'GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY m CAPITOL OCCUPATION EDITION
s&
C apitalAJoiiiraal
"New Pioneers"
A new migration Is on the move,
and 30000 Dust Bowl farmer bava
nitrated to the Pacific Northwest
In the past seven yeara. What ha
become of them? Story on Page
three.
Story of Cherrians
1931 1 another year for the Salem
Cherrians but It I also their 35th
anniversary. This civic organlza
tlon. unique In Oregon, was found
ed In 1913. and haa slnot grown
steadily, story on Page 14.
Section Six
Navigation of
stream Began
In Early Days
River Traffic Coming
Back as Factor in
Valley Commerce
Steam navigation is coming
jack into its own on Oregon
waters.
Not since the early days in
the settlements along the Wil
lamette and Columbia rivers
has the outlook for steam
boats appeared so promising.
Those historians who had ir
revocably consigned steam
navigation to the limbo of for
gotten curiosities are now
hastily revising their esti
mates. Most of this revived impe
tus may be traced to the Willam
ette valley project, with Its vast
expenditures for river stabilization
and Improvement. Sponsors of the
project had an eye to the possi
bilities of steamboat traffic and In
cluded, as one of the chief purposes
of the project, the development of
river navigation.
There is more to the story than
those words, however. For many
years, economic students had felt
that river shipping would bring
three desirable results:
Would Give Outlet
1. Provide a cheap outlet to slow
moving cargoes that are not depen
dent upon time limits.
2. Remove part of the congestion
and wear-and-tear on the Oregon
highways, i
3. Provide a revised "yardstick"
on ireignt rates through competi
tion. s It is generally recognized that
1 river freight cannot . Include per-
isnaoie gooas. Fruits, especially,
must still be transported via rail
roads and trucks. Nor can quick'
notice cargo be exported on Ore.
gon rivers as conveniently as by the
more "modern" ways of transporta
tlon. But steam navigation has
many practical uses.
The Willamette valley flood con
troi act will deepen the river, re
move obstructions, and provide
steady flow of water. In a few
yeara It will occasion no great sur.
prise to see steamboats plying their
way up and down the river, al.
ready sea-going vessels are making
their way up the Columbia river to
The Dalles.
Bancroft, In his "History of Ore
gon," notes that 44 citizens of In
dlana petitioned congress for "oc
cupation and settlement of Oregon
Territory." The petition also ask
ed that grants should be confined
to a limit within 10 miles of the
Willamette river, in order to insure
proper support of steamboat navl
gatlon. -' Sail Scows User
It was In 1846 that navigation be-
gan on the Willamette. A Dr. New-
ell put forth two sail scows, the
"Ben Franklin" and "Mogul." They
were followed by Capt. Leonard
White and his "Salem Clipper." Dr.
Newell's ships ran between Cham-
poeg and Oregon City, while Cap
tain White extended his operations
down to corvallu.
The "Hoosier". was the first
steamboat employed on the river.
That was In '51, and for the next
25 years, steam navigation was in
Its hey-dey. Authentic reports
have It that as many as 16 regular
carriers were used to facilitate rlv
er traffic.
First steamboat to reach Eugene
was the "James Clinton," m 1858.
Running on a basis of seven or
(Conrluded on pane 6. column 1)
Ifflltl liter '
j&s' -eJ'gg i
"City of Salem" Typical of the style in which early Willamette valley towns turned out to greet ex
eurslon steamboata Is this view of the "City of Salem," which plied the Willamette river for several
yeara. Photo courtesy of Kathryn OunneU
W. G. Allen Is the dean of Sa
lem canners. With his father,
W. K. Allen, and a brother, O.
V. Allen, he purchased the old
Salem Canning company In the
fall of 1898. He remained here
until 1901 when he went to Eu
gene where he was In the can
ning business until 1911 when
he returned to 8alem and has
been Interested in canning oper
ations here ever since. He Is now
owner of the Allen Fruit com
pany here.
First Canning
Venture Fails
Resurrection by Paul B. Wallace
of the minute books of the Salem
Canning company reveals the story
of Salem's first venture In the can
ning industry, a venture which has
led to the immense fruit processing
business now done here which
marks Salem as the center of the
fruit Industry In the Pacific North
west.
R. S. Wallace, father of Paul B,
Wallace, was the. prime mover In
putting Salem into the canning
field by establishment of the Salem
Canning company's plant on South
Twelfth street, nucleus of the large
California Packing corporation's
branch In this city.
Articles of Incorporation were
filed by the concern February 8,
1890, nearly half a century ago. In
corporators were O. W. Johnson,
T. McF. Patton, R. S. Wallace and
E. H. Bellinger. These men are
now all deceased. The company
Incorporated with 400 share of
stock each valued at $50.
Holders of shares of stock in the
concern were later listed In the
minute books of the company
follows: J. H. Albert. Jos. Albert,
H. W. Cottle, Squire Farrar, Squire
Farrar ie Co.; Ed Hirsch. R. D. Hoi
man, George P. Hughes. T. D. Jones.
O. E. Krause, T. C. King. T. McF.
Patton estate. Prof. McElroy, George
W. McBride. W. B. Putnam. W. F.
Peck, Jos. Myers, Horace Leach es
tate, Dr. John Reynolds, C. A. Rob
erts, George Saubert, Mark Stiff.
T. C. Shaw, H. W. Savage. A. W.
Scott, J. A. Van Eaton, R. S. Wal
lace estate; E. M. Walte, George
W. Webb, Miller Brothers and
George W. Watt.
The first meeting of stockholders
was held February 8, 1890, with H.
J. Minthorn elected chairman pro
tein and Messrs. Albert, Wallace
and Cottle named as a committee
to formulate by-laws. At a meeting
later in that month Dr. Mlnthorn's
resignation as assistant secretary
was accepted and Charles S. Weller
named In his place. At that meet
ing the proposition of a cannery
location was considered and a prop-
osltlon of R. 8. Wallace accepted
In regard to a site where the can'
(Conrluded on pate 5. column 8)
Fruit Canning Industry Center at
Canned Output
Shows Variety
Of Activities
By Don Upjohn
Salem is center of one of
the greatest fruit producing
districts in the Pacific North
west, itself one of the lead
ing fruit producing areas of
the nation. Dotted with can
neries, packing and process
ing houses of every descrip
tion, Salem handles a great
share of the fruit load, not
only for its immediate envi
rons but such far away points
as Yakima and Wenatchee in
Washington, The Dalles, and
the Umpqua and Rogue river
valleys In Oregon. From those sec
tions It extracts such fruits ai
peaches, apricots, pears and cher
rles.
In Salem's own surroundings lies
a veritable fruit orchard and berry
patch of wide expanse and produces
most of existing fruits except those
of tropical or semi-tropical origin.
In Its canneries and packing plants
Salem will produce annually on an
average the equivalent of 2,000.000
cases or over of fruits and vege
tables. It employs In these plants
on an average of 2500 workers run
ning to an average of over 3500 work
ers at the peak seasons with a con
slderable all the year around pay-
roll for the regular staffs of the
plants.
A Million Cases
Its canned pack alone will run
well over a million cases of fruit
Vegetables are a rapidly increasing
source of supply for many of the
canneries arid there are Indications
that vegetables which once lagged
far behind fruits In production here
may eventually run away with the
race and outstrip the fruit produc
tion but that Is a matter of years
yet, If brought about as many think.
A rough estimate of some of the
main Items in the fruit pack of 8a
lent canneries shows the following
items In each, reduced to cases of
canned fruit: gooseberries, 25,000;
strawberries, 35.000; loganberries,
15.000; Yungberrles, $10,000; black
berries, 24,000; pears. 500,000; prunes,
360.000; cherries, 50,000.
But many of these are handled In
Immense quantities in other forms
of packs. For Instance cherries go
into barrels in brine in vast quan
tity running from 25,000 barrels or
over according to seasonal demands.
These are used in numerous forms
such as glace fruits, for cherries in
maraschino and other purposes. In
the main they are shipped in the
barrels to eastern processors who
put them to their various uses, al
though some are packed here di
rectly Into the finished products.
Prune Output Heavy
Prunes, too, go into many mil
lions of pounds of the dried fruit
as well as into the cans. The can
ned prune has become more and
more a favorite and Is rapidly rising
In the list of fruits packed into
such containers. Eventually they are
expected to be the largest single
item packed, and in a number of
seasons would have been but for the
physical limitations of the plants
which are required to pack the
prunes in a hurry because of a short
ripening season.
Many fruits also go into a frozen
pack, which is especially true of
Marshall strawberries. The canned
berries mentioned above are mainly
of the Etterberg and Red Heart
varieties which are peculiarly adap
table to canning purposes. But
thousands of barrels of the Marshall
(Concluded on pace 6, column 2)
Salem, Marion
n 1
( o e -o qi
Life Insurance
Vogue on Rise
Oregon residents Increased their
ownership of life insurance to a new
all-time high during the past year,
it Is shown by the annual report of
Hugh Earle, state Ufa insurance
commissioner,
Oregon citizens holdings of ordi
nary life Insurance policies in
creased 826.000.000 in 1937, reaching
the peak of $577,514,133.
The 67 life Insurance companies
operating In the state sold 870,814,
237 of new insurance, including $5,
000,000 of reinsurance assumed by
an eastern company in a merger.
The ten leading companies In the
sale of ordinary life Insurance, dis
regarding mergers, were:
Oregon Mutual Lif $5,166,136
New York Life 5.027.053
Metropolitan Life 4.255,750
Prudential 3,447,214
Mutual Life, N. Y 3,349,171
Equitable Lite, N. Y 3.079.212
Occidental Life 2.620,983
Northwestern Mutual .... 2.586.876
Northern Life 2.282,716
New England Mutual .... 2,125,550
Residents of Oregon deposited
$18,412,240 in premiums on their or
dinary life policies, while they re
ceived back from the companies
$10,428,917 in claims and $2,435,110
in dividends.
Approximately every 30th person
In the state bought a new ordtnary
pollcy during the year, with the
total reaching 34.317 policies.
Territory Split
Washington Settlers
Break in 1853
If a group of nettlem north of
the Columbia river had not
grown impatient with their rep
resentation In Oregon govern
mental affairs, the stale of Ore
gon today might have covered
the entire northwest or at
least Washington.
Laws of the territory In IU1
put the territory Into Oregon
and Washington. Out of Thurs
ton county alone was created
King, Pierre. Jefferson and Is
land, counties,
County, Oregon
Upwards Of 2500 Women find seasonal employment In the fruit
and vegetable canneries in and around Salem, Above is shown a
typical group preparing pears for canning. The care taken in pro
cessing is illustrated by the huge thermometers -(lower left) with
which the temperature of the syrup is controlled. Lower center Is
a glimpse of a battery of big pressure cookers and on the right Is
pictured the pears in cans ready for syruping and cooking.
Kathryn Gunnell Photos.
860 "Book-Miles"
Oregon 's A verage
Approximately Bbu miles ot books, laid end to end, were
lent from the public libraries in Oregon in 1936. To put it
more concretely, if books were laid top to bottom along the
coast highway, beginning at the California line, they would
border the 391 miles of highway up to Astoria, then border
tne nignway eastwara along me'
Columbia river and on to a point
25 miles beyond Baker.
These five and a half million
books were circulated through 127
public libraries, and represent an
increase of more than a million
books over the loans for the year
1927. The demands for books in the
economic and social fields, and for
books on technical subjects has been
one of the marked trends in the in
creased use of libraries within the
past decade.
Nine counties Deschutes, Hood
River, Klamath, Jackson, Josephine.
Malheur, Multnomah, Umatilla and
Wasco support library library sys
tems which serve the people of the
entire country through branches
and stations established In all parts
of the county. Klamath and Mult
nomah counties have book automo
biles which operate on a definite
schedule and take books to the
rural people.
Umatilla High
The Umatilla county library ranks
next to the Portland library in
number of volumes, in circulation,
and in number of points through
out the county from which library
service may be obtained. Only
74.405 of the total 129.236 volumes
lent were borrowed from the head
quarters library at Pendleton, while
118.231 wer circulated from the ten
branch libraries, the 27 stations
and the 82 schools which are parts
of the system of county-wide dis
tribution of books.
The public libraries of the state
own approximately one and a quar
ter million volumes. About half
this number belong to the Port
land library, and are used through
out Multnomah county. The other
county library systems own one
Uth of thee volumes, leaving only
one-third to the ownership of all
me libraries scattered throughout
27 counties.
Expenditures for public library
service last year were $515,000. of
which 60 per cent was spent by the
Portland library system. Among
the public libraries of the state,
there is a definite relation between
expenditure and circ'latlon, for in
variably the libraries which receive
the highest per capita support have
the highest per capita circulation
In other words, communities get
what they pay for. When a library
is well supported and can buy the
new books and has a good per
sonnel, the public gets good service,
ana the circulation rises according
ly.
Small Towns Benefit
Many oi tne public libraries are
In small communities, with Inade
quate financial support, and are-
carrled on year after year by the
earnest efforts of devoted volunteer
workers. Forty-eight of the lib
raries are In cities of leu than
1000 population. They can at best
offer but limited facilities to their
borrowers, but within a few years,
they will find themselves Immeasur
ably strengthened and enriched
through union with a county or re
gional library system.
Supplementing the services of
these 127 public libraries Is the Ore'
gon State library with Its collec
tion of 385.000 volumes. This lib
rary lends books to Individuals and
communities which have no libr
aries, supplements existing libraries
and serves as a reference library
lor all state departments.
During the past year, 229.000 vol
umes were shipped Into the state
to meet the demands of Oregon
(Concluded on pass it column
Filbert Output
Centers Here
The Pacific Northwest has at least
one heritage that has thus far re
mained safe from the "Grown In
California" touch filberts.
Most people know that the filbert
Industry Is centered In the north
west. The center of this filbert pro
ducing area is In Salem, where an
acre yields as much as 1800 pounds
a year. At an average price of 18
cents a pound the importance of fil
berts In the commercial scheme of
affairs to this city can be more
easily visualized.
There Is little competition, excrpt
foreign and the duty on Imported
filberts Is now five cents a pound
Barcelona Is the main variety grown
In the northwe.st, but Davianas and
Du Chillys are al.so maintained.
Marlon county farmers plant about
75 trees to the acre.
The nut growers are well-organized
in Salem, and have one of the
largest packing houses in the north
west. Girl, 3, Has Hobby
La Grange, O., (UP) Joan Rising
Is only three years old, but she has
a hobby already. She has collected
200 bottles and can remember
where each one came from.
Butcher Knife Fails
In Hold-Up Attempt
Banks have always been regarded as fair prey for rob
bers. The Ladd and Bush bank history reveals several at
tempted holdups. One of the weirdest of these was in
1886, when a lunatic was foiled in a clumsy attempt. While
Asahel Bush was away on a trip east, B. F. Harding was put
In charge, although not regularly
connected with the bank. It was
feared that the regular clerical
staff of three young men would be
Insufficient to repulse any attempt
at robbery. So Mr. Harding put his
chair down by the stove and smok
ed a pipe, while the boys ran the
bank.
One morning a well dressed man
came In. Pulling out a butcher
knife, he stated. "This is my check:
hand me a tray of gold or I will
use It."
Claude Oatch, senior clerk, pulled
out a six-shooter, but Mr. Harding
advised against using the weapon.
John W. Mlnto, then sheriff, pat-
Sixteen Pages
Salem
Libraries oi
Oregon Rich
In Antiquity
Although the first public li
brary law was adopted in
1901, libraries were found in
Oregon as early as 1836. In
that year a collection of books,
periodicals and newspapers
owned by the Hudson's Bay
company officers at Vancou
ver was the first circulating
library on the Pacific coast.
The Multnomah circulating li
brary was established in 1840
at Willamette Falls and incor
porated five years later. This
library was established by
funds raised from the sale of 100
shares at 85 a share. Its library
holdings consisted of 300 old vol
umes and 8100 worth of books pur
chased In the city of New York.
Prom the letters written by early
Inhabitants of Oregon, It la known
that a system of Sunday school li
braries, organized by early mission
aries, flourished In the second half
of the nineteenth century. Mention
la made in one letter of a library In
1848, consisting of 150 volumes, at
the Methodist Episcopal church in
Oregon City.
$5000 for Library
When congress adopted the en
abling act establishing a territorial
government in Oregon, It also appro
priated 15000 for a territorial library
to be located at the seat of govern
ment In Oregon City. In addition to
law texts, the library's report of
1852 listed Goldsmith's "Works,"
Gulliver's "Travels," Darwin's "Voy
ages," and works on medicine and
astronomy, architecture, costume,
the horse and other subjects.-'
By 1854 the library boasted 1735
volumes, but all were destroyed by
fire in 1855. From that date to 1880,
only 84100 In public funds were spent
for books, and by the latter date the
library holdings contained more than
9000 volumes, most of which were
law books and public documents.
That there were books of a general
nature Is shown by the accessions
reported for 1878-1879, which In
cluded the "Americana Encyclope
d 1 a," Encyclopaedia Britannlca,"
"American Pharmacy" and "Zell's
Encyclopedia."
The present library In Multnomah
county, the Library Association of
Portland, was organized In 1864, five
years after Oregon attained state
hood. The organization was launched
with an initial subscription cf 82500,
most of which was sent to New York
for the purchase ot 1400 books,
which were shipped to Oregon by
way of the Isthmus. Judge Matthew
P. Deady, an early pioneer In the
field of education and library work,
later suggested the sale of perpetual
memberships at 8250 cash. This aale
brought In 825,250. Subscribers paid
$3 dues a quarter, and an Initiation
fee of 85. This fee was reduced to
82 In 1867, and abolished two years
later.
3 Libraries in 1850
The federal census of 1850 listed
the libraries in Oregon as the terri
torial library, one circulating library,
and one Sunday School library. The
next decennial census reported six
church libraries, one college library,
one seminary library, and four pri
vate libraries. By 1870, nearly all
counties had Sunday school and
church libraries. In addition to these
there were four college libraries,
three private libraries, seven sub
scription libraries, and one city li
brary. By the close of the century, In ad
dition to the church and college li
braries there were eleven libraries In
the state with 1000 or more volumes.
Portland had six. three of which
ronrliirted on nase 8. column f)
-
ed by on the street and he was
called In. This attracted the luna
tic's attention and the teller at
tempted to hit him over the head
with a bat.
Minto had Just recovered from
typhoid fever, and was In no condi
tion for a scuffle. When he step
ped toward the would-be robber,
he was met with an onslaught that
almost overpowered htm. The lun
atic's knife made several deep
slashes in Mr. Mtnto'a heavy over
coat. At this time, two young lads,
Walter Low and Ab Mead, rushed
In and subdued the lunatic, who
was tent to tha as) turn.