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The Hood River Glacier, Hood River, OR., November 3, 1904, page 4

WHAT THE OREGON EDITORS SAW AT HOOD RIVER

Brother Moorehead, editor of the Junction City Times and Ex-President of the Oregon Press association, gives a graphic description of a recent ride through the valley.
This write up, as a whole, is fairly good, but when our brother states that "the town is not pretty," and the valley is more picturesque than beautiful, he displays an originality of conclusion worthy of note; for of the thousands of visitors who have come to us, he is the only one who has not greatly admired the wonderful scenic beauty of our valley and town.
As, Mr. Smith puts it: "Bro. Moorehead was evidently confused in his observations, not by the fair in the pavilion, but presumably by the fair in the wagonette in which the rode."
Brother Stewart of the Fossil Journal rode in the second wagonette, evidently not benefited by internal attractions, writes: "Mount Hood, snowed-clad, majestic, eternal, seeming but a stone's throw from the head of the valley, there caps one of the grandest scenes ever gazed upon by the eyes of man," and thus wrote id omne genus, which may be rendered "the whole gang."
Indeed it required the repeated insistence of the conductor of the party to attract Brother Moorehead's attention to objects of interest that were constantly unfolding to view. There were evidently other objects of beauty that he preferred to gaze upon, and his notes afford ample proof of his indifference to extraneous views and even his lack of cognizance of time.
He says "It was Sunday, and we had a Jehu for a driver, and took refreshments at Beulah Land." Now Bert Stranahan and not Jehu drove, and the drive was not on Sunday, but on Saturday morning, and on Saturday afternoon our esteemed brother departed for Portland. Brother Moorehead was not in Hood River on Sunday as he states.
We sincerely trust that when Brother Moorehead has recovered his mental equipoise he will visit Hood River again, and next time with his charming wife, and we will take it upon ourselves to demonstrate that Hood River has many beauties other than those that wear curls.

All Business Streets
Junction City Times

We spent last Friday and Saturday in Hood River, the occasion being the annual meeting of the Oregon Press association. It is not our intention to speak of the meeting of the association in this article, but will devote a little space to that thriving city. Like the city of old, it is situated on a hill and cannot be hid. In this city proper all streets our business streets. It is not a pretty place, but it is full of business. It is backed up by the famous Hood River Valley.
That citizens of the place tendered the members of the press an excursion up the valley, and a party of 24 took advantage of the opportunity. It was Sunday but we had a Jehu for a driver; we passed through Jerico and took refreshments at Beulah Land. The valley is more picturesque than beautiful, and after traveling a few miles you will feel like reversing that statement. There are spots where the large rocks have hardly room to stand, and then again the soil is perfectly free from rock of any kind. We passed great strawberry fields that made our mouth water to think about them. The strawberry output last season amounted to 90,000 crates valued at $125,000. Land suitable for the culture of strawberries is worth $100 per acre.
Jehu cracked his whip and we whirled along thrifty orchards loaded with fruit. This is certainly the home of the big red apple. The soil and climate seem particularly adapted to the successful culture of apples, but it requires work and lots of it. If a man sets out an orchard and expects the Lord to take care of it, his efforts will be a howling failure. The pests by thrifty and vigorous and the trees need constant care. I was informed that many of the growers, the successful ones, actually lived in their orchards. These will bear in four years and reach perfection in eight. The apple crop this year is estimated at 75,000 boxes, valued at $125,000. The orchards are small, 30 acres being the usual size. One orchard was pointed out to us that yielded the owner $1,100 per acre.
We reach Beulah Land, the old home of Hon. E.L. Smith, where refreshments awaited us in the way of apples, peaches, pears, cider fresh from the press, and wine. Our host was Mr. Vanderbilt, not Cornelius, but a better man. His hospitality was Mexican, as his home and everything in it was ours.
The valley was up hill and down and a level tract of ten acres is an exception. The soil is loose and mellow and never bakes. Irrigation is used only for grasses. The valley contains about 50,000 acres of tillable land, but only about 6,000 is in cultivation. The river is a lovely stream with numerous cataracts and falls. The engineer's estimate of the power is 10,000 horsepower per mile. We had to climb a hill to get out of town into the valley, and as we returned on the opposite side, we sailed down the mountainside at a rate that made us think about our past life. The road was graded and graveled with a screen of gravel and as smooth as a floor.
Hood River has a population of 1,800. Town property is valuable and while residence lots hung around promiscuously on the hills, they are "out of sight" in price. A lot close in sells for $1000 to $1500, with large rocks scattered in wild profusion over them. They sell, however, and the town is prosperous and thrifty.
The biennial fruit fair was in session and it was the grandest and most generous display of apples we ever witnessed. They are not exhibited by the plate, but whole boxes were on display. Every courtesy was extended to the editors, every one of whom will have a good word to say concerning the welcome and good treatment during their two day's visit. This entire exhibit was purchased by the Lewis & Clark commissioners and is now on the way to St. Louis and no doubt Oregon will be loaded with blue ribbons when the awards are made.
During the fruit fair and editorial convention the Glacier issued a daily evening edition which was not only a credit to the office but to the profession as well. The merchants of Hood River are enterprising, and when the solicitor started out to secure ads for the daily it was thought six columns would be sufficient to justify the enterprise, but space was in demand and the Daily Glacier made its bow to the public carrying seventeen columns. We acknowledge courtesies received from the gentlemanly publisher, Mr. Moe and Messrs. Blythe and his corps of able assistants. The Glacier is not cold as its name would suggest, but is warm-hearted, enterprising and in love with the town and country. The publisher has twin babies, the prettiest and sweetest babies in all creation. They were greatly admired and from the comments expressed we expect that numerous other twins will be reported when the association meets again.

$400 an Acre None, too High
Fossil Journal

The Oregon Press association held its annual meeting October 14th and 15th at the picturesque town of Hood River.
Considerable business was transacted, of a nature of interest only to the profession, looking to a better general understanding among the members of the fraternity, and to the framing of legislation of benefit to newspaper men and the public alike.
By courtesy of the good people of the town, a drive through the famous Hood River valley was given the visiting editors and their ladies, who were at once enchanted and amazed as thousands of acres of apple orchards, strawberries and other fruits passed with kaleidoscopic effect into view. Mount Hood, snow-clad, majestic, eternal, seeming but a stonethrow from the head of the valley, there caps one of the grandest scenes ever gazed upon by man, and its melting snows furnish the water that goes to make the winding, tumbling Hood river, whence are drawn the many streams that give life and vigor to every growing thing in the valley; for this is a land of irrigation, where you get your moisture just when you want it, and everything blossoms as the rose.
In this valley are grown very extensively, strawberries that are not excelled anywhere in the world, and on a still larger scale, apples of almost every known variety, of size and coloring that so marvelous as to challenge the unstinted admiration of all who are privileged to see them.
These hustling, wideawake Hood Riverites have got the apple business down to a science, being adepts in polishing, sorting and packing, and it is no wonder that they secure the very best prices going. This year they are getting as high as $2.10 per 45-pound box of Spitzenburgs at Hood River, from New York buyers, who cater to the best trade and are always on the lookout for the best products. These apples average a pound a piece -- 45 to the box -- and their beautiful coloring is at once the envy and despair of the artist who attempts to reproduce it on canvas.
And now a word or two concerning the soil that produces those world-beating strawberries and apples. It is of a loose, sandy nature, and very rich, in truth, but not one whit richer than hundreds of thousands of acres elsewhere in Oregon now devoted to wheat and other less remunerative crops. Thousands of acres in Wheeler and other Eastern Oregon counties, are capable of growing apples as big, as handsome as luscious as the Hood River apple, and will be doing so ere two more decades shall roll around. But it takes time and care, this apple growing business, also convenient transportation by railroads, which by and by will traverse this whole state even as the arteries intersect the human body. Hood River has our best thanks for the double object lesson it has given us, in first demonstrating what the soil can do when made the most of by human ingenuity, and, second, in letting the world know it. They are not hiding their light under a bushel down there, by any means, and are but reaping a richly merited reward in the extraordinary interest in their fruit lands that is being manifested by not only the people of Oregon, but of the entire nation as well.
Apple and strawberry lands are selling all the way from $100 to $400 per acre, according to condition, quality and location. Some say that these prices are ruinous, and will bankrupt the buyer, but hearken a moment, say we to the doubters. Far away in bonnie Scotland there is a strawberry section very similar to that at Hood River, only more extensive, and we might say more intensive. There the writer first saw the light, and there he became acquainted with the art of strawberry and raspberry farming. From one acre he has often seen four tons of berries harvested in one year, bringing a price of 40 pounds - about $200 -- per British ton, or a total of $800 per acre. One man would pay as high as $100 rent per year for one acre and with his children to live do all the work upon it by hand, spading every inch of the ground, and off that one acre wooded rear and educate a healthy, honest, industrious, God-fearing family. This is not a dream, but merely one of many actual cases. To be sure there are many others there who raise berries on a far larger scale; we merely cite this case to show what can and is being done along this line by industry, perseverance and applied intelligence; also to demonstrate that values at Hood River are still far below the top notch, and that it will pay to give $400 and even more per acre for lands that will produce berries or apples in such profusion as is the case in the Hood River valley.
Those who lift their hands in holy horror when told that a thousand dollars worth of apples have been raised on one acre in one year, should do a little private investigating before branding their informant as a colossal Ananias, and then they will make the old, old discovery that some things exist that were not dreamt of in their philosophy. In Sears & Porter's orchard we saw one ten-year-old tree loaded down so heavily that it would have been impossible to have found a bare spot on which to hang a single additional apple. Hon. E.L. Smith, the brilliant president of the State Horticultural society, who accompanied the editors, and who would, by the way, would make no slouch of an immigration agent himself, estimated the apples on this one tree at thirteen bushels, worth $27.30, and there seemed to be dozens of trees just as good, in this and other orchards. In fact, in Beulah Land orchard, which is one of quite a number of orchards planted in the valley by our friend, the afore-mentioned E.L. Smith, the dean of Hood River apple growers, we observed a number of trees that seemed to us to contain a bigger crop of apples than the tree to which our attention was specifically called in Sears & Porter's orchard.
Robert Burns wrote a stanza that has long seemed to the writer as if it expressed the Alpha and Omega of earthly happiness. It is this, and when he wrote it the poet must have had some place as Hood River or Fossil, Oregon, in his eye:

"To mak' a happy fireside clime
To weans and wife,
That's the true pathos and sublime
Of human life."

One might sing pages of song in praise of the wonderful Hood River valley, with never a jarring note, but space the association had died at Eugene that day. The association was at once reconvened, and a committee appointed to go down to Eugene to assist at the funeral ceremonies. Before adjourning forbids it here, and with hats off to the thrifty, hospitable people of that particular garden spot of Oregon, we bid them for the present, goodby but not farewell.
Editor Ned Blythe's boy baby took second prize at the baby show at the fruit fair. The Journal baby boy was not eligible, having been produced in another county, else we'd have given Ned a rub for the honors.
Editors Blythe and Moe, of the Hood River Glacier, issued a splendid edition of the Glacier during the fruit fair and editorial meeting. These gentlemen also did everything in their power to make the editors' stay in Hood River a pleasant one.
Among the newspaper people present was that beautiful, brainy, good and grand old woman of Oregon, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Portland, the pioneer woman suffragist, and sister of the editor of the Oregonian. We hope soon to see victory crown her efforts for the enfranchisement of her sex, for which cause Mrs. Duniway has long and ably battled. Her step is getting somewhat slow, but the same indomitable spirit that is characteristic of the Scott family is still within her, and will uphold her until she has won the fight she has fought so well.
The boys have a good joke on Manager Ball, of the American Type Founders company, who attended the State Press meeting at Hood River. It appears that Mr. Ball was not used to country town sanitary arrangements, and by carelessly dropping a lighted match on a lot of paper accidentally set fire to a small building on the hill in which he waited a minute for the wagon. He made a dash for a nearby garden hose and turned a small stream on the burning building, but failed to save it. He received a bill of $4.50 for lumber from the owner, which he promptly liquidated.
Immediately after the Press association had adjourned, before the members left the hall, a telegram was handed in stating that Ira Campbell, editor of the Eugene Guard and a past president of the association had passed a resolution of sympathy with Bro. Campbell in his illness. The writer mourns the loss of one of his best friends. For years he met with Bro. Campbell at the annual press meetings, and learned to know him thoroughly as a man of fine nobility of nature, generous to a fault, and of such a genial disposition that no one who knew him could help liking him.

Lots of Genuine Hospitality
Gervais Star

Last week the Star editor visited Hood River and partook of the bountiful supply of red apples offered together with lots of genuine hospitality. The fruit fair was in progress as well as the State Press Association. We never in our experience saw so handsome a display of apples. They were not only large but beautifully colored and perfect flavor. We were taken over the valley for a carriage ride and it was delightful, indeed, with fairly good roads and a thickly populated community.
It is estimated that 2800 acres are devoted to apple culture and mostly in small tracts, and a consequent heavy population. The day was perfect and everything possible was done for our pleasure. We were hospitably entertained by Mr. Vanderbilt and family, including fruit, wines, cider, peaches and grapes. He had a lovely view and his place is well named "Beulah Land." Our next stop was at Sears and Porters, where we saw apples being packed for the New York market and learned that he received $2.25 per box f.o.b. rail. They anticipate a yield of 20,000 bushels off of 25 acres. We enjoyed this stop because it demonstrated that the show apples were only a fair sample of the marketable crop.
These apple growers don't loiter -- they work. Work, irrigation and spraying are the items that make the Hood River apples famous. It's hard work, too, and lots of it. We shall ever remember the great pleasure we had at Hood River and congratulate that prosperous section on the splendid newspaper they have and its more than genial proprietor and assistants.

Sees the Why of High-Priced Land.
Moro Observer

It was the good fortune of the Sherman County Observer to be represented at the Hood River fruit fair, and the 18th annual meeting of the Oregon State Press association, held at the same place during the last two days of the fair, October 14 and 15.
The fruit fair was a wonderful revelation to us, and more so to strangers, concerning the resources of Hood River valley and its capacity to grow the most perfect fruits and vegetables. We saw every kind of apples, 45 of which would fill a standard apple box and sell readily at $1.75 to $2.50 per box in Hood River. Besides apples there were in evidence pears, grapes and kindred fruits in great variety. It was essentially a fruit fair, but monster cabbages, beets, rutabagas, turnips, etc., were there, also peanuts, walnuts, etc.
The writer had heard at different times what appeared to be exaggerated statements respecting the prices of land in Hood River valley and wondered how anyone could make expenses farming a small farm in that region. But it only needed one visit to the fruit farms to convince the most skeptical that substantial incomes are derived from just such little farms, and the larger ones in proportion. The facts are sustained by the number of fine residences scattered over the valley, homes that any city would be proud to have it within its borders, as witnessed by a 16-mile drive, a treat to the Press association by the Fair association to demonstrate that all was not brass -- that the fruit on exhibition was actually grown in the district. We saw farms on that drive of 20 acres and less, from which an apple crop up from $1,500 to $3,000 had been produced, and our wonder as to how a man could afford to pay $150 an acre for a Hood River fruit farm vanished in thin air. A walk through the 30-acre orchard of Oscar Vanderbilt, Beulan Land, with not a weed in sight, was restful. One tree, not a large one, produced seven boxes of apples, at $2 per box. The trees are set 16 feet apart.
Considerable importance business was transacted by the Press association. The state Portage railway, The Dalles-Celilo canal, Lewis and Clark Fair, and suggestions for needed legislation, were intelligently handled. Along the line of legislation the association will ask for the introduction and adoption of a measure advocated by the Observer two years ago, intended to promote a better assessment of taxable values by a publicity beneficial to every honest taxpayers. It is a law of Illinois, and is being worked to good advantage by the officers of Benton county, Oregon.

Dalles Will Get Some Benefit
The Dalles Chronicle

Looking about one at Hood River Saturday and noting the number of The Dalles people on the streets of the little city and the interest they displayed in the fruit exhibited by their neighbors, one would have been led to conclude that they were attending a district fair, in which at least every section of the county in which it was held should be interested. Instead, save a few boxes of grapes and peaches that can't be beat, from The Dalles, and some fine apples from Mosier, it was exclusively Hood River's fair, from which that section will derive benefit. And yet, what benefits one section of the country must needs benefit all. And so we were pleased to see the friendly interest displayed by The Dallesites.
Such an exceptionally good exhibit of what can be raised in the apple line in that vicinity certainly merits the praise and approval of every resident in the county. It is truly wonderful, particularly to those who are unacquainted with the productiveness of our soil. Tier upon tier of big apples, little apples, rich red apples, yellow apples, green apples -- apples of every size, color and flavor; but all of the best. "Why," said a man from the famous Santa Cruz county in California, "we can't come up to it."
And what made them more attractive was the way in which they had been packed and prepared for exhibit. This was also considered in awarding the prizes, a decidedly difficult job, so say two Dalles men, R.H. Weber and Frank Taylor, who had the unenviable position as judges.
It is not intended that the light which was thrown on the fame of this wonderful fruit country shall be hid under a bushel (not even of apples) but shall permeate the East and light up the path to Oregon, inducing many an Easterner, hungry for the flavor of a good apple, to come thitherward. This was decided Friday, upon the visit of the Portland business men to the fair. Leslie Butler, of course, was not backward in speaking up in meeting and quietly suggested what a good thing it would be for Oregon if the exhibit could be transferred to the state exhibit at St. Louis. One by one the visitors took up with the idea until they had decided it should be done and $280 were raised by them. Representatives of the state Lewis and Clark commission then added $350 to the amount and Hood River agreed to make up the remainder of the $700 necessary to put the apples down at the world's fair.
To this move, all Oregonians, who are aware of the inferiority of the fruit exhibit at the fair, will add a hearty "Amen."

"It's a Cold Day," Etc.
Centerville Journal

The Hood River Glacier issued a daily during the fruit fair. There is not a better paper published in the Northwest in a town of 5000 or less. It's a cold day when the Glacier gets left.

City of Enterprising Merchants
Goldendale Sentinel

The editor was down to Hood River Saturday to see the fruit fair and visit with the Oregon editors. The Glacier showed considerable enterprise in issuing a daily during the fair. The Hood River merchants are good advertisers, making it possible for the Glacier to be the best country weekly in the Northwest. The Goldendale nine played two games of ball Friday and Saturday with players from the Portland league team and made a good showing. The fruit exhibit was excellent. It will be sent to the St. Louis fair for exhibition.