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About Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1906)
i 11 VOL. XXI. GRANTS PASS. JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1906. No. 46. K" HISTORICAL SKETCH OF GRANTS PASS Interesting Facts of Eaily Das as Told by a Form-.r Editor of the Courier. Editor Courier It is true that I have contented to write a series of articles for the Courier, discussing the early days of Grants Pass, much of which will be based upon the original files of the Cornier of which I am the proud possessor. The Courier has very generously Jgiven me full sweep; it dictates nothing; the only handi cap I have to contend with is possible incompetency, the extenuating cir cumstances being that I am 40 miles from the scene of these early day oc currences with no one of the pioneer actors to consult ; my files do not go back of Friday, April 9th, 1886 (whereas the town was mom than two years old at that time) the time when I became actively engaged witn J. H. Stiun to publishing the Courier and aagln, dear reader, I feel that several years of constant lugging of long-legged rubber boots, oil slicker coat and sou-wester bat is not going to add much lustre to these dnties. Prelimi nary to the main question, however, I will say that a good many years ago the Oregon and California Rail road Co. in order to acquire a grant to millions of dollars worth of land, timber and mines, along its right of way between Portland and the state line on the south, built a railroad to Bosebnrg, they then ceased operations ami the road slumbered in a deep sleep for a good many years, until in 1883 private enterprise built a wagon road from Waldo across the coast range of mountains to the Crescent City harbor; this made great inroads upon their Sonthern Oregon freight shipments ;the wagon tolls over this roaa tor me nrsi year s Dusiuess amountng to $3000. This woke up the railroad company and they imme diately began the extension of the railroad from Roeeburg, the objective point being Ashland. A reference to the map will thow the outlines of this aforesaid grant. Somehow to me, it resembles very much an overgrown case of skin erysipelas upon the commerce of this country ; and when I consider that this government grant plainly re served "all minerals excepting coal and iron" and in plain violation of this specific contract the railroad company upon the sale of any of this granted land proposes to reserve in its deeds all minerals to itself, and in fact for several years has refused to ell this granted land at any price, then I am folly convinced the proper name for this act of our over generous government in thus tying the people to the railroad and thus depriving them of their natural rights, is not railroad grant but instead should be called government erysipelas. The railroad company could not construct this road without bridges and fortu nately for Josephine county our present U. S. consul to China, Hon. H. B. Miller and his father followed them along and built their bridges. When Harry B. Miller reached Josephine county, so favorably impressed was he with its possibilities, its climate, mines and timber resources that he decided at once that right here he would reside and do business. "The diversity of industry" said hs, "will sorely make a large city of Grants Pass. " The Sugar Pine Door & Lum ber Co. was the first result of this de cision. At this' time the writer first became acquainted with Harry Miller, as we always called him; he was a Very outspoken, enthusiast in behalf of the futnre of Grants Pass and Josephine county. We fully agreed along these lines. Grauts Pass is an Oregon town and when we think of her age, she has a brilliant past: or dinarily it would be said that Oregon is the mother of this beautiful city, but in this particular instance such is not the case, for as some of us know Jackson county is the mother and the state is the grandmother. Upon the advent of the railroad, and the town site was laid out it was in Jackson county and it became necessary for a subsequent legislature (1884, I think) to detach four townslyps from Jackson county and annex them to Josephine, and but for the influence of Harry Miller in the Oregon legislature, we may have failed in this effort; had this been so the diversified resources of Josephine county would today have been exerting themselves in building up a Southern Oregon metropolis in an adjoining county. My impression now is that Harry B. Miller was a senator from this county in that legislature and Hon Arthur A. Porter of Grave creek was our representative. At the following June election the county seat question was voted upon, the contestants being Kerby, Wilderville and Grants Pass, the result being that Grants Pass won ont We know what Grants Pass is now because we can see it and realize cer tain racts which are at once patent to every one who observes, but it is not so easy for the stranger to see from whence it came. When we note th i fine modern residences which are spread out over several square miles of most beautiful landscane. simile and vine, the solid oomfort and oon- tentment of which the very air about them seems to tell us, when we meet the intelligent, substantial business men who by the hunderd direct its commerce and who are busy shaninit its future; not failing of course to cousidr linr large and avlendid schools; nor do we overlook her mriny neat churches and Sunday schools, we are at once impressed with the con viction thai here in this beautiful Rogue River Valley has come forth a little world of its own, and though at this writing it only numbers some 4000 souls, we know the end is not yet. The S P. D. & L. Co. was the first business of special importance to come to Grants Pass ; Harry Miller was at its head with H. C. Kinney, a splen did second. Owing to excessive railroad freights and a small home market, this company was compelled to use great economy in every way ; thev were compelled to log inferior timber because too expensive to cull the choicest timber and they wore also compelled by competition and high freight to ship nothing but their choicest products into the oustide cash markets, for from this source must oome the cash to meet the demands of the business The home trade had but little cash in it, hence the com pany naturally sold their inferior lum ber to their home trade as a matter of necessity. The large list nf employees most all of whom were horns people made this enterprise of vast import' ance to the then young and dependent little town, but a good many of her citizens could not see it in that light, and Were loud in their denunciations of the S. P. D. & L. Co. and as a better expression of their hatred of it oalled it- the "Sugar Pine Board & Knot Co," in fact tho citizens of the town upon this and other questions actually and by word stood divided by sharp lines which finally culini Dated in the bitter fight over the in corporation of the town. In fact at this time the Courier, edited by J. H. Stine, fought the S. P. D. & h. Co. vigoroasly and continued to do so until I bought a half interest in it and swung its columns around to the hearty support of all manner of en terprise within its realms. Davis Brower, the then leading at- TA CRCPT fill TANtfQ torney of Grauts Pass, was most radi- ,U LnLUI U,L 1 cal in his remarks against this com pany and all of its doings, and after I assumed full ownership of the Courier, told me to my face that I was the abject tool of Harry Miller and the S. P. D. & L. Co. I did not believe this because they had not dominated my paper nor had I rsceiv ed auything from Mr. Miller or his company but legitimate business and their friendship, and more of the lat ter thau of the former. This attorney, Davis Brower, had in his possession a score of letters signed by prominent officials and business men from whence be came and which I bad the pleasure to read ; they save me great confidence in the man and I employed him. He wuj aged and ex perienced; I ws young and green and needed a prop; we were very thick but it did not last long ; soon Mr. Brower approached me for the purpose of controlling the heart and soul of the Courier, adrersely to the best interests of the town, as I be lieved, we exchanged respective ac counts, settled up and quit. I have always believed that Davis Brower wrote aud signed those letters of reoommendatiou himself. Hon. R. A, Booth at this time was clerking iu the S. P.' D. & L. Co.'s store which was on the northwest corner of Sixth and Front street. George H. Kelly was Wells Fargo & Co. agent and assistant to Mr. Booth. John F. Kelly was traveling salesman for the S. P. D. & L. Co. W. J. WIMER, Waldo, February 13. 1900. SPOKANE CAPITALISTS VISIT GRANTS PASS IN GRANTS PASS Southern Pacific Locomotives to Burn Crude Petroleum. Change Soon. Were Investigating Railroad and Mine Investments Were Pleased W ith City. Dr. J. F. Reddy arrived in Grants Pas Monday from Spokane accom panied by M. J. Sweeney and John Condron. two capitalists of that city. They spent the day here in conference with tho executive committee having in charge the promo tion of the railroad from Grants Pass to the Illinois Valley. They submitted a proposition to flnanoe the undertaking but their offer did not meet the approval of the lroal backers of the enterprise and uo deal was made. Mr. Condron is a mining and rai.lroad capitalist of Spokane as is also Mr. Sweeney. The latter is a brother of Patrick Sweeney, one of Spokane's bigjest millionaires, and who has investments all over the Northwest,' among them boiog reid estate holdings of nearly a million I laid Colonel J. B. Eddy of Portland, right-of-way agent for the Harrimau lines in Oregon, was in Grants Pass Tuesady to seenre a permit from the cou-cil to allow the Southern Paclfio to erect crude petroleum tanks within the cify. During the day Colonel Eddy saw the various members of the oouncil and he was given the assur ance that the city' would make no objection. The oil tanks will be boil' of steel and so protected that they neither will catch fire nor can readily he set afire. As a fire risk to the city tbey will not be so great as the ranks of hundreds of cords of wood and the big coal bunkers that the Company has had in the yard here for years. There will be two of these tanks, one for storage purposes of 80,000 bar rels and one from which locomotives will be supplied that will hold 38,000 gallons. The small supply tank will be located where the coal bunke now stands. The big storage tank will be located 800 feet distant from t'.e sup ply tank aud will stand near Gilbert creek along side the siding leading to the present woodyard. S eel plates and frame work are dow being prepared at the rolling mills and will be shipped all ready to be put in place and riveted. Colonel Eddy thought that the ma terial would arrive in Grants Pass by the first of March that the tank would be here by that time to set them up. Tanks will also be ereoted at Koseburg, Junction City aud Port land. The Companay now has tank at Ashland. All locomotives on th Sonthern Paoific system in California Nevada, Arizona aud New Mexloo now born oil and now all the Oregon lines are to use oiL The O. R. & N. and its brauches aud the Astoria road now use oil burners. So soou as the taiiKs are completed the loconio tives on this division will bu sunt iu relays to the shops and have their fur naces changed to oil burners and th tenders fitted with a tank for holding oil. In burning oil in a locomotive or other furnace, steam is forced out with the oil under such a pressure as to blow tne oil into a spray which on being ignited burns with a fierce heat, quite equal to the best coal Are, Thus a "dead" locomotive could not bo fired np with oiL A small station ary boiler at each round houe will supply the steam, . when necessary to locomotives The Southern Paciflo 4 II ff m P t Sfill 5 Real Estate t Rent Houses Make Loans Afpeut For Phillips Hydraulic Ram and American Fire Call upon or write W. L. IRELAND, "The Real Estate Man 0 Ground Floor Courier Bldg. Grants Pass, Ore. 0 cm a. i. .. i . . , uii LiiHir wnnn nnrr. no manna ,111.- lis ii i .1 . -VW,"B """D "w miwu id runuoa nearly a jear ago aud their wood eon luat VAftw Kf .......... CJ ... - y-1 1 . """""J' n- Piy nas been allowed to run dn last year. Messrs. dron were well pleased with th sub stantial appvarunce of Grants Pass and with the encouraging outlook for its future. Though knowing only in a general way of the renources that give the backing to Grauts Pass, yet they were coufldent this place had a territory, rioh in Varied resources, that if made tributary by meaus of steam aud electrlo roads would make this city a second Spokane. Railroads alone built up Spokane from a sage brush village to one of the largest and-most proBpero-s cities in the Northwest. Thore are now no less than 13 steam and electrio railroads lonnidg into Spokaue, and two steam and two electrio roads will be added to the list during this year and early next year. Messrs. Sweeney and Condron while in the city visited the Miners Associa tion exhibit room and were well pleased with the showing of minerals. The copper ores especially interested t'e aud it is quite probable that so oon as the wagon roads are in better condition and the snow out. if . mountains in the copper districts that these gentlemen will return nnA horoughly examine a number of the best copper properties. New Cold Saving Plant A $7000 gold savinng plant has been installed in the Galice district, and it rt does the work claimed for It, it wm revolutionize gold minma in Southern Oregon. This new method consists of a series of settling tanks and a different way of handling the quicksilver from that now in use. Ihis new plant was nut in lt svn at the Harrey mine by J. F. Banders. rittsourg, Fa., some of th-hi. iron manufacturers of that city being back of the enterprise Only the tail ings from the mine are workea and it is reported that from them more gold is being saved than is taken from the 1000 feet of sluice boxes above. Over 15,000 feet of lumber Wat nupH In Mm. structlng this novel plant and it oovers a quarter of an acre of irrouud. Such as will be left will be nsed for depot stoves. Discontinuing the coal bunker here will bring the discharge, or transfer to other work of the four men who now unload ooal cars and coal op locomotives. A fireman will ttill be required on .the locomotives, but his strenuous work will be gone and he will on'y have to adjust the valves regulating the supply of oil to the furnace and the water to the boiler. Stamp Mill for .Mt. Pitt Mine. A. t-. Hoofer was in Grants Pass Wednesday from the Mt. Pitt mine. tie stated tnat the compressor and three drills he recently purchased in aan rranoisco have arrived at the mine and it is expected to have them In operation by next 'week. The lower win do supplied by the 88 H. P. boiler and euuine he latelv rmr. chased out of the sawmill operated on jurap-on-joe last year by the Enter piie Mill Oomnauv. Mr. Hoofer stated that be hl nlori an order for a 5-stamp mill and he ex- pectea to nave it in operation within the next 80 days. It will be operated by watfr power, already installed and heretofore osed to run a two-tub arrastre. A largo quantity of ore is now on the dump aud a force of meu will be employed in forther opening the mine and getting it in shape for delivering ore steadily to the mill. NEW METHOD OF SELLING REAL ESTATE Over $35,000 Worth of R Estate Moved in the Last Foity Da. vs. We are not satisfied with the present methods of handling real estate, to list it and let it wait for a buyer'to enquire for it. Iu December we com menced working on a paper wbicb will be published monthly and be known as the Grants Pa Bulletin. It will not be a newspaper, it will contain noth ing but write-ups of Grants Pass, Jo sephine County and Southern Oregon. The write-ups of all industries will appear under a cut showing some scene of such industry, and all properties that we have for Bale will be writteu up under a ont of the house on the property, if any. We have already taken over 60 photographs of proper ties, which will appear' in our next issue. We expect to utilize over one half of the space in the paper in outs or tmiidiugs and scenes. We have a mailing list of about 600 people in the East who have Inquiied a bout the West iu the last year and expect to send each of these people one of our papers eaoh issue. It is also our intention to take a bundle of these papers on each passenger train that pulls into Grants Pass and give one to eaoh passeuger. It is our intention also to furnish them free to any one who wants them with stamped wrap- pers for malliug. We expeot to get tne best results from the papers we distribute on the trains, as our trains are 12 hours out from Portland aud 23 hours from San Franoisoo without fresh reading matter and we believe that the passengers will be ready to receive and read anything descriptive of the oountry. If the paper falls into a farmer's hands there will be a farm ing scene which will attract his atten tion, and a miner, a mining scene, a timber man a timber scene, eta In this way we hope to interest great many people in our locality who per haps might never realize there was such a place on the man as GrantsPass only for the information they may re- oeive through the columns of the Grants Pass Bulletin. Wa hllv that the history of the rapid irrowth of Grants Pass will date from the appear ance of the first issue of the Grants Pass Bulletin. We are not asking any assistanoa from the business men of Grauts Pbbs nor the people of this locality in getting! ont this paper, exoept that they give us a part of their real estate business. Our commissions are five per ceut, the same as the other real estate dealers in the locality, and we charge nothing for advertising. There is one thing that the publio may expect, that the Grants Pass Bui lotlu will not make any exaggerated reports on the conditions of this local ity. ' It will be our intention to write it up in a plain, conservative manner, so that all Eastern people who are in duced through the ooluins of the Grants Pass Bolletin to come here can say truthfully after they have settled here the country is better than was repre sented by the Grants Pass Bulletin. We hereby respectfully solicit those who have real estate for sale to oome and list it with ns and we will photo graph the same and run it in our next issue. We believe that by so doing the attention of their property will be brought to hundreds that would not know of it otherwise. Thanking the publio for their past patronage and assuring them of our appreciation of anything they may do for as in the future, I wish to an nounce that I am iu the Wholesale and Retail Real Estate business. WB. SHERMAN. Another Brick for Sixth Street.. Jacob StrattM, who reoentlv told bis fine farm on Applegate, is making investments in Grants Pass real es tate. This week he mnitn fha nnr. chase of the two lots, on the south. east corner of Sixth and I atrnata. from a Colorado nartv. Tim nrln was $3300, which makes the property a one bargain in proportion to mat estate values on other sections nf Sixth street The lots are now nnnnnUA Kir Chinese wash bouse and another old wooden structure. Those Mr. Strauss will remove and erect on the property a two story brick bnildlna. Am tn whether he will do that th postpone it to a fu'ure time depends on how Grauts Pass grows. If the ' city has a prosperous year he may pin up the brick this Summer, but if the railroad and other nnHin ilii are let drop then he will postpone his buildiug operations. THESIS PRICES ARE SPECIAL AND FOR THB TIME SPECIFIED. THE GOODS CAN NOT LAST LONG. LOOK WILL CONVINCE VOU THAT chtr VALUES ARE UNEQUALLED. 30 DAY SALE A M $1.00 35c From January 15th to February 15th SPECIALS All Ingrain Wall Papers 25: per Holt of 3 Rolls All Pillows 20 Discountthat moans Pillows formerly $1.00 now .80c 1.50 " $1.20 2.00 " 1.60 4.00 " 3.20 Sofa Pillows included. All Air-Tight Heaters 33J Discount Heaters formerly $7 50 now $5.00 5.50 " 3.67 Cook Stoves Regular $15.00, Special $12.90 Dinner ware, Blue and White, 20 per cent off. 1 lot rfUxfiO lings, regular $1.50 and $2.00 Some shopworn, to close at. . . . i 1 i nn rt -. tui vuuun carpel, regular staple goods. We have too much: reeular 48c. now Cut Glass 33$ per cent Discount, that moans goods that sold for $5.00 are now $3.54. Range Cook Stovos, with resorvoir, regular $30.00 now $23.50. Trunks $9.00 Trunks for $0.50. Oak Upright Folding Beds reguhr $22.03, no $ 17.G0 Mahogany Finish Suits 3 pieces Bed, Dresser and Commode, large French bevel plate mirrors, regular $35.00 $27.50 Solid Quartered Oak Buffett Polished French bevel plate mitror, regu- 1" ".50 27.S5 Solid Quartered Oak Chiffoniers Polished large French bevel plate mirror, ree- ular $26.00, for ...$21.G5 Lace Curtains 25 per cent discount Portieres, 20 per cent discount Table Covers, 25 per cent discount Picturo Frames, 20 per cent discount Picture Mouldincs A choice selectin. bring in your pic- to tures. Thomas & O'fleil HOUSEFURNISH ERS r.