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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1959)
IFirb'inra US 52 Commercial Fruit Production Starts In Valley in 1 888 (Editor's nole: This is another in iha series of ar ticles on history of Jack ion county. Today's article deals with the fruit indus try in the Rogue valley.) (Information in the ar ticle was taken from "His tory of Southern Oregon." A. G. Walling, 1884; "His tory of Medford." Jane Snedicor. 1935; "Fruit Growing in the Rogue Riv er Valley builletin 2. pub lished 1911 by Medford Commercial club; "Report on the Jackson County Ag ricultural Conference," pub lished by the county agent's office in 1923; "A Twelve Million City." editorial in the Portland Journal, June 12, 1930: and "Agricultural Information on Jackson County," compiled by Jack son County Chamber of Commerce, 1954.) Settlement of Jackson county dates from 1851, but the real beginning of agricul ture dates from 1852, the gold discovery at Jacksonville. By mid-year a thousand miners were in the valley, and by fall demands for provisions ex ceeded the supply. Wheat became the main crop because flour was the miners chief article of sub sistence. Vegetables, livestock and fruit were also .grown, but wheat outranked all oth ers combined. By the fall of 1855, Jack son county held first rank in the list of Oregon counties, being the most populated and the wealthiest. (Jackson coun ty of that day included the areas of Josephine and Curry Interest 3 YOUR SAVINGS INSURED UP TO $10,000 FOR EACH DEPOSITOR BY FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION OFFICERS Clarence H. Young Ralph E. Pierce Neal A. Curry Gertrude McCorkle . Ron E. Cordon . counties as well.) Livestock. Increases The output of the mines began to fall off in the early sixties. This had its effect on agriculture. When mining be gan to wane, wool, bacon and beef became staples as wheat growing absorbed less and less and less of the united efforts of the farmers. 2 , y--tsrfA'sr.w-jVXp Rich, almost untouched grasslands permitted the easy transition from wheat grow ing to livestock production. This was further hastend by the fact that wheat raising in competition with California and the Willamette valley was less expedient. In 1859 and 1860, Gover nor Briggs was the first man to sell fruit in the valley Apples and peaches were brought in wagons from his ranch at Fort Briggs and sold at a dollar each. With no rail road in the area, the ship ment of fruit to the outside world was unknown. Commercial Fruit The coming of the railroad in .1888 created a further change in the agriculture of the county. Commercial fruit production dates from that time. J. H. Stewart was the first pioneer orchardist who in February, 1885, came to the valley and purchased what was later known as the Gor don Voorhies ranch, south ,of Medford. or FIRST iu Mil Effective July 1st, 1959 ON Payable President -Vice President Cashier .Assistant Cashier -Assistant Cashier In 1890, he shipped the first carload of fruit and by 1893 he had a hundred acres plant ed to apples and pears. That fall he shipped 15 cars of pears and 14 cars of apples, realizing $4,000 from his 60 acres of Bartletts. By 1897, the Weeks and Orr Fruit Ranch, the finest in the val ley, had 15,000 trees in pro duction on 150 acres. Fruit Industry Booms In 1900. Jackson county's population ranked 11th in the state at 13,698. By 1910, it was in fifth place on the list of Oregon counties with 28, 756. A bulletin published in 1911 declared that 65,000 acres of apples and pears were under cultivation and that 10,000 to 15,000 acres had been planted annually for the previous three years. m The bulletin went on to suggest that of the 65,000 acres, 1,500 were actually producing annual crops but it predicted that by 1916 the valley would see 32,000 acres of producing orchards. (A rather optimistic view.) This publication pointed out that the Rogue valley is one of the few proven apple and pear growing districts on the Pacific Coast. In four years (1906-1910) the esti mated total fruit production increased from 230,000 to 460,000 boxes. The latter figure was the 1910 crop, largest on record at that time. About spring frosts, the bulletin suggested these were not only unusual, but almost entirely unknown. The few which did occur were excep tions and in the lower parts of the valley this condition could be totally overcome by smudging. (The bulletin was published to attract eastern investment capital' in land development.) Fruit Varieties - During this period pears were not the dominating crop. Sixty per cent of the acreage was planted to apples, the principal varieties being New town, Spitzenberg and Jona than. These were favorites due to their great shipping and keeping qualities and the YOUR HOME OWNED BATIK Serving Jackson County Since 1911 fancy prices they commanded. Little quality competition from other fruit producing centers in the nation existed at that time. Principal pear varieties were Barlett, Bosc, Cornice, Anjou, Howell and Winter Nellis. The highest prices ev er paid for deciduous fruits in commercial history were for Rogue Valley Cornice Pears in London during the year 1911. Cost of Orchard Development There is considerable differ ence between today's cost of developing and maintaining an orchard and the costs re quired back in 1911. The com parative costs for the develop ment of one acre of pears are shown below: 1911 1954 Cost of trees $ 100 Cost of trees & planting . S 25 Preparation of ground, staking and planting 200 Cultivation, prepa ration of ground, prune and spray for 7 years 90 Cultivation, prune and spray for 7 years 700 Totals 1 $115 $1,000 In spite of increased de velopment costs, prices in our time are not much greater than those of 1911. Pears 1911 1954 Anjou- Fancy per box $2.24 $3.60 Bosc- Fancy per box 2.56 2.70 Bartlett- Fancy per box 1.12 3.50 A 1923 publication reflects much concern over the un satisfactory increase in yield per acre. There is evidence that absentee ownership of land in the valley was not proving to be a satisfactory method of developing highly productive acreages. The report blamed absen tee ownership for a number of failures in fruit producing ventures. Trends in yield per acre as recorded in the pamphlet were: 1921, 87 boxes; 1922, 151 boxes; 1923, 187 boxes. v By comparison, the average per acre yield on a good pro ducing orchard today is five to six hundred boxes. An ex ceptional orchard today may produce over a thousand boxes per acre. Continued Growth Recognized Fruit production achieved importance as a community son Oounty! DEPOSITS Semi -Annually economic base and stimulant . tion had increased from 5,756 in 1920 to 11,095 in 1930 - a gain of over 92 per cent. The increase in fruit production during that period jumped from around 780,000 boxes shipped in 1919 to approxi mately 3,400,000 shipped in 1929. Other developments oc curring in the community during the 10-year period were: A new high school; three new churches; two theaters; two hotels; a city hall; several fruit packing and cold storage plants and an assortment of other business structures. Much of this growth was directly attribut able to the phenomenal in crease in fruit production in the Rogue valley. .P. ?n . ' ' , Highlights Today Today approximately three million boxes of pears are snipped annually from the Rogue valley. These are pro duced on about 10,000 acres, nearly all of which is irrigat ed land. Of all acreage de voted to horticulture in Jack son county, pear production occupies roughly 84 per cent. Total annual income to the county for all horticultural crops is around fifteen million dollars which- represents better than half the total ag ricultural income for the county. - It is estimated that 40 per cent of the 10,000 pear pro ducing1 acres are artificially heated to. prevent frost dam age. From this 40 per cent (4,000 acres) of artificially heated orchards comes nearly three-fourths (2,250,000 box es) of the valley's total pear production. The Rogue valley is con tinually faced with increased competition from fruit grown in other areas having ade quate supplies of irrigation water. The Talent Irrigation project will aid in correcting the problem of insufficient water. Ingenuity, climate and further strides in technical improvements will serve to keep Rogue valley pears the 7A DIRECTORS W. H. Young Chairman Frank P. Farrell Ralph E. Pierce t Leonard Bradshaw J. H. Stanley Clarence H. Young Loccrf Man Sentenced On Check Charge Elbert Lionel Hawks, Med ford, was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail Fri day by District Court Judge E. Roy Bashaw for obtaining money under false pretenses. Hawks pleaded guilty to the charges. He was accused of passing a false check for $10 in a Medford store. Three Injured in Truck-Car Crash Three persons were in jured when a lumber truck and automobile were involved in an accident about a mile north of the Butte Falls junc tion on Highway 62 about 8:15 p.m. Friday, according to state police. Clara Lecesa Bergman, 64, of star route box 87, Eagle Point, driver of the car, and Gerald Bergman, 7, and Rockey Clifford-Bergman, 5, suffered head and body in juries and were taken to Rogue Valley hospital by Med ford Ambulance service, po lice said. Another passenger, Wayman Bergman, 64, was not injured. Driver of the truck was Jerry B. Morton, 28, of 2941 Crater Lake highway, Med ford. Police said both vehicles were traveling north on Cra ter Lake highway when the truck attempted to pass the car. The car started making a left turn into a driveway! The impact spun the car around, and the wheel of the truck came to rest on the automobile's grill, police said. top quality fruit in t'ae market places of the nation. Jackson County Chamber of Commerce 1959 LIPPER T'S HOME FURNISHERS 220 North Bartlett Next to Greyhound SP 3-4394 Invite You to Help Them Celebrate Their i $ 1 50 You'll love this beautiful Urbana Col lection for its charming style - its stunning finish and for its many out standing qualities. You'll love it, too, because of the down-to-earth prices for this is truly furniture built for people who demand the o Dresser with large single Mirror Qnjv v o Large Double Ghesl "J liiStit 'MS PLUS Visual Stress Causes Headache Dr. Ralph Barstow, direc tor of ethics and economics, Optometric Extension pro gram, Duncan, Okla., told the Southern Oregon Optometric Society last week that "vis ual stress can cause the 4 o'clock headache that is ex perienced in so many business men and women." Speaking at the Rogue Riv iera club near Rogue River, he said the late afternoon headache "results from the tensions imposed by the speed ed demands of our present culture." He pointed out that stresses of modern day living tend to center themselves in the vis ual mechanism. The head aches or weariness at the end of the day are natural results. Dr. Barstow said research by the department of psychol ogy at Purdue university has shown that difficult reading assignments in school cause nervous tension and other re actions among children. Youngsters who fail to receive help in meeting the stress may sustain damage that will affect both school and later careers, he said. "Vision specialists," Dr. Barstow said, "have found the way to help the harried busi ness man and woman, and the school child as well. Lens pre scriptions are given in accord ance with the visual demands of the individual in his every day life and for the future protection of his vision." Dr. Barstow left for Rose- burg Saturday to continue his lecture tour for postgraduate education of optometrists. There are at least 13 differ ent varieties of maple trees in the U.S. During This mm aqdnebsabv Our Anniversary Gift to You With Purchase of This Suite is FREE m best. the ureana group Berlin -UPD- Conductor Leo pold Stokowski arrived in Leipzig, East Germany, Thurs day to conduct the . Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Sun day and Monday, the East German news agency ADN re ported today. Stokowski came from Warsaw, ADN said. Try and By BENNETT CERF- AN AMERICAN PUBLISHER, motoring through Britain, stopped for the night at a pleasant little place that bore the encouraging name of "Writer's MoteL" He liked it, too, and while checking out the next morning, he asked the clerk, "Where are all the writers? I didn't spot one the whole time I was here." "Oh," was the answer, "Mr. Writer has gone to London . and Mrs. Writer is visiting a sick' aunt." A tourist in New Mexico spotted an earthenware jar in an Indian souvenir depot and asked, "How much?" "Hun dred dollars, answered the proprietor. "Nonsenste!" ex claimed the tourist. Til give you 24 bucks for it." "Listen, wise guy," growled the Indian, "bargains like Manhattan island you're not going to get any morel Sabrina, 17, is going steady with a neighborhood lad named Jeff. She says he has his mother's eyes' and disposition, but more im portant his father's car keys, too. C 1359. by Bennett Cert. Distributed by King Features Syndicate. Announcement O CHRIS THE TAILOR 36 North Bartlett Street Will Be Closed MONDAYS THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER MONTHS Phone SP 2-8473 STORE-WIDE Furniture I A 1 l MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or. Sunday, May 31, 1959 Istanbul is included as a major stop in the flight sched ules of 16 international air lines, making it only 26 flying hours from New York and eight hours from Paris. Stop Me OPEN EVERY EVENING MONDAY THRU FRIDAY TILL 9 In FREE FURNITURE of Your Choice
