is
?J
VOL. XXV1L
GRANTS PASS, JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON. FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1011
NO. 18
CRUSHED TO DEATH
IN 'DEEP GRAVEL'
W. A. STRONG KILLED SATUR
DAY AT BOTTOM OF SHAFT.
MINED FOR MANY YEARS
Leaves a-Wife and Four Children
Noble Character and Highly
Respected.
Walter A. Strong of Takllma, who
was Kinea aaiuraay in a snait on the
Deep Gravel mine, was buried yester-
day at Kerby, where other members
of the family rest.
Walter A. Strong, a pifcueer of
Josephine county, miner, .and whose
home Is at Takllma1, where his wife
and four children reside, was kill
ed Saturday morning at Waldo.
Strong was mashed to death In the
shaft on the Joe Smith diggings of
the Deep Gravel mine. The shaft is :
about 100 feet in depth. The cage
was at the bottom of the shaft, and
w0, v.v,, '-b:Df to present to the voters of Ore.
I J i. Al - 1 x m .
m a arm, ai we snau ana gave uw
signal t? raise. The engineer re-
sponded, but the cage stuck, and
men went below, where they found
strong aeaa, ana nts ooay lying nan
on the cage. It is believed that Just
as he gave the signal to raiie he fell
half on the cage and half off, and asgood roadg ,g about ng reasonable R8
a result his body was caught. lie
was fearfully crushed, all the ribs be.
lng broken. Strong was subject to
lumbago and it is thorghi that one
oi tne attacKs seizea mm at tne mo-
ment the cage started upward. His
age was 47 years.
Dr. Strieker, as coroner, was noti
fied of the accident and Went to Wal
do. The physician did not return un
til near midnight, having been de
tained several hours until a black
smith could patch up two broken
springs on his auto,
Walter Strong was born in Iowa,
and came when a boy to Oregon and ,
to Waldo. As a lad the first work
he did was In the Deep Gravel mine.
Mr. WImer stated to The Courier
Saturday that Strong had worked In
the Deep Gravel mine through all the
years since, under Mr. Wlmer's man
agement, and under all others who
had operated the property, and that
when the present corporation took
over the property, with Col. Frank M.
Leland in charge that he, Mr. WI
mer, recommended Strong to the
colonel as one of the most proficient
placer mines, and especially in piping
work, that could be found In south
ern Oregon.
Mr. WImer stated that Strong was
a noble character and a man highly
respected by every person who ever
knew him.
SMALL FRAME RESIDENC E
RUINED ON WEDNESDAY
Fire on Wednesday at 4:10 o'clock
destroyed a Bmall frame building at
108 Foundry street. The building
was the property of Oliver S. Drown
and was unoccupied. A fireplace in
the house was probably a convenience
last night for tramps, and smoulder
ing embers possibly blew out on the
floor today.
Mrs. H. E. Moore occupied a small
bulldinir net door east, and she,'
with the aid of others, hurriedly got
her belongings out of the structure to
the rear, beside the Southern Pacific.
traclo. Hp- hnmn was Boon ablaze.
but a stream of water quickly quench-
ed jti
A tall nnln rarrvlnc huh power
lrcs stands at "the front of the, and blnzc snow tnai me rwu
burned building, and this pole wP. UtsMUhod where It is now proposed
K'm, particular attention by the no-tn tnko It. The present mad was tak
zle rum, as a fa.l would have been' en ever the hill by the builder to
of grave danger to human life, as the satisfy a freak whim, some such pur
live wires would have been cntangl-! pose as pl-wed the native Indian,
for some distance In the street. I won filmed to the highest poln
The blaze, though from a small where he could get a better view of
building, was an intensely hot one,
nd drove several hundred onlookers
back Borne distance.
A few lawn mowers at 10 per rcnt'sltlon over; I did so In wo pieces oi
discount at Cramer Bros.
MR. WIMER GIVES VIEWS
ON ROAD SITUATION
In a communication to The Cour
ier W. J. Winier says:
To the Editor of The Courier:
Sir: I have been much Interested
in the recent discussion of the road
question through the columns of
your valuable paper. Ou one side Is
the cry for better roads; and the
charge Is made that they are inex
cusably bad, and , the new arrival,
the auto man, who swooped down
upon our roads so unceremoniously,
complains because he can't run his
big, heavy machine over our dirt
roads as fast as other cars are run
on well ballasted steel rails; the
thought never occurring to this driv
er that the faster he travels tne
rougher the road: and. the road eats
,no credlt at all for the rou.,h work of
jan Incompetent auto driver, of which
the woods are full.
This Is one sidiof the controversy;
the other side Is, Josephine county
with Its. many bridges, and roads In
every direction; the taxpayers' com
plaint of high taxes; the county court
doing its utmost with the funds avail
able, and patiently shouldering com
plaints from both Bides, striving all
i the time to act as nearly as Dossible
along the lines of a happy medium,
And now comea alonj, M, JackBOn
of the Portland Journal, who is go-
g0 for theIr adoption at the next
Ltate election a bill placing all taxes
lipon lftnd and fordng the Bale of a1
jlanda to the 8tate( and upon whlch
the state will have a sixty-day op
tlon to buy the land at the assessed
valuation. Mr. Jackson's Idea of
his forced sale of the people's homes
for which his "Journal" will battle
from now until the election. He
.,, . flrr0 nnft. tpBplt POfl(, thnt
,, vam. ,ttaA
lowing the ruts and washing out the
filling; thus he annihilates the splen
did work which has been done be
tween here and the Applegate river.
He undoubtedly wants to confine the
roads to one-track so that when he
gets his forced-sale-of-all-lands law
passed (the price being fixed at the
assessed valuation of the land, lm
provements not included), there will
be more land to sell when the agent
of bloated money bags drops around
and offers the dissatisfied home own
er a better price for the land than the
state can legally give him and some
thing besides for the improvements
Dloated capital alone will be able to
own land then and the home-owners
Individual pride having been dstroy-
ed will seek a business free from an
nual annoyance,
The fact Is, Mr. Jackson does not
know much about road building; he
evidently does not know that the
main essentials for good roads are
drainage and proper crowning to se
cure It; nor does he know that it is
all Important to have room to dodge
bad mud holes so that they may not
become impassible,
The Courier hna criticised a certain
piece of rond beyond Kerby, where
the auto accident, fire and death, oc
curred. For some years as little work
as possible has been put upon this
section of the road because of a con-
j tcmplatod change of grade which will
cut out a bad bedrock climb up a
winding, steep hollow on one side of
the hill, and a long up-grade tnrougn
deep, black mud during the wet sea
son on the other. The new proposed
cut off would get entirely away from
bedrock canyon where the accident
happened; away from one-half of the
climb over the hill, and away rrom
j the long, black mudholo on the other
side, and reduce the time of travel
by half,
When this proposed change was cs
tabllshed II. S. Woodcock, ramnr oi
the present county comnwemuii.-i ,
was on
p of the viewers, and the mnrKs
signal fires.
Borne years ago r. n. nnrui, uu
Interred In this piece of road, re
quested the writer to look the propo-
days. I recernnienaea mi
GAS PLANT READY FOR
BUSINESS IN NOVEMBER
By November 1, if nothing de
lays, the Oregon Gas and Electric
company, which Is building a plant
lu Grants Pass, expects to be supply
lng customers with gas for fuel and
lighting. Foundations for buildings
and the gas holder are ready to re
ceive superstructures. The holder
will have a capacity of 50,000 cubic
feet of gas. The hullding3 are to
house the furnace and generator.
Gas mains are now distributed ov
er considerable territory in the city.
Starting from the plant the main 4-
inch pipe goes in the alley between
and J. streets to Fourth street, oxit
Fourth to the alley between A and
B streets, then on Seventh, Eighth
and Tenth, to the plant
From these mains will be run lat
erals, the building of which will keep
pace with the. demand of consumers.
A representative of the company
who this week has been canvassing
the town, reports that the company
got a surprise as a result of the al
most universal favorable response of
householders, showing that resi
dents appreciate the building of the
plant, many homes to use the gas
where possible. In this connection
an official of the company stated that
disappointment was met at Medford,
the great bulk of the people there
not seeming to have ever had experi
ence with gas as a fuel, hence busi
ness transacted since the plant was
Installed has been small, and a cost
ly experience so far for the gas com
pany. The Grants Pass plant was order
ed at the same time an order was
placed for Roseburg and the two are
expected to arrive at their respective
destinations about the same time.
"Gas !s the ideal fuel," declared
the gas representative, "and when
once used, always used if possible. It
Is clean, quick, hot, handy and cheap
er than any fuel."
In addition to gas for fuel the
company expects to Install In many
buildings their handsome arc lamps,
which give a pleasing, soft light, and
at a cost which Is claimed to be far
cheaper than electric lighting.
STEEL BRIDGE WILL
SPAN SLATE CREEK
P. S. Easterday, representative of
the Columbia Bridge company, lust
week closed a deal wtttt the of
flcials of the county court whereby
the county purchases a steel bridge
to span Slate creek where it crosses
the Crescent City road. The purchase
price was $2,650.
Williams creek and Galice creek
people respectively want bridges, and
It is possible that these demands will
be supplied at not a distant date.
Judge Steplwn Jewell and Commis-
gioner Barlow made an examination
of roads in the Waldo region.
Popular Couple Married
W.J. Mahoney and Miss Eva WI
mer, both of Grants Pass, were mar
ried at Jacksonville Monday, July 31,
1911. No particulars of the wed
ding have been learned, as the event
was a surprise to relatives and the
many friends of the bride and brldo
groom. Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney are
spending several days on their wed
ding trip, but will return to Grants
Pass to make their home.
Visitors From Alaska
Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Alkens and lit
tle daughter of Trcadwell, Alaska,
arrived Tuesday night and sro vlBlt
lng the father and mother of Mrs.
Alkens, Mr. and Mrs. C. 0. Coutant.
They will remain in town a month or
more. This is tne urst vian 10 ine
s ates ot Mr. ana Airs. AiKens in inreo
. . . ... ...
years.
rhnnge would glvo a pood road In
tend of the bad ono In use, and
without Inrreattlng the distance.
It certainly Is the duty of tho coun
ty court to rhanRO this piece of road
at once (the blame lies In not having
done It long ago), and thus get rid
of a had and expensive section of
mud, hill, rocks and flood-water road.
The survey marks can be seen leav
ing the main stage road In a swsle
Just south of the corner of the WeUh
field fence, hearing westerly.
W. J. WIMER.
30 MILES DITCHES
BY MAY 15, 1912
FKU1TDALE DITCH NOW SEVEN
MILES IX LENGTH.
ELEVATION OF 338 FEET
Flung for Wide Distributing System
Over Valley to Be Car
ried Out.
The Chicago-Rogue River com
pany's system of irrigation will have
at the opening 'of tho comng irriga
tion season, May 15, 1912, about
thirty miles of main ditches in opera
tion. The Fruitdalo ditch now sev
en miles in length, will supply water,
above and below it, to about 4,000
acres, and is nearly completed and
now In operation. This ditch has
an elevation of 3S8 feet above Rogue
River and is connected with the
pumps at the power plant by a 20
inch pipe line. This pipe line !s bur
led in tho earth 30 to 6 inches deep.
The ditch is fodt feet on the bottom,
8 feet on the top and three feet deep,
and Is built without flumes. It has
waste gates measuring 1x5x12 feet
at every natural guich or creek. This
ditch is now supplied by a four step
centrifugal pump, having a capacity
of 3,500 gallons par n.inute.
For the coming season the 110
feet ditch, called the Applegate ditch,
covering the big flats between Rogue
river and Applegate river, will be
connected at the diversion dam with
a 30-lnch pipe line and will be sup
plied by a low lift centrifugal pump
with a capacity of 12,000 gallons a
minute. This ditch will be 8 feet on
the bottom, 18 feet on the top and
4 feet deep. It will supply about 6,'
000 acres. About four miles from
the intake will be Installed a four
step pump driven by electricity,
which will pump to a second ditch
that will cover all the lands around
Jerome Prairie and between Grants
Pass and Murphy. This triangle of
land between the rivers, now unpro
ductive, will be one of the' most de
sirable in Oregon, as it will be trav
ersed with the railroads to the coast,
and now has the best wagon roads In
Josephine county. These ditches art
on the south side of Rogue river.
On the north side of Rogue river,
the Grants Pass ditch Is now In ou
eratton for a dlstanco of six miles.
By the opening" of next season it will
ho lengthened to about 10 miles and
supply about four thousand acres,
This ditch Is now connected at the
dam with a 22-Inch pipe line about
2,000 feet long. It Is four feet on
the bottom, eight feet on the top and
three feet deep. It now supplies the
city of Grants Pass and adjacent land
and has an elevation of 200 feet
above the river. On this dltcb, Just
north of Grants Pass, will be located
a two stop pump driven by electricity
generated at the dam, and which will
put water In a second ditch 200 feet
higher and cover all of the Grants
Pass basin of Roguo River valley, and
go through the Merlin divide and cov
er the high lands of the Merlin dis
trict.
From the dam there Is now alreadj
constructed a gravity ditch three
miles long which measures 12 feet
on bottom, 18 feet on top and 6 feet
deep. Tho first 1,000 feet of th
I ditch is solid granite and roue re to
with two steel gates, 6x9 feet, lead
! .Ml iu ...v.. " "
i . , . , , , . ..
,dltch Is now nearly completed to th
east side of the city.
By the begin
(Continued on pago 7.)
Word whh received Wednesday that
a stubborn blaze In the timber near
the Almeda mine and smelter Is
creeping toward the mine aud doing
considerable damage. Tbo Almeda
buildings are safe, as back firing had
been resorted to In anticipation of
forest fires.
Something like a half mil 'wide
had been burned tip to l""t evening,
said lb report, the flames coming
from the Mt. Reubln country.
MOTHER AND CHILD
REST IN SAME GRAVE
Mrs. Winifred Schimmel, wife of
W. C. Schimmel, died at the family
home iu Grants Pass, 826 Orchard
aveuue, Monday, near the hour
of 10 o'clock. The coming Into the
world of a babe took the life of this
young wife, a weak heart contribut
ing to the death. The babe lies dead
beside the young mother, and both
will be placed at rest in the same
casket. The mother was Just 18
years of age In January of this year.
She was born In Eugene.
Mr. Schimmel has for some time
been with Helnze and Lawrence at
the Waldorf, but two weeks ago went
with the Gibson Grocery company.
Mr. and Mrs. Schimmel ' and Mr.
and Mrs. Steve Jones, parents of Mrs.
Schimmel, occupied the same home.
Mr, and Mrs. Jones formerly conduct
ed the hotel at Gold Hill.
The funeral was at the homo, S26
Orchard avenue, and Rev. F. C. Lov
ett was the minister.
The casket was borne to Odd Fel
lows' cemetery, and there the bodies
of mother and babe now sheep.
The bearers of the casket were E
Coburn, Claud Davis, A. W. Scott,
Mr. Smith, Lester Coburn and Carl
Wlnetrout.
TIUKC1ULLS RETURN FROM
EASTERN AUTOMOBILE TOUIt
Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Churchill and
their daughter, Mildred, returned
Sunday evening from their enstern
trip. They left here on the Southern
Pacific going direct to Sacramento,
Salt Lake and to Denver. They pass
ed through the Royal Gorge on the
Denver & Rio Grande and enjoyed
the scenery of that section of the
Rocky mountains. From Denver
they went to Chicago then on to
Muncle, Indiana, where Mr. Church
111 purchased a four passenger, 40
horse-power Interstate auto and in
It toured through the states of Indi
ana. Ohio, Pennsylvania and New
York. They visited relatives In Blng
hamton In the latter state and also
In Amsterdam and Northport on Long
island.
On the return trip they vlaltod reU
atlvea at Waukegan, Illinois and Mil
waukee, Wis. At the former place the
Churchllls went out to see the fam
oua lotus beds which occupy a space
of 700 acres. This seemed tftl tho
more wonderful as there are only two
more such In tbo world, one In Flor
Ida and tho other In Egypt.
At Milwaukee they boarded the
Canadian Pacific and went to Van
couver, B. C, from which pluco
they came by steamer to Seattle and
there took a train for home, Their
car is coming by freight and is ex
pected here Thursday,
In speaking of the trip Mr. Church
ill said: "We certainly had a delight
ful time aud have soon many friends,
but In that eastern country there are
days and days of disagreeable winds
and hot nights. These made us anx
ious to get back to Grants Pass,
which Is so different In every respect.
Mrs. Churchill and our daughter
were both as anxious to get homo as
I was. On our return to Oregon, we
visited my brother at Nowburg for
a couple of duys i.nd saw soino nice
country, but I caa truthfully say
that In all our travel we have seen
no places which look as good to us
as this part of the Rogue River val
ley. During our trip through New
York state I discovered that little
was known thero about thts part of
Oregon and I decided that I would
make It my particular business to
dlHtribute Josephine county literature
among those people."
Buy bosu at Cramer Bros.
Ice cream freezers at Cramer Bros.
O. O. Bunch hns purchased one of
the pretty bungalows recently com
pleted In Westholin park, and as
soon as water and electricity aro sup
plied that tract, will move to the
park.
I cndi itf Mlx rtcncillct'ii Father
A. K. Voorhles received word Mon
day of tho death at Marlette, Mich.
of slg uncle and the father of Mini
Lulu Benedict, who spent the win
ter In Grants Pass and who went to
Mlcbtgsn on account of the condition
of hr father.
WHO NAMED CREEKS AND
PEAKS OF JOSEPHINE
The Oregon Geographic board
which was appointed by the governor
of Oregon October 1, 1908, wants In
formation as to who named the' fol
lowing places la Josephine county
and why:
Althouse mountain, Bald mountain,
Bishop croek, Blrdseye creek, Board
Shanty creek, Bolt mountain, Che
ney creek, China gulch, Dutcher
creek, Eagle mountain, Elliott Creek
ridge, Ewe creek, Flumet gulch,
French mountain, Grade creek, Hol-
comb peak, Grants Pass peak, Jer
ome prahie, Keeler creek, Kerb
peak, Lake peak, Louse creek. Lit
tle Grayback peak, Little Humpy
peak, Mt. Isabelle, Mule mountain,
M lingers butte, Ola Baldy, Panther
gulch, Pikes peak, Powell creek,
Star gulch, Steamboat mountain,
Squaw peak, Sucker creek, Sugarloaf
peak, Tallowbox mountain, Thomp
son creek, Timber mountain, Vanoy
creek, Whiskey peak, Fielder moun
tain and Dad's creek.
The president of the "board, Wil
liam G. Steel of Portland, asks Tor
the Information and adds:
"I will also appreciate information
as to any place names anywhere In
the original Oregon region."
The Courier will print Information
regarding these names If some of ths
pioneers of the county will furnish It
COUNCIL ORDERS FIRE
ESCAPE ON BUILDINGS
At a mooting of the city council
last Thursday ulght that body took
steps to prevout unnecessary loss of
life by fire by making an order that
all buildings in the city that should
be, equipped with fire escapes, and
the work done' without delay.
Just what buildings will come un
der this order will be determined at
the city ball.
A petition was presented to the
council for a sewer In ally from Sev
enth to Eighth streots In block 17.
The council ordered extension of
the alley In block 2, II. B. Miller ft
Co.'s addition, through the boundary
line of the addition and portion of
lot 3, block 63, original townslte. Con
demnation proceedings will be neces
sary. Report of the city engineer on ce
ment walk and curb between Sixth
and Seventh streets, was accepted
and bill ordered paid.
SMALL FARM HOUSE IS
DESTROYED BY FIRH
A small bungalow on the. River-
bend ranch, on the south side of the
river, 12 mllos from Grants Pass own
ed by Joseph Moss and Mike Clem
ents, wag destroyed by fire Thursday
morning, July 27, as the result of a
defectlvo flue or pipe.
Wednesday tho family of Mr. Moes,
two Miss Calrks, Miss Patlllo, and
brother, Glenn Patlllo, went to the
ranch to camp and uso the bungalow
to cook In. When the party built a
fire Thursday morning, It was not
but a few momenta before the house
was ablaze and quickly consumed.
The goods In the residence were all
saved. The house had been vacant.
hence no Insurance could bo carried.
Several of the ladles were pros
trated as a result of excitement en
gendered by the blaze, though no
serious results are anticipated, and
the nerves of all are about normal
again,
Mr. Moss stntod that a mod
ern bungalow will be erected In place
of tho small one burned.
17.50 values In finning tackle for
$6.00 at Cramer Bros.
IIATKIUM HEfTKEH BAIL
Tllltonm BONDING COMPANY
II. C. Bateham, Indicted by the
grand Jury on a charge Involving a
girl, last evening about 6 o'clock was
girl, has at laHt secured big re
lease from tho county Ju It. Buie
satlnfy the 11,000 ball In which he Is
held for trial.
A surety company went on the
bond, and Bateham, in addition
to the foe paid for this servleo, turn
ed over certain real estate to secure
the company for his sppearance wtata
his trial li called.