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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1931)
Page Ftvb Li T si ive- are i orry ne D. H. Talmadge Recalls How Grass Grew High in Willson Park; Old Shacks Come Down for Lovely New Structures; Town Advances ' Oregon City. Ore.. March 28. 1851 Salem. Ore.. March 28. 1931 Left w y MOW By D. H. Talmadge CONGRATULATIONS . to the pregon Statesman on Its 80th . birthday! . .It is a good deal with congrat ulations as Parson Winegar said: "I've, -been interested in a heap of doing first and last in which con gratulations were in order, and I've heard folks a-plenty" try to say the customary well-chosen word, following the congratula tions, but I never heard one who did himself much credit. . For bees wax' sake,' if you've got congratu lations to offer, offer 'em and shut BP." But- Well, there was a man who came to the Willamette valley at about the time .1 came, which was 20 years'and more ago. He was what is called a live wire, that man. We looked .the valley over from Port land, to Cottage Grove. I was not ' -what is ;called a lire wire, and the valley 'suited me first rate right from the start. Didn't Intend to Wait for Awakening But. the man said he didn't aim to put in any of the best years of his. life waiting for a section of country to wake Up, even if it did come mighty near looking as he'd been taught in Sunday school the Garden of Eden looked. And he returned to the -east. . That man came back the other day. And he said to me, among -other things, "I've been looking around Salem again. Missed my guess on that town. Say," said he, "when ij saw it last the grass in Willson Park was two feet high and there was a crop of oats on the Willamette campus, and there was an old yellow trolley car loose in every joint, that bounced and rolled in and out of Winter street every once in a while, and there was a little red trolley car that zipped out to the prison and back every now and then, and only State and Court streets were paved, and they only partially. Heaven only knows how many farm wagons are buried in the mud un der those pavements.' Then he took a long breath and resumed. New Structures Replace old Shacks "Where the Oregon building now stands was a ramshackle old wood en structure, filled with second hand furniture, and where the Ma sonic building now it was a vacant lot, and where the First National -i Bank building now rears its 11 stories was a dingy two-story brick, and where the McGilchrist building and the Bligh hotel now are was a row of shacks, nothing less, covered with moss. . The busi ness section was pretty much all shacks, as a matter of fact." I ventured to suggest that even then there-were signs of promise. "yes," . he agreed, the new United States National Bank build ing loomed up, and Buren & Ham ilton were in. a promising- new buildings on Court street, and the federal building had been com pleted, and the Odd Fellows build ing was a feature, and the Marion eounty court house, was 'one of the most beautiful (buildings In Amer ica from an architectural view point, just as it is now, and the .city hall would have been a credit to any town, but" and his roice took on a note of sorrow "China town is gone, end the old Salem hotel on .the corner has gone, and Ferry street is no more what it used to be. Modern buildings everywhere. It has been pretty difficult for me to accustom my self to the stately and religious looking Elsinore, the like of which, it is fondly claimed,' does not exist AN EARLY DAY PROGRAM j it m rr i c , r: ! I u ENTERTAINMENT. GIVES BY THE -L IU OF jj&i. gaol's "pUctfpal Xhnrcli, Reed's Opera House, i . " t- ox .c- Friday" pvENiNC, eb. 9TH, 187. Jefferson Peak Reached in '88 By Cross, Farmer Ed C. Cross and Ray Farmer of this city are entitled to the honor of being the first to scale the ex treme heights of Mount Jefferson which feat they accomplished last Sunday morning, thus doing away with .the universal belief among those acquainted with the surround ings that the thing could . not be done. Accompanied by . George Pearce, they started from their camp at the foot of the mountain at six - o'clock, arrived at what is termed the summit, the highest point ever reached before, at 10 o'clock, having traveled up the south slope. Here they found two bottles containfng names of those TICKETS SO CSNT8. b. s. irrx, mAM nmn. - , ' - From S. A. Clarke srrapbook : courtMT Mrs. 8. I C Dyer. PRINTERS WQULl HAY THIS WAS A VERY GOOD PIK"K OF PRINTING FOR THE PERIOD. NOT SO FLORID AS MOST OF THE WORK. i in. another city of the size of Sa lem in the United States, when I recall the one-story shacks it re placed." Changes Show Steady Progress , And thus he went on enumerat ing the changes worked by two score years, i Dozens. of them. Hundreds. . All for civic better ment. The group of state build ings on Capital Hill trebled. Can neries. Mills. Hard surface streets everywhere. Modern hotels and passenger depots. A long, long list. I The official population of Salem in 1900 was 4254. In 1910, 14,094. In 1920, 17,679. In 1930, 26,266. All of which is -merely a leader to what I want to say about the Statesman, and in the saying of it of there is absolutely no reflection on the merits of any other news paper in the valley. The old paper has come over a long traiL Up hill, much of it. Rough in spots. But it has come through. And the progressive city of Salem owes, much to it as a vital influence in Community develop ment. I reckon Robert J. Hend ricks is entitled, more than any other one person, to credit for the achievement. I think I have never known a newspaper publisher who followed more persistently and un der all conditions, adverse and otherwise, the beacon of faith in a town and state. " ' And so well, congratulations. There are, I am sure, big days ahead for the Statesman. Temperance Talk 'Way Back inf87 For Labor's Day The first Labor Day celebration in Salem was June 4, 1887 which was the day fixed as a holiday by the previous legislature. There was a procession of the Knights of Labor, the organization which pre ceded the A. F. of L. headed by Boys band, march to Marion square where exercises were held. Frank C. Baker was president of the day and gave an address on the "labor question." A Rev. Mr. Weddell of Ohio followed with a talk on "temperance and labor." CoL George Woodford of Illinois talked " on "prohibition" and the report says he "delivered himself in an admirable manner of the time-worn arguments of his class of temperance advocates." j who had preceded them in the past, some of which could not be read, but those of Hon. John Minto, John Waldo, John Scriber, L. M.; Yates, Don Smith and George A. Peebles were plainly legible. "At this point began the real dif ficultiet of the trip. They crawled around to the west side of the mountain and commenced the perilous ascent up an almost per pendicular height of fully 250 feet." Statesman, Aug. 17, 1888. WHEAT MOVES BY BOAT The steamer Isabel . yesterday took up to Corvallis for shipment over the Oregon Pacific and Ta quina steamers one. thousand sacks of wheat, or about two thousand bushels. Every trip of the steamer, a quantity Of wheat is taken. The price remains apparently fixed at 92 cents." The Statesman, May 27, 1887. So, oft Jfm MR. C. S. HAMILTON C. S. HAMILTON Furniture Co. One can hardly think of fur niture without thinking of the C. S. Hamilton Furniture com pany, located at 340 Court street, Salem. This firm is one of the oldest home furnishing establish ments in Oregon, having been established for more than 37 years. For a number of years Ham ilton's made the greater part of the upholstered furniture sold by their store. Many of these early pieces are still in service in. the community. Recently, Hamilton's completed a recon ditioning job on a couch, made by their own shop twenty-seven years ago, and it was deliv ered to the owner, in shape to stand j several years more of hard wear. Quality has always been a hobby; with , Hamilton's store. The public appreciates the fact that they can buy quality and style at reasonable prices at this store. . Careful buying is the secret of successful merchandising. If quality goods are bought right, they can be sold right. This firm always give their customers the benefit of their knowledge in buying, hence you can obtain the best at com paratively low prices at Ham ilton's Furniture Store.