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
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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
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Berlin -UPD- Conductor Leo
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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
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Will Be Closed
MONDAYS
THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER MONTHS
Phone SP 2-8473
STORE-WIDE
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