, 1904-12-31
CITIZENS
DISCUSS The FUTURE
Continued from page p

S''f ~ e'' 49, 49,
which may be of some encouragement
to the farmers and stockmen that W,
have now in our county and those whit
! are inclined to take up the agricultu
raj business. Many of them think tina
the distance that they have to hau
grain makes a hardship on them. II
gon. in order to buy what | wanted tC
buy. | was compelled to take team!
and buggies and go out into the coun
try for a distance of a hundred miles
away from the railroad. On one par
ticular occasion | went into the Wal
low valley, nearly siXty-five miles from
the nearest railroad station. To my
surprise. ! am safe to say that met
at least one hundred teams. loaded
with fat hogs. wheat, oats and barley,
on the way to the railroad for the pur.
pose of shipping. The thought occur
red TO me, if II skeptical people here
had to encounter such disadvantages
as these people had to encounter. what
under the heavens would ever become
of us,
Finding these facts existing out
there Cause me to inquire, wherever
| stopped and wherever ! had time,
what lands were worth in that section
of country. and in on instance did any
body price lands for less than $50 per
acre and more of them as high as 500
per acre. asked men if the lands
were not too high, considering the dis
lance that they had to haul their pro
ducts. and in every instance they
thought they were holding their lands
too low and were looking forward to
the time when they could get double
that amount.
Another thing hat may be of interest,"
to sheep and cattle men of this county,
who draw upon their imagination that
their hardships are great and many,
the people there who are engaged in
the sheep business are compelled from
necessity. from the want of sufficient
feed on the ranges, to feed every 1000
sheep from 100 to 1875 tons of hay. IA
a cost of from s. to 81 per ton in the
stack, saying nothing of the expense
of feeding this hay out to their sheep.
While | am on the sheep question, !
will make a comparison. In no in
stance, barring myself. does any sheer
man in this county. or ever in this
state, so far as my knowledge goes.
prepare to feed over so tons of hay to
every 1900 sheep and during many
winters never feed a pound of haN
These things being true. why is it
today hat people put such a low esti-
mate on our agricultural and hay lands
in this county? | am positive hat we
can raise a better quality of wheat,
oats and barley than they a possibly
raise and yet, | met one mar in Ore
gon that had accumulated two and a
half millions of dollars raising wheatin
the last twenty-five years. They never
pretend to market any sheep or cattle
that are fat. in any of our eastern mar
kets. On the other hand, we make he
finest fat sheep II the very best cat
lie. which was demonstrated by the
car of cattle that | had on exhibition
at the International Live Stock show,
that closed on the 3rd of December,
1904, that won a prize against the corn
fed cattle and sold for twenty-five cents
rer hundred more than the same cat
tie that won prizes that had been fed
ed that my cattle had less waste to
them and were fatted just right. All
of this was done on our native hay
and our native grasses.
One thing that surprises me is that
the people in this county have got such
a low estimate on the price of their
lands. | am satisfied were the people
| of this county to travel east or west
| and understand the disadvantages that
the stockmen have D labor under. and
the prices that they get for their stock
that every stockman and ranchman in
ALBANY county would come back and
raise the price of his land 800 per cent
over what it would take to buy it
today, and in my opinion would be per
fectly justified in doing so.
Now. there are some reasons why we
are not better situated, some of which
| think | have solved. To show the
unity and harmonious feeling that *,
lists among the ranchmen and stock,
mel of Idaho and Oregon, every one
| OF them to a mar is trying to help his
neighbor. There is no selfishness and
I never heard, while | was in the state
of Oregon, n man speak i'll of his
neighbor. To illustrate this. they have
| got the best system OF telephones in
every little farming district and in ev-
| cry stock raising country in the whole
state of Oregon. | went into a little
town called Enterprise. Oregon, got up
before daylight one morning and wen
out to see a band of sheep ar
them by the time thu
| der a promise
keep the price
his neighbors. al