta tion company, Hawaiian Navigation company. It is also the terminus of the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific Northern Pacific, Oregon Railroad & Navigation company, Portland & Seattle Railway company, Great t,iI,.. t3...i. a . Northern Burlington route, Astoria & Columbia River, Oregon Water Power & Railway company, anol others in process ot construction. " : HIGH STANDARD OF INTELLI GENCE. The standard of inteUigencrthigh in Oregon. At the census of 190C only 3.3 per cent of the total popu- ... r1-1 x.x..x . x..x. .v. vv ,ation wag ijiterate as compared with 57 per cent in 1880, an improvement of nearly 2l3 per cent in 20 years. For over 20 years Oregon has held the high honor of having the most inteligent women in the Union The' Hg f im reported 3 5 per cent 0f illiterate among the female popu-i lation q Oregorl( and the censuJ of 1900 only 2 3 per cent I LUMBER SHIPMENTS : Portland is the largest lumber pro ducing city in the world. The cut in' 1906 reached the grand total of 643,-! 532,893 feet, an increase of 102,212,893! feet over 1905. The rail shipments: from Portland for the past year ag-j gregated 11,393 cars of lumber andi 877 cars of shingles. The total cargo! shipments from Portland for 1906 ag- gregated 240,902,117 feet, 120,000,000 feet of which went to foreign coun-j tries. The grand total of Oregon; lumber cargo shipments in 1906 ag-j gregated 470,228,835 feet, an increase! of 125,844,535 feet over 1905. " j Within the boundaries of Portland or immediately tributary now AM miles of electric ratoay, and projects are on foot to constn electric lines throughout the Willam- ette valley and eastern Oregon. Three daily newspapers besides a large number of weekly and monthly! publications furnish Portlanders withi all the news of the day. j