1120 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 23, 1924 
All Sorts 
The Ox-team Express in 
Oregon 
Difficult Farming. —I presume most 
Eastern folks look upon this Oregon 
country ais a vast range for raising cat¬ 
tle, hogs, shoep. etc. It is true in some 
sections those industries predominate, but 
not so over all the State. As population 
increases there must be some provision 
made to feed the people. If every morsel 
of food were shipped in t/he cost of living 
would be such that there would be no liv¬ 
ing. Transportation would kill. In com¬ 
ing across the State we passed through 
sections where nothing but wheat, barley 
and rye are grown. This is on arid 
lands, tops of large mountains where wa¬ 
ter is a luxury. There are sections like 
this one where we are at pnesent; no rain 
during the Summer, usually. If. it does 
rain at all it is an accident. It is likely 
a freak wind shifted while somewhere else 
it was raining, and blew a rain cloud in 
this direction. The moisture such vege¬ 
tation as above named gets is gathered 
during the Winter months and conserved 
when the sun is not so hot. To grow 
food for man on such land is out of the 
question ; it can 'be done, but at a labor 
cost which makes it prohibitive. We 
stopped an hour or so at one of these 
places. The rancher was sociable, and 
very interesting in the way he explained 
how he made vegetables and fruit grow 
on his dry land. He told us he had 
worked there three years before his land 
responded, and in his third year his earn¬ 
ings were ,$1.50. lie offered to sell us the 
land, 160 acres, for $5 per acre. He had 
about 30 acres cleared to work under the 
plow. This was flat land and about all 
available; the balance was mountainside 
at an angle of 45 degrees. Of course, be¬ 
tween the sagebuish bunch grass grew in 
abundance. I say abundance; it would 
be a fair estimate to say to every sage- 
bush there were two or more bunches of 
grass. Cattle can browse on these hills 
and get flat, if they can keep their equi¬ 
librium and not break their necks. That’s 
all the land is good for. There is a con¬ 
cern, a corporation, that owns 30.000 to 
40,000 acres of such land. They feed cat¬ 
tle and 'Sheep. What little flat land there 
is they cultivate to grow Winter feed to 
fatten on. If there is some bottom land 
near a stream where they can irrigate 
they grow Alfalfa for the same purpose, 
but most of these vast acres are moun¬ 
tains, hills and more mountains. 
Mountain and Valley.— 1 The State of 
Oregon has more square miles than New 
York and Pennsylvania combined; Ore¬ 
gon, 95,607 square miles; New York and 
Pennsylvania, 92,486 square miles. Most 
of these mountains grow big timber ; 
pines, fir, spruce, etc. Some of the yel¬ 
low pines are 10 ft. in diameter, 100 to 
200 ft. high. Grass will not even grow 
under these pines among the pine needles. 
The valley’s are of lower altitude, ana 
where there is a chance, of irrigation the 
food must he grown. We are located at 
the head of the Hogue River Valley, 
which is about 45 miles long; width 
varies from half a mile to three and four. 
We are at the base of one range of moun¬ 
tains. The Pacific highway, an irriga¬ 
tion ditch and the Southern Pacific rail¬ 
road all run along the base of these moun¬ 
tains and parallel to each other. Where 
I sit I look across to the other mountain 
range; it is perhaps half a mile across 
to the foothills. There are cultivated 
fields; from that point it is simply up 
and up to the peak, perhaps five miles. 
A little to the west I can see the Dun- 
crest Orchards, a corporation; they have 
500 acres, 'half in pears, 75 trees to the 
acre, and the other half in apples. 
Dry Farming. —Further down the line 
is a small town named Phoenix; then 
about six miles further on is Medford; 
five miles further on us Central Point, 
then Tolo, Gold Hill and Grant’s Pass. 
There the Rogue River begiL and passes 
through the coast range of mountains to 
the Pacific Ocean at Gold Reach. All 
along this valley, Ashland to Grant’s 
Pass, the “garden sass” is grown. There 
are .some farmers who grow a little wheat, 
barley, rye, etc., only in small portions 
on side bills where water cannot be put 
except by Winter 'snows. Here they 
must practice dry land farming. They 
take a piece of land, half of which they 
Summer fallow. In the Fall they sow 
the grain. The plants Will absorb and 
conserve enough moisture through the 
Winter to carry them through to harvest 
the following Summer. In the meantime 
they Summer fallow the other half. The 
first half is left idle until the next season. 
In that way they take off a crop every 
other year. 
Lumber Towns. —The markets here 
for garden produce are Klamath Falls, 
Bend and intermediate towns. Ashland 
and Bend are 220 miles on the east side 
of the Cascade Mountains, where the 
farm product must be freighted by auto 
truck. Here are the lumber camps. These 
towns, while the population of Bend is 
about 2,000. Klamath Falls about 5.000. 
are in reality over-Sized lumber camps. 
Bend bias five sawmills; the largest cuts 
40,000 ft. of lumber daily. This timber 
belt contains 20,000,000.000 ft. of yel¬ 
low pine timber, but. they cannot grow 
any food. It is too cold; nothing un¬ 
usual for frost in July or August, and 
they must eat or die. 
Canning Crops. —There are here in 
the valley several canneries that absorb 
the 'surplus; in fact, they will contract to 
take all one can raise. I have contracted 
with the local cannery for all my to¬ 
matoes at $15 per ton ; 'String beans $160 
per ton, or 8c per lb. ; peas, $60 per ton. 
The hard part of the job is to get enough 
pounds. Take this farm for a criterion. 
There are supposed to be 43 acres in the 
deed, but the land 'available is scattered ; 
if all together would be perhaps eight to 
10 acres that can be utilized to grow 
these crops. Some is subject to irriga¬ 
tion and some not. That which is not is 
now as barren of vegetation as a lemon 
is of hair; even the weeds refuse to grow. 
The soil is baked as hard as concrete. 
One could not dig a post pole without 
watering the spot to loosen the soil; a 
pick or crowbar will make no impression. 
While I am writing this the thermometer 
registers 105 in the Shade. Friend wife 
is just going down to tie the cattle near 
the creek. I had them tethered in the oat 
field. She’s afraid they will melt and 
leave only a grease spot. They won’t, 
though ; the air is dry, and no humidity. 
An Old Friend. — I had my story about 
ready for the mail when in dropped one 
of the many friends who kindly invited 
us in the early stages of our trip to 
select our route so we would pass through 
their towns on our way west, wanting us 
to camp at their places. His home is 
Emporia, Kan., and on his way from 
Washington to California he saw on the 
train timetable Talenlt was on the line, 
so he arranged a “stopover” privilege 
with the conductor, and gave us a pleas¬ 
ant surprise with his visit. He is one of 
The R. N.-Y. readers of long standing; 
his first subscription was a wedding pres¬ 
ent of one of his 'friends, and as he is 
62 now lie must have been on your list 
quite some time, so when we really got 
acquainted I allowed him to read this ar¬ 
ticle. After reading it he looked about 
the farm and its surroundings, and being 
of old Quaker stock lie said, “Friend, thee 
has not exaggerated nor detracted trmy in 
this; it is written just as T see it here.” 
Now that is what we like about the 
writers for The R. N.-Y.; we want the 
truth. The writings seem to have the 
right ring to them. Quakers, the few I 
have melt in my lifetime, are not, as a 
rule, given up to joking; they are sincere 
in their speech and methods, so I hope 
Mr. Hinshaw enjoyed liis visit as well as 
we enjoyed his company. Our only re¬ 
grets are be did not make it longer; it 
was between two trains going the same 
direction. While we regret his town was 
too far out of our direct line when going 
through Kansas, I am sure we would 
have had a pleasiant time had we taken 
the route he suggested. Hope if he makes 
another trip through the Far West he 
will £tx)p over again. j. c. berrang. 
An Electric Wire Tragedy 
[Some years ago we printed an account 
of a sad accident in California, where 
several people were killed or badly 
burned by coining in contact with a live 
wire carrying a strong current of elec¬ 
tricity. We now have to report a worse 
tragedy in New York State. The fol¬ 
lowing is taken from the Gouverneur (N. 
Y.) Free Press] : 
When a tragedy, such as occurred in 
this village Sunday evening, shocks a 
whole community, the people naturally 
want to know the cause and what should 
he done to safeguard the future. 
A small boy playing in his own yard 
threw a wire which caught in the network 
of electric light wires running in front of 
the yard and within 30 feet of his home. 
In his efforts to remove the wire he was 
seriously if not fatally burned. His 
mother, seeing the high tension wires 
burning the life out of the little fellow, 
and thinking of nothing but the welfare 
of her child, attempted to save him. She 
was Instantly killed and her body burned 
beyond recognition. An older child, in 
his attempt to rescue his mother, met 
with similar death, and there was little 
left of his body but charcoal. 
When neighbors arrived they found the 
mother and one boy dead and the other 
one terribly burned and unconscious, ly¬ 
ing in their own front yard. A wire car¬ 
rying 23.000 volts running within 30 ft. 
of the house, and not so high but that it 
could be reached by a small lad with a 
fishpole was the cause of the disaster. 
When a franchise was granted by this 
town to the Transmission Company it 
was taken for granted that its lines 
would be properly protected, but it seems 
that this company was carrying wires 
with 23,000 volts on ordinary poles in a 
street lined with residences. Children 
are playing around them every day, and 
it is a wonder that some such accident 
has not occurred before. 
The remedy for future accidents calls 
for the immediate removal of the wires 
from that street and the construction of 
steel towers set on a private right of way 
fenced in or otherwise properly protect¬ 
ed. This is the modern way of construc¬ 
tion, and this is the way it is being done 
all over the country. Just why the 
Transmission Company has been willing, 
knowing the conditions, to allow such 
construction to stand is beyond compre¬ 
hension. It has now been brought to the 
attention of the authorities and the peo¬ 
ple and no doubt a remedy will be worked 
out at an early date. 
The first step taken by the Transmis¬ 
sion Company was to protect themselves 
from any action that might be brought 
in the courts to compel them to make 
some restitution to compensate this poor 
man for the loss of his wife and children. 
It immediately caused to be drawn a 
legal document which read for and in 
consideration of its paying the doctor and 
funeral expenses it was to be relieved 
from all liabilities of any name and na¬ 
ture which caused the death of these per¬ 
sons. This corporation taking advantage 
of a man unaccustomed to business in the 
hour of his bereavement and anxiety, in¬ 
duces him to sign away such rights as he 
is justly entitled to by the laws of the 
State of New York. 
Hope Farm Notes 
(Continued from page 1112) 
ing to be the future trouble with all these 
“welfare” laws and schemes for pen¬ 
sions, bonus, and government support 
generally. It will not lead to democracy, 
but to a great mass of people with les¬ 
sened independence and real pride of 
country, and a smaller class of shrewd 
men who will control most of the wealth 
—all the while letting the majority play 
that they control the government! 
***** 
But what can these people in this lone¬ 
ly clearing have to think about public 
events? They are human's, with love for 
their children, all the needs and desires 
of material life and a reasonable practice 
of the white man’s religion. Yet they 
have little of hope for any finer life, no 
great worldly ambitions and little idea of 
government except 'that in some way it 
gives them a home, rent free, various gifts 
and fair protection. They may see white 
folks deprived of home and property, and 
perhaps sient to the poorhouse in old age, 
while they remain on the land. Yet every 
day must bring incidents which force 
upon them the social difference between 
a ward and a citizen. The poet spoke of 
the Indian 
“Whose untutored mind 
Sees God in clouds and hears Him in tiie 
wind.” 
But here are men and women whose 
minds have been “tutored” by years of 
reading, yet they stand apart from the 
rest of the world. I asked them who 
they would vote for in case they were 
citizens. The answer was prompt. 
“Coolidge.” 
“Why ?” 
“He seems to be most like folks. He 
was a country boy. Nobody can run very 
far away from a farm. No matter how 
high he gets, some things about a farm 
always chase him up.” 
Then I asked them whether they would 
be Republicans, or Democrats in case they 
were citizens. They would be Repub¬ 
licans, and when asked why, they knew 
little of the differences over the tariff, 
State rights, economy, European affairs. 
They judged the two parties by the white 
people they knew or worked for. They 
thought the Republicans were more lib¬ 
eral, more hopeful—more inclined to give 
poor folks a chance—'better folks to work 
for. Well, it was Horace Greeley who 
said that he could not say all Democrats 
were horse thieves, but every horse thief 
he ever heard of was a Democrat. And 
I once worked for a man who said his 
Republican neighbor was a good man and 
perhaps if you tied him hand and foot he 
wouldn’t steal public funds, but he never 
saw any other Republican of whom that 
could be said! 
* * * * * 
In spite of all we may say about the 
civilizing influence of modern education 
it seems to me quite evident that our mod¬ 
ern schools are intensifying the color 
question. As men and women of the 
darker races acquire more and more of 
education and the ability to think and 
reason, there will be greater demands for 
opportunity—provided the colored people 
assume equal burdens of citizenship. So 
long as these Indians remain wards they 
will have little influence upon govern¬ 
ment, but in time I think the question of 
color in the human race will become a 
dominant one. It is now, for that mat¬ 
ter, though thus far it has been obscured. 
Recent figures show that there are now 
in the world 520,000,000 white people 
and 1,700.000,000 colored—including yel¬ 
low, brown and black. The whites, or 
one-third of the world’s inhabitants, con¬ 
trol eight-ninths of all the habitable land. 
While two-thirds of the people control 
only one-ninth, with the development of 
modern education and great increase of 
transportation and intercourse, can the 
whites, in the future, maintain this con¬ 
trol? Dr. Gregory, a celebrated English¬ 
man, sees a crisis coming in the industrial 
future of the South. He thinks the mi¬ 
gration of the negroes to the North will 
finally compel the South to import labor 
from the south of Europe. It seems that 
Italy has already agreed to send half a 
million Italians to Mexico. These South¬ 
ern Europeans will mix with the negroes 
and in time produce a sort of hybrid race 
much like that in tropical South America, 
and this, of course, would upset all the 
present political conditions In that sec¬ 
tion. I cannot go into all the possibilities 
which Gregory suggests for the future, hut 
it seems likely that strange things are to 
happen unless our system of education is 
made more practical, and unless the ten¬ 
dency of the government to make polit¬ 
ical wards and job hunters of all who will 
not work and save is changed, h. w. C. 
Wheels Used to Drag Heavy Timber from the Woods to the Loading Station 
Loading Timber on Flat Cars near Bend, Oregon 
