The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-05
HOMES IN THE MOUNTAINS
Great Opportunity for Health, Peace
and Competence.

~Te&t opportunity Tor health, feaCe
and Competence.
The mountain region Of Oregon, now al
most entirely unsettled, will afford hap
py, prosperous homes for thousands of
people within the next few years. This
Is the opinion Of General w. H. Odell, Of
Salem. who, as surveyor. has travelled
through the mountains on foot at fire.
quent Intervals in the past fifty years.
The mountainous section of Oregon Is
fully as productive as the mountain re-
gion of Switzerland, and in every respect
Is more attractive to the homeseeker. The
summit Of the Coast Range is not far
from the Willamette river; the summit
of the Cascades is but little farther. At
present the land is comparatively cheap.
1t can be homesteaded or can be bought
at $1.25 to IS per acre, and at the latter
price would be good farming land.
There is no more healthful place to
make a home than the hills and valleys
of Oregon's mountain ranges The air is
cold, the climate is subject to no ex-
tremes in summer or winter. The bottom
lands along mountain streams raise large
crops of hay and vegetables, the hillsides
provide good pasturage, the forests fur
nish fuel and material for building homes.
Once established in a mountain home.
man would lead a most independent life,
free from care and 'trouble.
l. man about to go into the mountains
to make his home SHOULD select place
| where there are a few acres of land level
enough to cultivate, and where water is
to be had the year round If he be far
from a sawmill he can build his first
dwelling house of logs and shakes, and
| this can be later replaced with a modern
| abode. Thus established he can raise his
own vegetables, his own butter, meat and
| honey, and can find abundant fuel at his
door. His chief expenses will be for cloth
ing, and the requirements of a mountain
life are not expensive in this respect. At
first 1t will bother him to make both ends
| meet, but after he is once established he
can manage to turn off every year a few
head of sheep or goats, few head. Of
cattle, and several hundred pounds of
honey. AS the country around him be-
comes we'll settled, as it will in the
natural course of events, he will have
good roads to market, and will find it
profitable to make butter and cheese.
| With pasture that is luxuriant nearly
twelve months. in the year, he will be
| able to produce butter at much less ex-
| pense than it can be done in the Will
lamette valley. Mountain honey brings
in the retail market so per cent more
| than valley honey, and there is always a
demand for it. The cost of keeping bees
| is nothing except the care they require
| If the settler has selected a piece of
land that has good timber On it he will
| be able in a few years to sell the stump
age to sawmill, and will thus be aided
| in clearing his land. The clearing process
will be slow on land that produces lumber,
but many tracts of land that are crossed
by mountain streams have groves OF alder
and other. trees that are more easily
grubbed out. 1t cannot be expected that
mountain ranch will be prepared for
grain raising in a year or two, or that all
WI h4 41~
Dairying will be the industry of our
mountain regions, as it is the source of
livelihood of the people who have made
prosperous homes in the mountains of
Switzerland.
| With careful management which is es-
sentlal to success anywhere and in any
occupation, the settler can in few years
build up home where he can spend the
remainder Of his days in comparative
ease. From spring on the hillside he
can lay pipes that will conduct pure, cold
water to every part of his house, and he
will have no water rates to pay. Unlike
his city cousin, he need not stint himself
on wood by using an unhealthful heating
stove, but can fill his fireplace with huge
blocks of wood, which he will enjoy see
ing burn, for wood is overabundant
Under the Oregon system of public
school maintenance, the country schoo
has the. advantage in the distribution o.
where. three or four families are gathered
can have its common school. While al
first the settler will be five to fiftee1
miles from postof1ce, he will soon have
a rsemi-weekly mail and later dali!
mail. 1t is, indeed, sparsely-settled re-
gion in Oregon that does not have it
daily mail service. .." .."
The rapid life, such as the Yanke.
usually desires, is not to be found in the
seclusion of a mountain valley, wher,
the ways of nature prevail but the life
possessing the essentials Of happiness
health, peace and competence are Their,
to be found with comparative ease. Ant
there is an abundance of land which will
furnish such homes. The mountainou
area of Oregon nearly equals the noun
famous area of Switzerland, and, exclu
: sive of the forest reserve not now opel
to settlers, IS half as great. The Coas
Range mountains, which offer the great
) est Inducements to settlers, extend from
the Columbia river to the California line
: in Oregon, and have been settled in Blu
few places Southern Oregon, having tn
greater area of unsettled region, offer
probably the greatest opportunities 70
homeseekers, and yet desirable homes TO
the bona fde settler can be found at al
} most any poiRt in the long range of for
} est-clad mountains. -