The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1890-08-22
WOULD IT PAY ?
IT WOULD PAY IN CORVALLIS.


iness of drying fruits had fair test
then, for several reasons. In the first
place market was not possible for the
output of the dryer because transpor-
tation facilities we're limited and
freiehts enormous. Without trans
portation facilities, freights at living
rate and ready market, it goes with
out the saying that an industry of this
kind could not prosper. Again, IN
that day the general business sentiment
was at low ebb. The citizens were
more or less apathetic and were not
inclined to foster and encourage an en-
terprise of this character. Our sur
plus fruit was "only fit for hog food
anyway SO why bother with a fruit
dryer" "no money in it, 'Esure to
bust" etc. And "bust" It did. That
is to say, the Alden fruit drying es
tablishment after one or two seasons
run indefinitely suspended operations
and the industry, with this as crl
terion, has been paralyzed in this COM
munity ever since.
Let us ask a question just here.
Will any one answer affirmatlveIy
when we ask, could $4,000 flour
mill have been constructed and put
into operation in Corvallis in that day!
Emphatically, No!
Now the country round about Cor
wallis is no more capable of supporting
a dour mill to-day than it was 10 or 10
years ago. There was as much or
more wheat produced then as there is
now Where, then, is the difference?
Why is it possible to have frst-class
steam mill put into operation and into
competition with one of the best mills
in Oregon, in this community this sea-
son when such an undertaking then
would have been an impossibility?
The natural inference is that the gen
tlemen who have invested their money
in the mill have awakened to the fact
that there is more to be realized from
such an investment than by adhering
to the old methods of lending money
at 10 per cent. interest with gilt-edge
security, or in raising stock for the
local and Portland markets.
Now, suppose we glance for mo-
ment at the first one or two resources
of the Willamette valley. What do
we see? First in. Importance is the
wheat industry. No one will deny
that the wheat produced in this coun-
try since its first settlement has been
its chief support. It has been for
years almost our sole export. Why is
it that now the miller who grinds this
wheat in his mill located in this wheat
producing region, can afford to pay one
or two cents per bushel more to the
farmer for his wheat than the exporter
who ships it abroadl Manifestly be-
cause the miller can realize so much
more for his manufactured product at
home than the exporter can gain by
sending it away to foreign consumers.
What does this suggest? 1t means that
enterprising men can afford to build
Touring mills, manufacture their chief
product into flour and supply the home
market.
Will croakers say that Touring mills
nnder such conditions will not prosper!
Perhaps they may. 1t would be easier
perhaps to tell what industries the
average croaker will condemn than ap-
prove of. But croaking or not croak-
ing, the success of the mills above re-
ferred to, with good business manage
ment, is assured. And the field is
certainly large enough for all compet-
itors now in sight; for the brand ''Cor-
wallis Mills is SYNONYMOUS with a
ready sale for all flour heretofore man
ufactured at this point and there is no
reason to doubt the excellence in quail
ity of the product of the mills recent
1y put INTO operation. So much for
the first resource of the Willamette
valley from its soil.
What is its second in Importance
Nay; what may be it's first in future
importance? The fruit and fruit-dry-
ing industry. That the land owners of
the Willamette valley are aware of the
importance of this industry Is evident
from the number of trees being plant
ed throughout the whole valley. Al
ready there are many orchards num-
bering thousands of trees, growing in
this country and more acres are being