THE HEPPNER GAZETTE, THURSDAY, JANUARY. 1, 1903.
13
GOLDEN QPPQRTUHIT1ES
Achievements of Success Not Con-
lined to Pioneer Days.
CONDITIONS ENCOURAGING
i-'danl IE-uir'iu-iJls of Morrow
4 ouiil) ul the 1'riiifiil Time
l'ri l j 10x pfttiuctl.
Not infrequently do we hear the young
man of today remark : "There are no
opportunities now like there used to be;
why 20 and u0 years ago the man who
located in this section ot Eastern Oregon
could not help but get rich. All-he had
to do was to turn his stock loose on the
ranye arid watch them grow into money.
Advantages of that kind are not to be
had nowadays." What a mistake. Ask
Tap Minor, Oscar Minor, Lum, Tom or
Jim lihea, Tom Ayers, Henry Ileppner,
Orin Farnsworth, Jim Hager, or any of
the numerous other successful pioneers
of Morrow county how "easy" it was
for them to accumulate property and be
come well fixed here in an early day.
They will tell you that it required hard,
persistent work, exposure to all kinds of
weather, perseverance, (strict economy
and careful management to bring suc
cess to their efforts. There was nothing
funny nor easy about it. Our pioneer
citizens had to work for what they now
enioy. itiusiinas aivvaya ueeu mm
always will be. Those halcyon days
when men could get rich by sitting down
and folding their arms exist only in the
minds of the visionary and misinformed.
There are just as many, if nut more,
golden opportunities nowadays for the
man of pluck, euergy, and business tact
to attain success in Morrow county as
there were in the days of long ago. All
we need to do is to take advantage of
them. Travel the American continent
over and it is impossible to find a coun
try more highly favored by nature than
cur own beloved Oregon.
Morrow county is just entering upon a
new epoch. Think of what she will be
when her natural resources are fully de
veloped. One hundred thousand acres
of ari.l land reclaimed by irrigation and
transformed into thousands of prosper
ous and happy homes, adding over a
milliou dollars to our taxable property;
every acre of tillable land in the county
producing grain, fruit ami vegetables;
coal mines and eold mines giving up
their hidden treasures ; the giant pines
of her forests converted into houses,
barns, fences and bridges; manufactur
ing industries sending their smoke heav
enward, notifying the world that the j
West has shut down upon the unprofit
able practice of sending her raw mater
ial across the continent, there to be
manufactured into needed articles and
shipped back to us again, we paying the
freight both wavs.
Opportunities? Yes. This county
has never been so abundantly supplied
with them. Young man, take heed and
do not let all of them pass by.
Other contributors to the Gazette's
New Year edition will doubtless treat
fully upon present resources and condi
tions of this section. It is this writer's
desire to here present brieflv a few sug
gestions as to the future needs and re
quirements of Morrow county :
1. The present tax law is the great
est inconvenience with which the people
of this county have to contend, and es
pecially is this true of the farmers. The
law requires one-half of the faxes to be
paid before the first Monday in April at
a time when no one but the rich have any
money. A failure to pay at this time
subjects the taxpayer to a penalty oi ten
per cent upon the whole amount and
interest on the same at the rate of twelve
per cent per annum. Those who are
able to pay the whole amount before
the first Monday in April are allowed a
rebate of three per cent. This law is
unjust and should be amended. The
penalty for non-payment is too severe,
and the rate of rebate should be reduced
or knocked out entirely. What is most
desired, however, is that the law be
amended so that the first half of the
taxes will become delinquent say in
June or July ; or better still, to have
them all become due in the fall of the
year, say October or November. By
this time cattle and sheep have been
turned into the markets, the farmers
have sold their wheat and everybody
has money. At such a lime it would be
easier to pay the full amount of taxes
than to be compelled to pay one-half'
when there is no money in the country.
2. The legalizing of the present barb
wire fences is another question in vhieh
our citizens are very much interested.
Following the crlstom of the country,
which is usually law itself, the wire
fences of Eastern Oregon are mostly
constructed of two or three wires with
posts two rods, or about thirty-two feet
apart. To build so much tence as is
needed in this country aocordiug to the
requirements of the present law would
nearly bankrupt the stockmen and farm
ers. Under present conditions, if ani
mals running loose upon the range or
public highways should injure them
selves on these wire fences, the owner
of the animals, were he so minded,
could sue and collect damages from the
owner of the fences, because the fences
are not constructed according to law.
The farmers and stockm?n seem to ba a
unit in favor oi having the present fences
made legal.
3. Morrow county is being rapidly
transformed from a stockmen's paradise
to a vast agricultural district. A few
years hence will find the most of our
land under cultivation. Our own citi
zens are just waking up to the possibili
ties which this section has in store foi
the energetic and prudent tiiler of the
soil. People from abroad are noticing
and taking advantage of these possibili
ties also. Many of Sherman county's
best citizens have lately purchased fine
tracts of improved land here, and more
of them are coming right along. So
they are from many other parts of the
State, also from the East, and soon the
real estate which has heretofore been
selling at $o per acre will be worth $10
and $15.
What is needed, however, is farming
carried on under the diversified system.
It is an apparent fact that the most suc
cessful farmers (except, perhaps, those
who are able to raise wheat upon a very
large scale) are those who have not de
pended exclusively upon ttieir grain
crops. We need more hogs, more milch
cows, more butter, more chickens, turk
eys, eggs, etc. Alex Young, who re
cently sold his Morrow county ranch
and cleaned up over $10,000 in hard
cash, informs us that he made his money
by raising grain and feeding it to his
hugs. He figures that his grain has
brought him one dollar per bushel when
marketed in this way. It doesn't look
well for us to allow the East to ship car
load after carload of ham, bacon, lard,
butter, poultry and eggs into the West
every year when we have such splendid
means of producing these things right
here at home.
4. Another thing we need is some
thing to arouse more interest in the
matter ol irrigation a subject that is cf
supreme importance to eyery resident
of Eastern Oregon. The Government
has appropriated some $8,000,000 with
which to reclaim a portion of the arid
lands of the West, and we are entitled
to a portion of that monev. We will
get it too, if the proper efforts are made
in that direction. Morrow county has
in the neighborhood of eight townships,
or some 100,000 acres of arid land sus
ceptible to irrigation. Nothing is impos
sible for human ingenuity to accomplish,
and the waters of Snake river should be
put to work, converting our desert lands
into fertile ranches and productive or
chards. It would be no small thing to
add over one million dollars' worth of
rich agricultural land to Morrow coun
ty's taxable property, and -ve should
exert every possible effort to get a slice
of that appropriation. It is a regrettable
fact that Morrow county didn't have a
representative at the recent irrigation
convention held at Portland. The con
vention will meet again at Paker City
next June and at Pendleton next Novem
ber, and our county should be well rep
resented at both the future meetings.
All that is needed to make Eastern Ore
gon one of the most fertile and product
ive countries on earth is irrigation.
President Roosevelt realizes this fact,
and it was no doubt his solicitude for
welfare of Morrow county which prompt
ed him to take so much interest in this
gigantic scheme. We, the citizens of
this county, should certainly take as
much interest in our welfare as does the
President of the United States.
5. Morrow county needs more people.
It can support many times its present
population and then have plenty of room
for more. The main object of the Lewis
it Clark exposition to be held at Port
land in 1005 is to attract immigration to
Oregon, and Morrow county must have
a portion of these new settlers. This
Fair should be encouraged in every way
possible. The legislature this winter
should make a good, liberal appropria
tion for the Fair. This great enterprise
will be of inestimable benefit not only
to Poraland but to all Oregon. As to
this fact there remains no question.
When the proper time arrives Morrow
county should nut allow other counties
to outdo her in showing up their re
sources and possibilities.
(. Morrow county needs cheaper fuel
and this dairiatid will be f.lly supplied
eoon by our new coal fields. The men
who have risked their money in devel
oping these mines are deserving of the
greatest success and commendation.
Thev are public benefactors, and no one
will envy them the fortunes which seem
to be in sight for them.
Witliall the.se conditions confronting
us, are we not right now enjoying the
age of golden prosperity ?
E. M. Sh I TT.
The Heitnek Gazette is the
oldest paper in Morrow county,
having been identified with the in
terests of the county for the past
20 years. Issued weekly, $1.50
per year. Send 25 cents iu stamps
for trial subscription.
Eastern Oregon has no cyclones,
and blizzards are uukuown.
THE PALACE
We handle the largest and
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?iAi I'.u ri ici:ks o i '
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Fine Cigars and Tobacco
Fruits, nuts. Soda
and ice cream in
season. Leading
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H. D. Wood & Company.
LEADING HARDWARE DEALERS.
Cutlery
and Tools.
Our line of eded tools for
carpen'.ers, mill men, freight
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demand.
iillZ.
Knives,
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Sheep Shears
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Tin and Granitcvvare,
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Cliinaware,
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Largest and most beautiful line
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Cyov
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I , r X n. it PI
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A
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Rain Wagons, Oliver Plows.
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Leave your orders at the store, which will he promptly
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