Gold Hill news., January 07, 1926, Image 1

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SOME PEUPLE GROW UN­
•II Melu
DER KEH BONS I Rl I I Tl KH,
OTHERS MERELY SWELL
VOLUME NO. S I
THE GOLD HILL NqWS. JACKSON COUNTY. OREGON
MAY EVERY DAY BE A
PERFECT
DAY—TO THE
END OF a PERFECT YEAR
THURSDAY. JANUARY 7. 192',.
NUMBER 31.
Burglar» Open
City Hall Safe
Panoramic view of Del Rio Orchurds. In the foreground
is shown the Rock Point bridge, a connecting link
in the Paccific Highway
WHERE THE SWEET SECKEL GROWS
Del Rio Orchards are located on the Rogue River, with
the payed Pacific Highway passing close by. Also the
main line of the Southern Pacific railroad pusses by the
property and u five-car siding extends from it to the
modern packinghouse on the ranch. Water for irriga­
tion is puinped from the river, lifted by a 25-horsepow-
er motor. Electricity is supplies! from a nearby station
by The California Oregon Power Company’s (JS/MMi-volt
transmission line Number 7. Copco service also meets
power and light requirements for packinghouse opera­
tion and general domestic parposcs. Thus Copco "juice”
is an important factor on this ranch, and, incidentally,
played its part in the splendid results attained by these
growers in the development of the Seckel pear.
Mr. Weeks, of
Weeks A Deuel,
owners of Del
Rio Orchards, A
the ranch super­
intendent admir­
ing a Bose
Del Rio Orch rd
modern packing
plant. One rea­
son for it being
termed ‘modern’
is the fact that it
is electrically op
erated through­
out.
Ranchhouse at Del Rio Orchards, built in 1852, and for
many years a stage station and hotel
------------------ '
_______
The Sweetest Pear
That Grows
Mayhap or perchance, as the poets
»ay, this Christmastide finds you
the donor or donee of a beautiful
assemblage of those delirious mor­
sels known as glace fruits. If so,
the selection is almost certain to in­
clude candied specimens of the
smallest and sweetest representa­
tive of the whole pear family—the
Seckel, also known as the sickel-
pear.
^According to no less eminent
authority than Professor F. C. Hei­
mer, who has charge of the South­
ern Oregon Experiment Station,
near Talent, and who is probably
the best posted man in America on
pears, "the Seckel is the standard of
pear quality.” Because of this, and
because Seckels have been brought
to their highest stage of perfection
In the Rogue River Valley, they now
claim our attention.
The origin and early history of
the Seckel, as told by Professor Rei­
mer, is most interesting: Along to­
ward the end of the eighteenth cen­
tury—about a hundred and twenty-
five years ago—one '‘Dutch’’ Jacob
used to hunt squirrels In the vicin­
ity of Philadelphia. Upon his re­
turn from these hunting trips he
would distribute among his friends
the most delicious pears, very small
but of wonderful quality.
Where
he obtained them was his secret,
and he steadfastly refused to di­
vulge It. Eventually it was found
out; the pears came from a single
tree, an accidental seedling growing
wild in the woods along the river
Just south of Philadelphia. The land
Inter was purchased by a man nath-
*’d Seckel. Thus the pear acquired
Its name.
From "Dutch” Jacob’s
»ingle tree hnve been propagated
all the Seckel pears now known in
this country.
,
The Seckel pear should be grown
morg extensively in the Rogue Val­
ley than it now is, in the opinion of
Professor Reimer. Jackson County’s
Agricultural Agent, Claude C. Cate
takes a like view. He says: "The
production of Seckel pears of good
size has been definitely proved in
the Rogue River Valley. These pears
are being more and more used in
the candied fruit nnd sodu fountain
trnde throughout the country. 1 be­
lieve there is a good field for grow­
ing more Seckles here—the limit will
be determined by marketing condi­
tions.”
In the Rogue River valley the
Seckel pear is directly connected
with the early history of the region,
though not a part of it. Back in
1852 one of the important stage stops
between Roseburg and Ashland was
on the Rogue River a short distance
below the site Inter to be occupied
by the present city of Gold Hill.
The stage station, a spacious build­
ing, containing some thirty rooms,
along with the customary dance hnll
nnd bar where what was then con­
sidered suitable beverage was serv­
ed to refresh the weary, and usual­
ly thirsty, traveler of stage-coach
days.
An extensive wheat ranch
surrounded this station, nnd its gar­
den afforded an endless variety of
vegetables for the dining tables of
this popular stopping plnce, known
as the Rock Point Stage stntion.
This establishment, or, more proper­
ly this location, was destined sixty
years later to gain horticultural
prominence ns the plnce where the
Seckel pear has been brought to its
highest state of perfection.
It be­
came the Del Rio Orchards, prop­
erty of Messrs. Weeks and Deuel, of
Medford, Oregon.
When the Del Rio orchards were
planted—it was during 1907—a reg­
ular Rogue River style of orchard
was set out, consisting of approxi­
mately 125 ncres of pears—Bartlett,
Howell, D'Anjou, Bose, Comice nnd
Winter Nells, about equally divided
ns to acreage. The fact that differ­
ent varieties growing in proximity
insures proper polenizntion in n
measure accounts for this rather
wide selection hnving been mnde.
It hns numerous other advantages,
which are based on the fact that
fruit from different varieties matur­
es more or less in succession, with
obvious benefits to both grower nnd
consuming public.
Pear orchard in bloom. The color variation indicates the
different varieties—seven on the Del Rio ranch
above list of pears. Seckels were
planted, but not in the orchard
proper: When this fine orchard
was set out an avenue or driveway
was laid out in it, for the use of ve­
hicles carrying out its products.
After due consideration of trees that
might be used to margin this drive­
way, the rapidly-growing, bushy and
moderately blight resisting Seckel
was selected—primarily on account
of its appearance, rather than with
the thought that it would prove a
revenue producer of consequence.
They were set out thirty feet apart
ulong both sides of the sixty foot
drive.
Good horticultural practices of
thinning and pruning, along with
extensive irrigation, were followed
just as faithfully with the two rows
of Seckles along the driveway as
elsewhere throughout the orchard.
The Seckel grows in clusters, some­
what similar to cherries.
In the
Eastern States, where they are quite
well known, many orchardists grow
one or two trees for home use usual-
ly giving little attention to thinning.
The practice on the Del Rio orchard
has been to thin them out well—to
leave but one pear of a cluster, and
sometimes remove the entire bunch
On this Rogue River orchard,
through a combination of sound
horticultural methods, irrigation,
ideal soil and climatic conditions,
Seckels have been developed to the
point where they are slightly small­
er than the average bartlett—from
135 to 165 Bartlett pears are requir
ed to fill a standard box; it takes
only from 150 to 200 Seckles to do
the same—that is, Del Rio Orchard
Seckles, which from stock that pro­
duced fruit but little larger than
your thumb.
What are believed
The New Year arrived at Gold
to be unprecedented prices have
been obtained for these pears, which Hill as per schedule. Neither early
far exceed all expectations both as nor late. One thing noticable in its
arrival was the total absence of the
to yield and market.
smell of alcohol. The event or ad­
In conclusion, the following nc9tes vent was very quiet and not ac­
Someone shy of real honesty regarding this pear are offered for companied by any explosions of
relieved several people on the such interest as they may have:
explosives other than a salvo of re­
south side of town of wood fuel in
Like “Dutch Jacob’s lone tree, volver shots and a few sticks of
the past few days. It has been re­ all Seckels are self-fertilizing. Un­ dynamite.
The police force, tiring of the re­
ported that one alley was raided the like most other varieties of pears, cent critisisms of the citizens of the
their
productivity
is
in
nowise
af­
other night when every wood pile
town had carefully investigated all
in the block seemed to have suffered fected if they are planted apart and possibilities of booze importation
away from other varieties.
nnd expected to enrich the coffers
Mrs. Mary Chisholm, who for ( I'be Seckel, where known at all. oi the city J a n u a i I wil.i <<- ue
some time has been visiting at Phoe­ is called the “sw’eetest pear thnt sizable fines, but, the dev il ri< creed
nix is again at her old home here in grows.” They usually are a con­ otherwise.. Extra poli'-i w .n ap-
Gold Hill.
vincing proof of the saying that ixrinted to round up the thirsty ones
'good things come in small packages’ and also to nab the onis simply ing
Just received complete line of SOX and their customary tiny size has ih» refreshments. Ev
i
was
Mail orders a specialty. All sales been a rather deciding factor going pretty—so pre'ty m '• e ¿hat
C.O.D, Demonstration hours 2 to ig mst their proper packing and H
order left
a
5 A.M. Address all Ins, i i n s to W. marketing heretofore.
In their party u Medford v
-t.
Zimmerman. Gold Hill.
pd ad. Eastern environment, they are quite kbout the time the Io o pi.,.<•■• wero
small, ordinarily not growing to be stretching a net for lued low vio­
Miss Jennings, county health much larger than one’s thumb. It lators, the Sheriff <.[ this < ounty
nurse will hold her class in nursing takes from 300 to 400 or more of decided to do the town a good turn
and first aid on Thursday, Jan. 14th, these smaller Seckels to make a and sent one of his nten in company
in the Public Library room here. standard box, so they have usually of Terry Talent of the prohi depart­
The women of this vicinity who are been “jumble-packed,” which is an ment over to Gold Hi'l to do a little
interested in this work are urged to expressive way of saying that they gum-shoeing. The upshot of it all
join this class.
are just loosely thrown into boxes. is that inside a very few minutes
Quite an extensive use for these tiny after the arrival of the Recorder in
Wednesday night of next week the morsels of the pear family has been Medford, he was told ell about it
M.W.A. Lodge of Gold Hill will en­ in the manufacture of glace or can­ from an official in MedLrd who did
tertain the Medford lodge and the died fruits, their high sugar con­ not seem to think it was a secret at
Southern Oregon Batalion when a tent making them especially desir­ all
The news is reported to havo
Joint Installation of officers will be able for this purpose.
Packages come from an underling at J’ville.
held and a big oyster supper given of Christmas candy everywhere That night, in Gold Hill was one of
by the local camp for the visitors. have featured the Seckel pear on the quietest in many months us fur
A total attendance is expected and a this account.
The larger Seckels as any misconduct went.
There
great time for all is guaranteed.
are now also used for this purpose was just about as much chance of
to some extent by halving and quar­ the police court levy ing,a fine and
Licensed Truck'and Driver. We tering them, but their use is in no­ enriching the treasury asfof splitting
haul anything. JJJUtter pd ad—37 wise limited to this purpose.
a gnat’s eyebrow with a plow point»
- - Local Happenings - -
Merritt Merriman left for Santa
Barbara, Calif., Today on an early
train. He expects to be away some
time.
i
M. S. Johnson and family, have
moved from their bungalo home in­
to what is well remembered as the
Stickle residence on the same street
but on the other side of the M.E.
Church from the Johnson bungalo.
C. A. Olson, of the Sunset Smelter
proposition with his wife have oc­
cupied the Johnson bungalo hav’ng
moved from what is remembered as
the E. T. Ham bungalo belonging to
H. D. Reed.
,
Shipments of eggs from Gold Hill
is increasing daily. Already the
egg producers are being recognixed
in this community by the outside
market nnd the demand for eggs
from this end of the county is great.
Messrs, Jnckson, Logan nnd Hayse
of the big mine in Payne gulch are
getting things shaped up at their
property for extensive development
of the known ore bodies on their
property.
They completed the
moving-in of their air compressor
and with the return of H. R, Will­
iams from his vacation in Calif.,
nrc getting the road building under
way.
This big mine promises a
wonderful story proving the great
It miv have been noted thnt the value of local resources in the early
delicious Seckel is missing from the spring. More power to theml
when the clusters were too close to­
gether.
Some time Tuesday night, a prowl­
er entered and rilled the safe in the
office of the City Recorder in the
City Hall at Gold Hill.
■ The discovery was made by H.E.
Wharton ami W. H. Muirhead late
Wednesday morning when they went
to the City Hall on other business.
The combination on the safe was
found to have been unlocked and
documents and papers scattered on
the floor in front of the safe.
It is believed that the prowlers
were heard at work by several of
the members of the M. W. A. lodge
who were holding session in another
room of the building and when the
sentry of the Camp was sent out to
investigate the noises it is believed
the prowler took alarm and fled be­
fore his investigation of the contents
of the safe was finished.
Sheriff Ralph Jennings with his
finger print expert were summoned
and some photos were taken that
may lead to the discovery of the
prowler’s identy.
For some time reports of visits to
the City Recorder’s safe have been
made to the Council. Recorder M.
Merriman complained that someone
had opened the safe more than once
but he could -get -
> who it
w.
'Recorder 'Wharton, succeed­
ing Merriman, noticed twice that
the combination on the safe was not
as he had left it and once that soma
papers in the safe had been disturb­
ed. Changing the combination was
planned by the present incumbent
as soon as it could be arranged, but
since no money was kept in the safe
it was not thought necessary to take
the suspected visits of a nocturnal
“yeg" serious until the evidence of
burglary was found Wednesday.
What is there in the safe at the
City Hall that wonld^itedH/ anyo.ie
enough to influence them to commit
a crime to get? Who is there that
would be benefited by the loss of
any of the documents from the City
safe? What motive did the robber
have? How many people know the
combination to the safe?
If any­
one can answer these questions they
can greatly accomodate both the
city and the county officials as well
as remove to the proper place of
detention the person who is so vital­
ly interested in the affairs of the
town that they would risk a long
term in the pennitentiary.
New Arrival A t
Gold Hill Sober