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