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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1950)
EIGHT MEDFOFD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Sunday. Ftbruary 19. 1950 U VfiLL vihceot TELLS ' ' i SraKY OF E EV GenuineCorn-fattened Beef For Oregon Folks Aid to Better Living BY DALE VINCiNT fit Lanct WrlUr "Um-m that was a simply delicious steak! We had Just finished eating at one of the local restaurants where Howard Jamison, Med ford's famous chef, features "Five Star" corn-fed beef, "How about it?" we asked. "Where can you buy beef like that?" What he told us was the first we had heard of a brand new enterprise in the valley one that has never been tried here before so we decided to investi gate. Following directions, we drove to Jacksonville, then turned south one mile on the Old Stage road, and pulled into the Stage Coach Orchards. Here we asked for Gordon Green. Gordon, we soon found out, is a perfectionist. It shows on his ranch and orchards everywhere in his attractive and well- .isni hnilriinas. the cared-for grounds ana mwu uuu quality of his products. It shows up in Gordon Green himself and in nis fersunaiiicu whni hn the Since Coach Or chards got to do with beef, you ask? Well, sir, that Is the new enter prise we mentioned and it all started because Gordon wanted manure just common, ordinary barnyard manure and he want ed a lot of it to fertilize his orchard soil, and thereby pro duce even larger, sweeter, ana jucier fruits than the fine qual ity he already insisted on Now, when you need manure and can't buy it anywhere there is one thing you have to acquire, and that is cattle. So Gordon first bought 100 head of young White-face Herefords. These were fed in his huge barn, and bedded every night with fresh bright straw. Need less to say, he got his manue one thousand tons of It and he Is still getting It. This he puts on his orchard, and the results are as Holly wood puts it colossal. Never before has he seen fruit of such fine quality, and in such quan tlty. Not only do his pears grow big and sweet, his apples red and delicious but his cattle also grow superbly round and fat. Gordon made Just one big mis take a mistake that has created a brand new industry for south ern Oregon an industry that has already outgrown its first pair of pants, and now has a complete new wardrobe. It started this way: One day a friend asked Gordon, as a fa for, to sell him one of those fine fat beeves for his locker. That is the mistake Gordon made for he sold him the beef. Soon the word got out that the beef was wonderful. "Out of this world," the friend said. Soon another friend wanted a beef. Then another and another.tific treatment Is given every m '4? kll I I - i 1 ..MM "V . J. . kJ r NUMBER 3 Gordon was in a predicament, He either had to quit selling his Herefords, or buy others to re place them. For the friends, hav ing once tasted his "perfection ist's" beef corn fattened and mineral-fed demanded more and more. It was then that Gordon made his decision one that was to cost him thousands of dollars and necessitate the hiring of specialized help. He built a series of sheltered feed lots; painted them white, and trimmed them in green. "All this has to be beautiful too," he insisted. Truck loads of the finest hay were brought in, a carload of corn, every kind of salt and mineral, including an the' "trace elements" and vita mins. And of course there must be always plenty of fresh, pure water. Every day the feed lots were covered with a foot of clean straw. The cattle were happy supremely content witli nothing else for them to do out to grow into cnoice sieans. But still Gordon wasn't satis fied. He wanted to be sure his customers received clean meat immaculately clean meat. So he constructed in a little green val ley an abattoir. What is an abattoir? Well, I didn't know either until I looked it up. Webster says an abattoir is a slaughter house. But Gorden says his slaughter house is an abattoir because it is painted shining white, and nes tles amongst the green trees like a well-kept cottage. Inside it is snotless the floors scrubbed neat as a pin. The Dresser-of-Beef wears a wnne uniform. And what is a Dresser- nf-Reef? Webster calls him a butcher. But Gordon says his hntchcr la reallv a Dresser-ot- Becfnn artist who takes pride In his work and his sanitized hnnt move raDidlv over the clean-washed floors, as skillfully as he processes your beef. YOU know lis IUUH ueei, because you can stand on a mez zanine floor, built for custom ers, and watch through the slanting windows. You follow every operation until the meat is hung on the scales, fresh and clean. Here it receives your number, stamped in vegetable ink. Its weight is then logged in the big book beside your name, and a sanitary cooling bag is drawn completely over your beef. You watch a truck move up, and your beef is lowered into an individual steel container, freshly lined with a special san itized paper. It is now transport ed to the cooling room, where it is hung on a rolling track, and every inch of the carcass is treated witli a Pasteuray ma chine. This Pnsteurny machine keeps the cooling room sweet and odorless, kills harmful bac teria and mold, and actually ten derizes the meat. This new scion- ;. . -..-SfA ' ir NUMBER 1 No. J Expert cutting and expert wrapping. After which your beef is delivered, individually packaged, direct to your locker or home deep freeze. -)tr No. 2 Proper cooling and ageing with the new "Pasteuray" treatment assures the housewife of sweet and lender meat. -jfc- No. 3 Cleanliness and sanitation are of prime importance in every step of Stagecoach Beef Cfub operations. Ar No. 4 The abattoir nestles in a cool green valley in one corner of Stagecoach Orchards. The modern interior spar kles with cleanliness throughout. jr; No. 5 Up-to-date feeder pens where Here ford cattle are given the very best of scientific feeding. day for the 18 to 20 days your beef hangs. The temperature is kept constantly at 34 degrees oy a watchman who faithfully punches a time clock on the hour. You hear a customer remark: "This is something new in beef steaks, isn't it?" Yes It is! And here is some thing else that's new for when the Pasteuray tenderizing per lod is over, the housewife is notified by phone, and invited to come out to the office, if she wishes, and supervise the cut ling. She may order any thick ness of steaks, any special cuts. She may have any parts ground into hamburger not only once, but three-times fine, if she desires. Each piece is then separated by wax paper and the whole cut is double-wrapped, dated, and identified. An inventory sheet is made up to be used by the house wife in checking her meat as it conies from her freezer. g yy ! NUMBER 4 w,mmm-n , r NUMBER 2 j Number 5 The whole, half, or quarter beef, now packaged, is delivered and placed in your own private freezer or locker, together with a direction sheet that is in itself quite valuable, as it gives tips for the cook, that help m prepar ing your meat in the manner that will bring out every bit of its full flavor and juicy tender ness. Customers are coming from over the valley and 'far away. They view the Herefords from a specially built platform and make their selections. They may purchase either a whole beef, one-half, or a quarter. A chain collar, bearing the purchaser's number is immediately placed around the chosen animal's neck. This number accompanies that particular beef through every process from then on right to the purchaser's private kitchen. Gordon, being a perfectionist (a characteristic born into him, and which he can't help), is de termined to keep his beef on the top level of corn-fed quality. In order to help maintain this high grade of perfection, he has form ed the Stagecoach Beef Club. When you become a member 1( , ADVERTISEMENT you are guaranteed to have your locker always filled with "connoisseur" beef at economy price. "Tender beef," says Gordon "is a MUST with us. We guar antee it. It is so tender and sweet, you put your steak knives in the drawer." "And that isn't all," Gordon . continued, "corn-fattened beef cooks in much less time, and is more tasty and satisfying, be cause of the minerals and vita mins we feed our Herefords, and which of course go into our meat." Visitors are always welcome at the Stagecoach Orchard, for Gordon really enjoys snowing interested callers his "Five Star Program" of putting out top quality beef. As we got into our car and turned toward town, we couldn't help but marvel at Gordon Green, and to what length he had gone in order to improve the soil of his orchards and how the mistake he had made in selling a friend a beef has creat ed a completely new industry in the Rogue Hiver valley an in dustry that goes a long way in building the road to BETTER LIVING. j III . I i
