The Hood River Glacier, Hood River, OR., February 8, 1906, page 8
OUR FINEST APPLES EVER
We are indebted to our townsman, W.F. Laraway, for a
copy of the Glenwood, (Ia.), Opinion which contains a letter from the pen
of C.H. Towslee, a former Iowan, but now of Portland. The letter bears the
caption "Scenes on the Pacific Coast," and is well written. From it we print
a part which will no doubt interest the readers of the Glacier, which is
as follows:
"I visited the state horticultural exhibit first of the
week and I must confess, while I have nothing against Queen Mills or Iowa,
they simply are not in it when it comes to fine apples. I have never seen
such fine apples anywhere. Mammoth in size, high color, absolutely sound,
perfect and equal in flavor to any Iowa fruit. The principle varieties were
Spitzenburgs, Northern Spies, Newton pippins, Baldwins, Greenings, Bell Flower,
Winesaps, Jonathans and several other varieties I cannot recall now. Hood
River made most of the display but I have seen just as nice fruit from Southern
Oregon.
Another industry being developed here is the raising
of English walnuts and they have California beaten for quality and soundness.
Their Italian prunes of which they raise large quantities are also very fine.
Today's I attended the state poultry exhibit. That was
on a par with the big red apples from Hood River. There were nearly 1000
specimens and all very fine. The different breeds I will not try to enumerate
as in fruit. There was one variety however that my attention was called to
as well adapted to the coast country and that was the Rhode Island Reds of
which I had never heard and perhaps some of your chicken fanciers would be
interested in. They also had about 100 specimens of pigeons from different
places on the coast which attracted a great deal of attention. The dairying
interests are very heavy and they have as fine cattle as they do apples and
chickens.
The state is going to develop very rapidly in the next
few years as there is an immense amount of railway building planned for this
year in fact between the Cascades and the coast in the Willamette valley
where it hardly ever freezes they are building railways all year.
Building goes on here in the city all winter and there
are a great many business blocks going up and old ones being remodeled.
Mechanics, especially masons and carpenters are always busy.
One of the grandest views is had from Portland and Willamette
Heights on the western side of the city. They give a fine view of the rivers
and also Mts. Hood and Helen 60 miles away, and Rainier and Adams, 100 miles
distant. They are all snow capped peaks and show up grand on a clear day.
There is an immensity amount of the eastern capital coming
in and being invested in railways, electric plants, trolley lines, saw mills
and a great many different manufacturing enterprises. Power for manufacturing
is plenty and cheap here as it is mostly electricity and that is all generated
by water power instead of coal and steam.
Very little of the products of the state seek the eastern
markets; some lumber, garden fruits and wood going east but most of it goes
across the ocean. All the best Hood River apples go to New York and from
there lots of them are sent to Europe. The growers at Hood River received
on track there $2.75 to $3.00 per box of 50 lbs. for Spitzenburgs by the
car load and from $2 to $2.50 per box for Newton pippins, which goes to show
that it pays to raise apples. They take good care of their orchards here,
pruning and spraying them and fighting the insects.
The southern part of the state raises very fine pears,
peaches and grapes in fact wherever in the state fruit growing has been tried
it has been very successful where properly handled.
One county in the south part of the state shipped over
$40,000 worth of turkeys alone for Thanksgiving and Christmas trade, the
birds averaging $2.60 a head alive delivered at the railway stations. This
is a very profitable industry as the markets are always good here for poultry
and eggs. Poultry, eggs and butter are the only items living that are higher
than in Iowa. Butter now is selling at 25 to 37½ cents per pound; fresh
ranch eggs 35 cents per dozen.
Meats of all kinds are as cheap as in Iowa, and as far
as my experience goes a great deal better quality.
The Lewis and Clark fair advertised this country well
and as a result there is going to be a rapid settling up of the state.
[HOME]
© Jeffrey L. Elmer