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About Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1957)
A r ' s ' 'I ? Page 10, Sec. 1, Capital Journal, Wed., May 8, 1957 lower From Little Luckiamute Once Vital to Falls City is V Lumbering, Agriculture Sustain Small Willamette Valley City BUSINESS MIRROR Dividends Higher, Level-Off Sighted A typical lumbering community's business district is that of Falls City shown above. Falls City was incorporat ed In 190.1 and has a present population of 800. At left Is shown the falls on the Little Luckiamute which sug gested the name Tor the city. A grist mill operated here in 1852, but now, the stream, though variable In flow, motivates no local Industry. (Capital Journal photos) Br SAM ''AWSON NEW YORK in - American stockholders as a whole are get ting more money in dividends than last year. But the number of companies increasing dividend rates is shrinking. And anothar leveling off period seems in sight after three years of rapidly rising divi dend totals. The Commerce Department says cash dividends in the first three months of this year topped 2 billion dollars, a gain of IVi per cent over the first quarter of 1956. Stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange account for the lion's share, and they show a big ger rate of gain. The Exchange Magazine points out today that companies listed on the big board paid common share owners $2. 124,608,430 in cash dividends in the first quarter, an increase of 5,1 per cent over the first three months of 1956. A sizable part of the gain this year is accounted for by the in creased number of common shares now in the hands of stock holders. The last 12 months has seen a big increase in equity fi nancing. Coupled with a big jump in the volume of stock dividends this accounts for the larger vol ume of shares outstanding. Hence, even when the dividend rate isn't raised, tolal of payments are higher. Of 1.082 common stocks listed on the exchange, 868 paid cash dividends. There were 349 paying more than last year, 460 paying the same and 59 issues paying less. Among the nonpayers this year were 42 which had paid in the first quarter last year. Present prospects are for total payments this year, including both listed and unlisted issues, to slay close to last year's figure of 12 nnuon dollars, in 1953 pay ments were around nine billion, but a rapid rise in the amount of payout added about a billion a year in the next three years. This leveled off noticeably last December. The change appears due largely to two factors: (1) A similar leveling off in net income for many corporations: and (2) the high demand for funds for expansion. General Nathanael Greene, who was Washington's most, trusted general in the Revolutionary War, built a house in Anthony, Rhode island in 1770. It is still nreserved declared by corporations last year as it was in his day. Grist Mill, Hydro-Electric Plants Once Run By Stream; Potential Now Lies Dormant : - vJly BEN MAXWEIX ',' ; ; Capital Journnl Writer It Is a singular fact that water power 'of the Little Luckiamute, to quickly utilized by John Thorp and his son, Theodore, who con structed a grist mill on the site of Falls City in 1852, should now be neglected and unused. Slate engineer's olficc has not computed the power potential of the Little Luckiamute at Falls City. But it was the power for Thorp's mill until he moved the ilant .in 1865 to a more central ocatlon at Rickreall. For , a number of years the stream was also power for the municipally owned hydro electric plant. Thero are those now living in f ails city who bcllevo tho Little LucMamuto is a significant but un developed city asset offering Industry a substantial seasonal power.. Thorp s mill was a seasonal industry. A conservation dam im pounding waters of the Lllllc Luckiamute might also make the stream valuable for irrigation. TWO. INDUSTRIES TwiS industries now sustain Falls City lumbering and agriculture. It is estimated that not less than 200 porsons in the city's population 1 of 800 arc- gainfully employed and that ;nbout 80 per cent of these are employed in local lumbering: at fho.Valsclz mill and elsewhere In 'Vc'Rionnl production of forest products. Atlas Lumber Co., owned hv I. ,1, Mike) Barlcl and Walter Schmilkc, Is now the only lumber plant operating within the city. Thd firm employs 32 men and has a $100,000 annual payroll. , Business district of Tails City consists of two grocery stores, four garages, a feed store, t w o cafes,. an appliance store, n sport ing goods slorc, variety store, drug store, two taverns and other, in terests offering the community goods and services. At present Falls Cily is served by no common passenger transit and the branch railroad passing through the city Is concerned prim arily with logs loaded at Black Rock some miles westward. CITV OFFICIALS City officials arc: Vernon Mur phy, mayor: Fay Wilson, recorder and municipal judge; Mildred Davis, treasurer: Darrcll Williams, cily altorncy; Floyd Brown, fire chief: Lyal Porter, chief of police; D. L. Ferguson, Robert Hnlleman, Willard Dunaway, Edwin A. Scott, Orlo Frank and Doylo Lorimor, councilmcn. Falls City was incor porated In 1003. Death of William Ellis, 08, the town's first mayor, was reported from woodburn, Nov, 8, 1956. Falls Cily has a municipal waler system wilh Teal creek as its Mayor VF.ltNON MURPHY : . Municipal Building -"" t i i i mi ih i m iis i if source. There arc about 200 local users, The fire department, wilh Floyd Brown as chief, consists of two trucks and 25 volunteers serv ing both I he cily and the rural fire district. Falls City high school, a six year school with pupils from the seventh through the 12th grade, has William McCammon as prin cipal. Here there are seven teach ers and 115 students. The element ary school with Herschc! Bond as principal has seven teachers and 125 pupils from the primary through the sixth grade. The city has four churches. BOWMAN POSTMASTER Richard M. Bowman is local postmaster with Joyce Murphy as his assistant in this third class office. About 300 persons receive their moll here and there arc five star routes operating from the office. History of Falls City postofficc is somewhat involved. On rcb. A, 1885, an office was established on Frank Hubbard's farm about mile cast of what is now Falls Cily. This office was called Syracuse and mail was delivered twice each week. One source says the office was moved lo Falls City on Oc tober 28, 1889; another gives the dale as July 1891 when A. M. Bry ant was postmaster. , After 1865 when Thorp moved his grist mill to llickrenll tho site of Falls City, then known as Lucki nniiilo Falls, was rendezvous for hunters and fishermen. About 1800 promoters conceived Iho location as a resort site and the name was changed lo Foils Cily by llic Falls City Develop ment Co. This company recorded a plan for North Falls Cily on July 3. I8!il. A few months earlier, on February 24, 1891, II. S. and Es ther Montgomery had prepared a pl.il of Smith Falls City that was later recorded by Clerk C. G. Cond. Roth plaLs featured a Main street that survives to this day on each side of the Little Lucki amute. First significant enterprise in the new town was a sawmill eslab lislied on the south side by John Montgomery. Falls City forgot its origination and became a typical sawmill town. During an interval there was a large mill within the town and 15 smaller mills nearby. The larger mill was built by ltrynn and Lucas in 1901 'and sold to Cohhs and Mitchell in I9t2. In 1922 Ihe operation was moved to Vnlseti and the idle plant at Falls uty liurned in l!:i.t. Population ot Falls Cily in 1900 was 269. Come 1910 and it had ! Increased to 969. in 1920, when Ihe Cobbs and Mitchell was in oper I ntion, the population reached a peak of 994. A decade later il had slumped lo 494. In its heyday Falls Cily had a bank, a newspaper and a cannery. Oregon Almanac for 1915 gives Falls Cily a population of 1200. a hank wilh $70,000 in deposits and a quarry thai supplied building stone of excellent quality. Lumbering over an interval of 60 years has given Falls Cily a substantial payroll but an erratic one. Even now there is a busy season for the camps and mills followed by an interval of inactiv ity. Present demoralization of mar ket for certain forest products is reflected upon the economy pt Falls City. There are those who believe that Ihe property will continue with more efficient utilization of forest products. Others see un-utllizcd power of the Little Luckiamute sustaining a new industry, not necessarily as sociated with forest products. They also forsee an agricultural potential for the region if water from the Little Luckiamute were first utilized for power and then diverted for irrigation. They have not forgotten bygone times when C. J. Pugh's logan berry juice plant became the A. E. Rupert cannery that flourished un- Tokyo Stock Mart Plunges TOKYO W The Japanese stock market Wednesday plum meted in the wake of the Bank of Japan's hike of its interest rate. The bank's interest for dis counted domestic and import drafts rose from 7.665 to 8.395 per cent a record Japanese high since 1900. The Bank of Japan governor explained that the' deflationary decision was made to "check the ever growing investment activi ties and also recent sharp in creases in imports." til 1928. When the timber is gone Ihey view agriculture as their sus taining industry. Jobs Increase 2,000 in Ore. SAN FRANCISCO UPI Employ ment in Oregon and Washington increased during the month of March, the Bureau of Labor Sta tistics said Tuesday. Washington gained 13,600 jobs for a total of 775,000 and Or.egon gained 2,000 to reach a total of 446,000, the bureau said. CALLOUSES To relieve painful callousea, horn ing or tendernranon bottomof feet and remove callousee get these mm, aoottiiBff, cushioning pads. Family fares Money on the CITY of PORTLAND to CHICAGO nd EAST ITT Big Family Pays Off! But there's real saving when two or more peoplt In a fam ily group travtl on Union Pacific's Family Far plan. Good whtn boarding ANT U. P. train on Monday. Tuos day, Wednesday THURS DAY. Rotum any day and there's i gtnorous baggage allowaac. Ask us for details. 6 I : C. R. SALTMARSH, General Passenger Agent 751 Pittock Block, Portland, Oregon, CA 7-7171 The Falls City Municipal building pictured f houses the city's water office and library, . abov SURGICAL . SUPPORTS Of All Kinds. Trussr. 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