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HOOD RIVER, Oil., JUNE 15, 1889.
A DITCH NEEDED.
Tlie gradual slope of the Hood river
valley ti the Columbia renders it nora
paratively easy to bring the waters of
the river over the highest portions of
the-. valley, ; at a Very-moderate; cost.
While . for ordinary crops irrigation .is
hot needed, it would be of much benefit
in raising small fruits, and : of 'ines
timable value in making possible the
successful growing of alfalfa. ' It will be
bufca few years until this Jatter crop is
one-' of ' the ! principal ones of this
section and that time will begin with
the 'conetruction of irrigating ditches.
Mr. Charles A. Smith, has shown how
cheaply and easily the water may be pro
cured by making a private' ditch of a
mile and a half long, securing thereby
a fine Supply of water from Ditch creek.
By combining forces the cost of bring-inu-waterthe
entire length of tlie vallev
would be but a small sum for each one,1
and would bring large returns on the
investment.' - Hood river valley can and
should produce a large amount of first
class gilt ede: butter, aud' as soon as
water is brought over the i high ground
andthe alfalfa guts a start,' it will: do so.
A ditch could be taken out somewhere
nenr Green point striking the-top of the
hill about Pole flat, and tiom thence to
the bead of Indian creek, the route is
easyl ' " '"'
mINDIAW CREEKS water:
Nature has done bo inuch for thjs
1 section that a .very;, smalt expense, will
: make it perfect..; Although, we have the
Tery best drinking, water the supply at
present, is not. sufficient for, irrigating
, purposes. , What' we need ' is water
, enough to sprinkle the lawns aud gar
.dens, .and . it can be brought in so
cheaply that it seems almost criminal to
neglect bringing it. A small, dam in
Indian creekand a mile of pipe would
supply us with an abundance of water
for irrigating purposes, and thus sup
, plied Hood River can be made with
li'.Ue expense the prettiest little place
on tlie' coast."" We do not believe there
' is a man woman or child living here
' who does not ,love- the place,' and we
think everyone would be energetic in
' beautifying, it, , With , the' grass kept
'. green under the magnificent oaks, and
well kept flowers in the yards it would
be a vision of lovliness to the eyes of
all, a never ending delight to the weary
traveler a perpetual joy to ourselves,
the matter is being agitated now and
we hope will soon take tangible shape.
NO CELEBRATION.
The citizens of The Dalles, or those of
them who contributed to the fund for
the Fourth of July, met Thursday night
and decided in view of the disasters at
Johnstown' and Seattle not to hold" any
celebration". ' The"',' money contributed
will be paid back' to the subscsibers who
want it and the balance will be used in
aiding one or the other of the communi
ties named.'' It strikes us that' the re
sult' will show our neighbors' that they
have made a' mistake, as the' greater
portion of the' money will simply , be
kept at home and they will miss a splen
did opportunity to celebrate in' grand
Btyle. We believe, knowing The Dalles
people, that they would have contributed
liberally to a fund for the relief of Seat
tle, and that the money civen for the
celebration would not have interfered
with the collection for that fund. ;
Tub lack of snow; last winter is
making itself felt just now, in the rapid
firing of the grain. Although we have
had an average fall of rain this spring
the ground was so dry that it did not
penetrate deep and the result is that
the evaporation has left the earth as
dry as a bone. From all sections of
this and Sherman counties come reports
of injury to the grain, and the state
ment that unless we have rain soon the
crop will be almost an entire failure.
The early fruits have yielded a good
crop,' and of the later varieties there
will be a fair yield. However much we
may suffer from the diminished grain
yield, the present season will cause our
farmers to try greater diversity in
farming. It will stimulate the planting
of fruit trees, and perhaps cause more
'interest to be taken in dairy matters.
Wasco Sun.
Hood River is well represented in
the A, O. U. W., 'the Grand .lasfer
Workman, E. L. Smith, and Grand Re
corder, Newton' Clark, being residents
of this place. .
A communication signed "Scribe" is
left out this 'week, simply because the
authors name is not attached to it. The
communication contains nothing objec
tionable but it is a rule thai we will not
violate under any circumstances. ,
An intelligent compositor "(niade yes
terday's Oregonian announce in a big
head line that the loss of life at Johns
town would fall short of $4000. ' ' ''
. Decoration Day.
; The Hood River Glacier on its first
visit appeared to us as refreshing as-a
June shower. Long may it live to, re
mind us each week of the doings; of the
day in this busy little town. ', . ...
: In its columns an account was given
of the festival of the Ladies Relief Corps,
but the work; done by that body on
Decoration day remains yet to be told.
There was a gathering of between two
and three hundred people, at Smith's
school house where services becoming
the occasion were held, consisting "of an
address by Hon. E. L. Smith, sinning
bv the Sabbath schools, and recitations.
All then repaired to the cemetery, the
procession being ' arranged by Capt.
Dukes and music being rendered by the
band. The procession formed 'a hollow
square id the middle of the cemetery in
closing two crosses, five and six feet
high. The post used the service pre
pared for that day after which the corps
proceeded to hand in boquets -all nicely
marked with .the name of jsomo fallen
comrade, battle,., company,, regiment,
etc.,, and, among' the many the "Un
known Dead bit Southern Fields" 'were
not -forgotten .'Three" young , lad:es
dressed in white, received ; and attended
to, the bouquets, t One handed them to
the post commander, .who: read all .the
card contained iri a distinct voice, passed
it on to the other ladies who arranged
them. upon the: crosses The grave- of
Mr. Isaac Howe, a . veteran of the 9th
Iowa cavalry was " then remembered
with bouquets, a wreath of flowers, and
ii j pillowof flowers representing the'
American flag. , , : . . rj, ; .:.
We theD returned to the school house
grove where the inner man waff re
freshed, after - which a general social
time was indulged in for about an hour
when all left for, their, homes feeling
that the day had been well and profit
ably spent. Sec.W.R.C'
' ' : : ' ' '
Miscellaneous Items.
At Hawkinsville, Ga., a rpread has
just been finished in which 16,877
yards of thread,. were, used ' ,'. z - y .rJ.
Tiie Amorlcaii currant is , irgely cul
tivated in France, where its bright red
juice is used to color wines. , t
, Owing to the failure of the rice crop
in Corea the government lias prohib
ited the exportation of other cereals.
A block of firwood was recently re
ceived at Portland, Ore., that was cut
from a tree which was 150 feet high to
the first limb.
i A ball-room in Washington is said to
be lighted by 1,500 gold candles. What
dripping there must bo in the course
of one ball. ' ;
, ; Numerous Pennsylvania and Ohio
manufacturers have boon forced back
to the use of coal, as the natural gas is
running low.,, ;
A Chinese paper reports that a
monkey extinguished a . fire by empty
ing the contouts of a teapot on a cur
tain that was in flames. ''."
i An -enterprising ' California farmer
took out his traction1' engine 1 and
plowed : and seeded seventy acres in
twenty-four hours at his ranch. , "
The skeleton of a mastodon has been
unearthed in California. ' It is thirty
feet long, and has tusks between six
and seven feet in length. ;
The disastrous floods ot the past two
years In Georgia are attributed to the
wholesale destruction of forests at the
headwaters of the rivers aflected.
The Cuban soldiers and bandits vie
with each other in deeds of atrocity.
At Guantanamo, while looking for kid
napurs, the authorities butchered nino
persons. ' '
- The far-famed city of Damascus, so
bound up with memories of antiquity,
and so Oriental in all its character
istics, is to have street cars and be
lighted with gas. - - ., :
In the corner stone of the DeSoto
county (Florida) Court House the ar
cadians proposo to store away, with
ceremonies, the names of the "chronic
kickers" of the county.
A man at Dalton. Ga., is doing quite
a business in walkiug-canes, which he
cuts from theC dekamanea battlefield.
Ho has oue order from Illinois for fifty
of these canes. i '
A Lewiston man has invented a de
vice for stopping runaway horses. It
blinds tho animal by' clapping some
thing over his eyes. The mechanism
operates from the driver's seat.
C. R. Heir, of Stamford, N. Y., is
said to be the possessor of the gold
watch which Major Andre, of revolu
tionary farno. offered as a ransom to
his captors if they would let him go
free. -, -i '
They, have succeeded in photograph
ing tho germs of the yellow fever,
which is a great step forward. They
aro now trying to photograph a tacky
sore throat, and all lovers of science
wilx. wish them success.
It tost a county in Nebraska $2,
893,25 to ruu'the poor farm last year.
As there were but two paupers,' the
daily cost per capita was sliglily more
than $3 about the same as a first-class
hotel would chaVge.
There is considerable truth in the
observation of tho Eastman " (Ga.)
Journal that "the- idea . of teaching
every girl to thump a piano and every
boy to be a bookkeeper will make po
tatoes $4 a bushel in twenty years.
Elijah' Martin, of 1 Sand Plains! W.;
Va.',' is eighty-three years of :age, hut
is still as spry as a man of sixty. - He
works everyday at his- trade of black
smithing, and can shoe horses as rap
idly as any smith in the county. ' .
'' The thistle at the antipodes seems'
to attain a most vigorous growth." Its
root- penetrates to a depth; of from
twelve to twenty feet,, and this root,
even wheucut into small pieces, re
tains vitality, each piece producing a
new planti" " , ' j
Over seventy millioi pairs of sus
penders were made in the United
States last year. That would givo
every man least two pairs, and it
looks queer to see some men going
arouud with a piece of clothes line
girted about them. ',
' A receut English iuvestigation shows
that with men; over fwenty-five years
of age the intemperate use of alcoholic
beverages cilts off ten ycai-s from life.
Also , that '(Occasional:, indulgence, if
carried to xcess, ' doubles diseases 'of
the liver, ' quadruples diseases of the
'kidneys : and ; greatly. increases deaths
from. pneumonia, pleurisy, and epilep-
y-:i '- :
i An original sign adorns a brick build
ing in Brunswick," Ga. The first floor
of the building is UBed '.for a 'negro
restaurant, the proprietor of which an
nounced his attention- of iserving hot
meals to hungry sonsof Ham. by paint
ing on ono side of the sign these words:
;"Her Boys is Hot Meals,' while' on the
other is: "Cominandse fe'ytt self." It
is presumed that he wanted it to read;
"'Here, boys, is hot meals; ., come in
and see for yourselves.'!
' i The remarkable - result of a tidal
wave in the Province of Baunam, Java,
has been a great; increase of tigers.
The land laid waste soon relapsod into
a jungle affording welcome cover .to
the tigers,1 which became-so daring
and numerous that whole villages have
had to be abandoned. Last year tigers
killed no less than sixty-one persons
there. To remedy he evil the Gov
ernment of Java. 'S raised the reward
for killing tigers'Mdni 100 to 200 guild
erg a head. , '. -
The Oviedo (Fla.) Chronicle says that
a firm there are about to engage in a
novel enterprise in. connection with
their vegetable garden. They are tak
ing glass bottles and training cucum
ber vines, when they j are ready to
bloom, to grow cucumbers inside of
the bottles, so that when the vegeta
ble is full grown it will be much larger
than the neck of the bottle. They will
then take : and 'pickle them, and will
have the surprising thing of having
pickled cucumbers in bottles with
necks much smaller than the pickles.
The British Government has at last
settled on a while, almost smokeless
powder for use in firearms. - The im
portance of this statement is evident in
view of the fact that, until the powder
had been decided upon, it was impos
sible to ascertain accurately the length
of the cartridge, and, consequently,
the proportions of the coming weapon.
There "is, therefore, ' no longer any
obstacle to the manufacture of the new
magazine rifles, the production of
which will make rapid progress. The
powder gives out a very small report
not much greater than that of an air
gun. ,
A veteran African explorer says:
"Tho greatest danger to health in
tropical climates, or at any rate in
tropical Africa, occurs from catching
cold. Two other imprudences next to
be guarded against are excesses of any
kind in eating or drinking ot exposing
one's self too much to the direct rays
of the sun. Errors in diet are prompt
ly and piteonsly punished with sick
ness, and as Europeans are all the bet
ter in health for taking a good deal of
exercise they are easily . liable to get
sick if they expose themselves to the
sun's rays without the protection of an
umbrella, which is frequently doue by
newcomers out of foolish bravado."
A fawn kept by "a citizen of Eustis,
Fla., tried to induce the old ; family
cow to accept it as a mother, but was
iudignantly repulsed. The young deer
then endeavored to make frieuds with
the calf, but all -overtures were re-
fused. , The other day the calf,. out of
patience, hooked his 'awnshipN in 'a
vigorous manner, butvthe deot had
learned that its symmetncal hceis were
made for other purposes than that of
speed, and squaring himself for the
fray, planted a vigorous kick upon the
nose of his adversary, which owing to
irv-h; j?-ointed hoofs, brought tho
"claret1" ih. -'most approved puglistio
style. The fawn is uow the'avowed
champion of the' -.barn rani, ,
' Kifles tor tlie Kreiicii Arii-.j.
'' Nearly 1,000.000 Lebel rifles have
been turned out in'" France, yet tho
manufacture of them couli nuts since the
government intends to hav;e four rifles
ready for each soldier whei tho great
mobilizationcomos. :
J. H. Ml
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Bbots and; Shoes;
Stoves and Tiiarej
Flour and Feod.
A General Assortment. of such as
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. is usually found in a
country store.
HOOD RIVER, OREGON.
LEI 111 '
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