20 Pages V;":
SECOND SECTION
,Pages9tol6 '
20. Pages'
SECOND SECTION
Pages 9 to 16
East Oregonian Bound-Up Souvenir Edition Pendleton, Oregon, Saturday, September 24, 1921.
Apple Crop Alone This Year Will Amount, to 800 Carloads, Valued at $1 Per Box to the Grower; Prune Crop is Also of Extreme Value. ,
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I BUMPERRUIT CROP AIDED BY ORGANIZED SELLING METHODS HAS PLACED EAST E.ND Of UMATlUACOUNTY BEYOND NEED OF WORRYING OVER BUSINESS DEPRESSION
, ;, H BY BUlt'E' SHANGUS.
'A prominent Umatilla- county clti
Hale of their product" Also the grow
ers themselves did not take the tlmo
ten who mukes his home down towurd and effort to grow top notch quality
Peudloton but who was fort a num-- 'run inui mey uo now. j ncy om
ih f vnura nrnmiiient soc al and "ot realize thab It paid so well. To-
political' loader of the Fast End, us-
I sorted u few days ago that not ten
pt-r cent of the land owners of this
county could pay their debts and have
dollar left.
iiMo such ratio exists In the Milton-
J Frecwatcr country for according to
day, however, llhc grower who does
not properly care for IiIh orchard,
prune, spray and thin when and where
necessary. Is th,e only man who does
not get results and hundsomo results
at that. . j
Compared in number of boxes with
.oahlnr of nnn nt our largest le uppie crop 01 oiner nonnwesiern ,
bunks, there are not ten per cent of "PP'e districts the Mllton-Frecwale: )
the men here who would ba seriously country does not stand out consplcu- ,
. ... . , . ........... nuslv for the Hood I'tiver and ftoi?u.
pincnca u lorccu 10 mjuiuaio. , - - --- --- , . "
..... ,,, u ,.,Mtf kn niver districts In Oregon and the We-.
V. . r . . . .,...1 nalfchee and Yaltlma vullcys of Mash-
of by person, of al shades of PoUtlciJ , moro
faith as being- as -bad if not worse J " n
than the Cleveland times of the early
'0s, and unbiased economic and fi
nancial experts hold out little hope for
me- months to oome. . According to
the secretary of labor who spoke to
there are six million unemployed In
the United States today and little
prospetet for lessening this number In
the near future. Hut If hard times are
in evidence elsewhere this locality
feels the depression but little. . '
'" There la a reason for the oiHlmlum
which prevails here and it Is not hard
to find. A Visit to the bulging ware
houses where the recent bumper wheat
crop has been stored or a trip through
the ;orohards of the valley heavily laden-and
hanging to the (round with
their bounteous yield, or a tour of In
spection through any of the several
packing houses of the Twin Cities will
convlce the most skeptical that this Is
a thriving and prosperous community.
Time was when the sheriff's coming
with an overdue mortgage to foreclose
was a nightmare which troubled the
slumbers of the small fruit grower
through this valley, but generally
speaking that day !s past;-' and tho
fruit grower Is the only producer who
can realise fat returns on his Invcst-
" went calculated at war time cost. A
few years ago the fruit grower was
- the' hardest customer the banks had to
deal, with, not because of any native
dishonesty- or pour business judgment
but. because there was no other class
of individuals who produced and sold
on such an uncertain market
.-! OrranlMsl ttoll'ng Counts.
;i This was due largely to lock of or
ganised effort In the distribution and
pies than are. crown here. - But the
acreage is much 'lurgcr, Acre for acra
the Walla. Walla valley produces as
much as anv of them. In the end,
however, it Is not quantity that counts
so much as quality, and the quul ty
can be denied by no one who has had
the. opportunity ,to test It.'
Fifteen years pr' more ago when all
the other apple j districts mentioned
above were famid for their fruit, it
was a doubtful proposition If the ap
ple could be grown successfully In a
'commercial way'ln this valley, due to
orchard posts, 'when' Hood River,
Yakima and Weuatchop wero famed
for the hundreds of carloads of ap
ples shipped to the east and to Eu
rope at' prices that made good d'vi
dends on valuations of $1000 and
more per acre, the apple industry in
this valley was practically nothing.
'Even after state and nationally
known horticulturists had dinned Into
the ears of the people of th's district
at countless mass meetings and horti
ciltural conventions. In an effortto
cultural conventions. In an effort
apple country, there were long haired
and loud mouthed pessimists v'
could figure the grower out of nny
profit even if they could - kill Ihe
worms.
There were those who could f'g"re
well, who estimated that even the
acreage then In orchard, when It came
Into bearing, would produce so many
million boxes and so many car and
train loads of freight that tb rnil-
roads could' not. secure sufflcn j
eaulpment to haul the stuff to snvl
K . t ,
The Standing Race.
come from who would -nt it.
But the calamity howler h id Irs
day, and while those he was not able
to convince then, aro now ouulent
growers, he and his kind are still
working for wages and predicting evil
times ahead.
The apple crop of the Walla Walla
valley this side of the state line will
amount to son cars fyr the present
year. Valued at J1.00 per box net to
tho grower the apple crop of this dis
trict will total $500,000 .n dollars and
cents. Aside from what the grower
receives employment Is furnlxhed .to
hundreds of men. women and children
In caring for this vast output at wages
that do not lnd'cate pinched times, t
The history of the apple in this dfs
trlct Is hut a counterpart of the
growth of the Italian prune 'ndnstry.
Not po mnny years bo there wfre
acres and acres of full grown Italian
prune orchards dug up around (he
Twin Cities and It was not Infrequent
for h rrnwor o "ft'r tin" to the rail
road company for ecess fre'ght on a
car of prunes shipped Enxt.
About I90R or 1908 the prune crro".
not ting of where the people were to ers got as high as $15.00 per ton for
I their product and they began to think
'maybe they h.-id been too hasty In dig
ging out, the trees. .In 1910 the Ital
ian prune was in such demand tli.it Al
together this valley produced cose to
a half mlll'on dollars gross for its
iprunes, apples, peaches and other
frisjt products.
In 1919 the prune grower received
$100 and better per ton. That war u
wur time return but in the har.l times
of 1921 the average Is going , t- b-;
about fifty dollars per ton. ' i
A few years ago a man by the name
of Hurst had been offered a' le :icre
Italian prune orchard for a few h'Jn
dred dollars and bought It in. The
Hur,it orchard has for the pal c'vbt
or ten years been a -wizard, mukinK
money for its owner. , .
Hie present season will y'eld. when
f'nal returns are in. close to BOO cir
loids of, prunes from this sl'stricf 0'.
prices rang'ng from $35 to $."5 per ton
to tho proiver or between $400,001)
and $500,000. In addition to thes?
figures may be ailfteri the vast volume
of n'onev spent in packing, 'cratlnr
and loading these prunes for shipment. -In
the' packing houses alone durttig
the past six weeks there h.ivc been
employed for a good deal of the time
E"0 to Too men, women and tlu.ilren,
caring for the prunes as they arc
'brought in from the orchards.
In a single day ulone C5 carloads of
urune were sent out from here con
signed for eastern markets.
A close estimute of the total y'eld
of apples, prunes, cherries and ali oth
er fruits shipped from the Milto.i
Freewater districts during the year
1921 amounts to more than one and a
half million dollars.
It is not a primrose path, however.
ith's business of getting b'g returns!
from the fruit business. Hard work,
'oils' and persisfert attention to
the details of the bim'ness and 16
hours a day during. the. growine and
' marketing season is the only way it
I can be done. Put hour for hour the
fruit business will pay b'gger returns
for the owner of the land than nny
other line of productive occupation
known in tho Northwest. .
On' of the most enthus'astic evpo
nents of the fruit industry In the M 1-ton-Freewater
d 'strict -is that pioneer
fruit and nurseryman, S. A. Miller.
Along about 1889 Mr. MH!cr,with his
father, now hale and hearty abetter
than 90 years, started a little nursery
business near Milton." Today with
more than 200 acres devoted to Ui
industry Mr. Miller has demonstrated
to h's own satisfaction thai the fruit
business taken year for yeair and fol
lowed up persistently is a profitable
and pleasant line of industry.
Twenty years or more ago when
lands were not so much in demand as
now Mr. Miller paid $900 for four and
one-half acres - of land adjoining his
home in Milton. His friends told him
it was too much money. , A few dais
ago he received a cheek f,or his prune
crop which nette'd him close to $700
per acre for the. one year's cTop. Here
are the figures: On the fosr and one
half, acres are !7! trees, Jnihe and
1 1 years old. From these trees were
gathered this year 66 1-2 tons of
prunes for which their owner received
$52 per ton net to him, or $3458. Ex
penses in caring for the orchard, pick
ing and hauling to market ramounted
to approximately $504, leaving a net
income from this land ot about $3.
000 ' Not so bad for four and pne
hulf acres. . ,' ; . . t '
The reader may say," tWls was one
cape in a thousand. ' It s not. It Is
unusual but there, are others l'Re It
and there are hundred bf, acres do-
In? half that well. ' A $350 an acre
net return is a pretty handsome divi
dend on an acre of ground In a single
'ear. The septical will sav this, is not
done every-year, for a hedvy fruit
crop one season is almost Invariably
followed by a light crop. Not so with
prunes. There are of course some
years when the yield Is not so large
as this season nor the price so good,
but the prune Is as sure and safe1 a
crop as .'s wheat on the best land in
Umatilla "county.
C. Collins, a. well known fruit
grower, who resides near the hard
surface road a mile north of Freewa
ter, has two prune trees 37 years old
from which he gathered 1460 pounds
of ItaTnn prunes this year, sell'nsr the
same fqr $52 per ton. ' To the Individ
ual who likes to compute f'gures It
may be interesting to know that an
average acre of prune.' orchard con
tains 125 trees. At T30 pounds to the
p .rvhnlrt Ora fhn WO trPCS
above mentioned would yield 91,250
pounds or a trifle better than 45 tousi
which If sold at the price Mr. Collin
received this year would bring tho
owner $2340 or ten per cent on a Val
uation of $23,400 per acre. J.'
The above . Is of course a mot
unusual case arid there are no or
chards In this district producing arijj
such aggregate returns. Hut this Is i
land of intensified cultivnt'on and ths
more Intense it is cultivated the b g
ger the returns. Foor farming never
pays in any district and this Is no ex
ception. !
While the big red applo and th
Italian prune occupy the two most im;
portant places in the fruit industry of
this valley, the cherry Is by no mean
a small producer itself. Because ot
the longer time it takes for a cherry,
to grow to maturity It Is not so popu
lar with the grower as the more thrifty
and quick growing prune or apple. '
W. W. Bridgewater. who has a
snialr acreage just outsldo the city
limits of Milton, has b. cherry orchard
whiqh fields h.'m good returns. From
this orchard of about 60 trees of BiiiK
cherries Mr. Bridgewater last year sold
$1900 worth of fruit, about $30 to tho
tree, whtch Is by no means an except
tional yield for tho Bing cherry tre
12 to 20 years old. s
Growers of the Royal Ann cherrw
have of late years been reaping handr
some returns for their product due tq
a big demand from California buyers.
A good bearing cherry orchard . It
safe for from $500 to $1000 per aero
each year in this district. ,;
While growing a new orchard, its.
owner does not content himself with
no profit-from the ground as is thtt
case in some localities. The first foni1
or five years of'a young orchard's Ufa
its owner grows watermelons, toma-
toes, potatoes and other "truck" be-,
tween the rows, and the returns from'
th' venture often proves highly grnti
ify'ns.
The tomato bus'ness this year par-."
ticularly has been of a profitable na
ture and many acres have been plant-0
ed and harvested, the total carload
Veld amounting to 30 cars for the dis-;
trtct.
Fred McElrath, who started out a.
few -years ao In the orchard game.'
ow own 50 nxrrpq rf bear'ne anrtV
young orchard and grows tons of-
(Continued on paste 10.)
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