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About The Athena press. (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1927)
II ' - ......... M Open Until 10 o'Clock Saturday Night Now, Don't Miss This Great Big Event famous OR HHDE.SA Starts Thursday Two pair of Shoes for the price of " ' ONE You buy a pair and get ONE PAIR FREES Bring a friend and each get a pair, divide the cost. Sale starts Thursday Don't miss the greatest shoe sale Pendleton ever had. Buster Brown Shos Store Pendleton, Oregon 31 Years Ago J He Started With Nothing But Nerve Story of George Thompson Invalided Soldier, Who Made Good. As told by f&cxn and Fireside, here is an example of yrhtf peorge Thompson, an invalided soldier, has by his own efforts accomplished 'on the Tumolo project near Bend, in Central Oregon: George F. Thompson was born forty years ago on a Nebraska farm and was raised in western Kansas. At an early age he was cast upon the merey of a more or less indifferent world and lorced to sniit 10 nimseit if g lie punched cattle in Colorado and then tried his hand at wheat-farming, only to be cleaned out complete ly in one bad season. Then he went to the coal fields of Utah, where he worked on the coke ovens until the war broke out. He was married in " 1914. -., Thompson was assigned to an ar tillery regiment. But it was not, in the cards for him to see the battle fields of France. An attack of soin al meningitis kept him in the camp hospital for a year. When the war ended he was trying to recuperate from this- disease and from the effects of a mastoid operation. He was partially paralyzed on one side and had a weak heart. Physical work was out of the question. But gameness and a naturally rag ged constitution pulled him through. As a disabled veteran he took the vo- cational training offered by the Vet erans Bureau, graduated from the poultry course at Corvallis and set tled at Tumulo in 1922, ; : The first thing was to build a four room house and one poultry house. A fiirl baby, May, had been born in 1919. Having established his fam ily, Thompson settled down to the business of making poultry pay. But l.e kept his weather eye to raising vegetables and alfalfa hay. They bought a Jersey cow and Mrs. Thompson put out a strawberry patch. "Our first poultry house cost $119," lie told me. "It has more than paid for itself. The first year our eggs sold for an average of 38 cents a doz en and Co&t 12 cents to produce. i "The second year our 452 adult birds averaged 224 eggs each. The eggs sold for 35 cents a dozen and, allowing for the lqss of J.7 hens, gave us a Drofit of $4.17 ner hen. or a tota.1 profit for the farm gf f 2,Q0. "The third year, 1924, the records on house No. 1 showed a net profit per hen of $4.10. Our farm gross re ceipts that year were $4,700. ' ! "The fourth year. 1925. the flock was renewed by culling out some of the old hens and replacing them with Dullets. The records on 220 hens that year showed an average of 215 eggs and a net profit per hen of $5.07. We sold 10,000 eggs for hatch ing purposes in Portland at a prem ium of 15 cents a dozen, making the average price 42 cents a dozen. Our 1925 gross income was $6,000. We have three poultry houses now and keep about 1,000 hens." Thompson is a great hand for fig ures. He loves them and keeps them stored away in his mind, where he mulls them over and is ready to snap them out for anyone who asks without referring to his account books. For several years he has co operated with the .Oregon Agricultur al College as one of their forty dem onstration poultry farms, keeping yearly cost accounts. But it isn't just a demonstration stunt with him. He keeps records primarily to know where he stands and which way he is headed. I found him putting ud a big stack of alfalfa hay. He gets about 60 tons in two cuttings from 12 acres, of which 40 tons is sold and the bal ance fed out He grows the Grimm variety. - , Mrs. Thompson has proved herself a worthy helpmate to a man of George Thompson's mettle. She was ill the day of my visit, so I could not talk to her, but it requires little imagination to picture the dark davs she lived through while her husband was fighting gallantly for his life ! ana neaitn, or the labor and uneer. tainity of getting a foothold as pion eers iri a new section of the country. A baby boy, Lloyd, was born to the Thompsons in 1925. r Her little strawberry natch has produced an almost incredible amount of fruit and plants and has helped materially in the farm program. In 1924 berries worth $125 were mark. eted and $75 worth of plants; this from a quarter of an acre. The patch has grown to a half-acre. From it were sold in 1925 about 20,000 plants at $10 a thousand and 100 crates of berries at an imm of about $2.50 a crate. The Thompsons' house is small but cozy and the lawn is decorated with tlower beds and some fine native junipers. They both take an active part in affairs of the communitv. Mr ihompson is president of the local poultry club and is always ready to give a beginner the benefit of his experience and knowledge of the poultry business. His health ha been completely recovered and tn ceo him today you would not suppose mat ne had ever had a day's illness in his life. First Round-Up Ticket A day and night vigil is being kept at Pendleton by proxies who will get tickets for the 1927, Round Up, September 14, 15, 16 and 17. when the box office opens September 1. J. J. Hamley. Pendleton' for mnnu years the first in line for tickets, put a proxy m line on August 22, and thus continued the tradition of be ing first The ticket office h nt yet been placed but the proxy is there and will remain day and night until after September 1 when he will get the pick of the pasteboards. August 21, 1896 No able-bodied man should bo beg ging for bread now. Harvest hands are scarce and the farmers are pay ing them from $1.25 to $2.00 per day to work in the harvest field. How about these dusty streets? To straw them would be a capital idea. J. S. Post is in the mountains hunt ing grouse and huckleberries. Vic Shick was rewarded with 1582 sacks of wheat from 140 acres. Mr. Davis, father of Mrs. L. D. Lively, has been very ill at his home in Malvern, Iowa. Sam Purdy's 28-inch separator one day this week threshed out 1021 sacks of wheat. i W. D. Parker and family and York i Dell and mother returned from the mountains Saturday. Warren Raymond's threshiner out fit had a narrow escape from burning up at the Mclntyre place, the first of the week. The engine and machine had just been moved to a new setting and the roustabout returned from the trap 'wagon, when the straw stack was destroyed, and fortunately only five sacks of wheat were damaged James Froome has purchased the livery business of George Froome in Pendleton, and Wednesday moved his family to the county seat. George and family will locate in Rossland B. C. The board of directors have con eluded to take city water. An inch pipe will be laid in the school house grounds, Louie Bergevin renorts that his wheat is turning out about 35 bush els to the acre. There is lots of s-ond wheat m Umatilla county. A party went to the Black mmm tain on a pleasure trip recently, and secured the services of George Mulkey as guide. Ueorge reports a pleasant time, twenty-one gallons of huckle perries and inch of lee. The track of the threshinp nmnhino is plainly distinguishable on the farms in this section. Huge straw piles mark where a short time n large fields of golden grain nodded playfully in the wind. Tom Page recently threshed wheat which went 40 bushels to the acre. William Willahv and family Are t vvfloaward'g toll gate th is week. J. Bloch has been engaged as book- Keeper at the Mosgrove store. End of Wheat HauliW Hauling of one of the largest of wheat ever raised in the Athena district is drawing to a close. The present harvest Deriod Wfla favnrart with ideal weather conditions, but one light shower interfered with nn. erations, and delivery of frrn in in elevator and warehouse has not been once interrupted, The Prune Harvest The prune harvest is in full in the Walla Walla valley. There is a good crop of the fruit In th urn. ton-Freewater district A number of Athena workers are employed the orchards houses. in and in the packing Pendleton Marble and Granite Works A Hometown Business for Local People Special Prices for July All Work Guaranteed T. L. REEDY, Successor to TV A. Wyle As in everything else we can satisfy your wants in ;' . .; V''': , ' "''Y V'v: ' !'.,f . VV' Fruits and Vegetables We carry- only the very- best the market affords Good health is the greatest possession you and your family can have. Be sure and keep it. The best safeguard you can have is to eat good foods. When your foods come from our store you can depend upon them being fresh and pure. The quality will be high but the price will be right down as low as our good quality can be sold for. Give us your grocery order today. STEVE'S GROCERY Quality Quantity. Service. Phone 171. Athena, Oregon MEBMmnmttEmMMMBmm The Athena Hotel MRS. LAURA FROOME, Prop. Courteous Treatment, Clean Beda Good Meals Tourists Made Welcome Special Attention Given to Home Patroni Corner Main "and Third Athena, Oregon Continental Oil Company Prompt Service Always Bryce Baker, Agent Phones 761 and 31F11, Athena You Always Have a Good Time at tingham Springs We Always Treat You Right Dolph Thompson, Manager Gibbon, Oregon "He that tooteth not his own horn, the same shall not be tooted." Insurance of every kind and description. Farm Loans at rates and terms that satisfy. B.B RICHARDS, Athena THE ICILGORE CAFE GERALD KILG0RE, Proprietor FRIGIDAIRE COLD DRINKS Malted Milk, Sodas, Coca Cola, Root Beer, Sun daes, Ice Cream, Bricks, Dixies, Eskimo Pies, etc. Gerald Kilgore, Proprietor - - Athena, Oregon J. L. Harman Blaeksmithiug We Carry the Pendleton Machine Works Hinged Weeder Main Street Athena, Oregon THE ATHENA MARKET We carry the best Meat That Money Buys Bell & Dickenson Phones 452 and 24 Two Auto Truck Drays Always At Your Service City and Country HAULING and Horse Team Work Kippered Salmon, all Kinds of Salt Fish. Fresh Fish, Oysters, Crabs, Clams, Kraut in Season. A. W. LOGSDON Main Street AthenaOregon. Foley's Kidney Cure make kldoeya end bUdJer right T Y he Lumber ou Need If you are planning alterations or ad ditions to your building, let us give you an estimate on the Lumber need ed. .You will be pleasantly surprised at the reasonble total we will quote. Wood and Coal Fence Posts Tum-A-Lura Lumber Co. Main Street, Athena