Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1904-08-05
WOULD OPEN RICH COUNTRY

WOULD OPEN RICH COUNTRY
Having successfully solved the
problems of water works, city sewer
age, rail connection with the great
timber belt to the West Of us. and
having many important manufactur-
ing enterprises under way, the time
has arrived when Dallas should turn
her attention to other public move
ments that will add TO her commercial
welfare. Important among these
movements is one to improve the
wagon roads already leading into the
CITY and to secure the establishment
of new roads that will open up the
great undeveloped region lying be-
tween Dallas and the Pacific ocean,
thirty miles to the West.
While no county in Oregon has
greater agricultural resources, the
people of Polk county are keenly
awake to the fact that their greatest
future wealth and prosperity will
come with the development Of the
lumber industry and the consequent
opening to cultivation of the vast
tracts of land now heavily covered
with timber In the fertile valleys Of
the LaCreole, Luckiamute and Siletz
rivers are thousands of acres Of as
fine agricultural and grazing lands
as can be found in the United States,
and the day is not far distant when
this vast region will be filled with
prosperous and contented people.
The lumber industry in Polk county
is still in its infancy, yet there is not
one of our citizens but fully realizes
that it is right now one of our great
est sources Of prosperity. The indus
try is destined to rapidly increase in
Importance in the next few years, and
the time is coming when nearly every
country in the world will be looking
to the Pacific Coast for its timber sup
ply. The forests of the Coast range
will add millions of dollars to the
wealth Of Polk county, and when the
lumber supply is exhausted a still
more important and permanent devel-
opment will follow.
AS rapidly as the timber is cleared
away, the country will be settled by
people who will engage in stock rails
ing and dairy farming, and the soil
will be made to produce fruit and hay
and grain aud other crops, to whose
growth the greater portion Of it is we'll
adapted. Railroads aud wagon roads
built into the timber regions for
the purpose of transporting lumber
and logs and mill supplies will then
become commercial roads and will
afford the farmers a means Of convey
ing their products to market. Towns
that are built up by the lumber indus
try will be permanently supported by
prosperous farming communities.
This is the condition that exists today
in Michigan and Minnesota and
Wisconsin, and it is only reasonable
to predict that the experience of these
states will be repeated here in Oregon.
The towns or cities that foresee these
conditions and prepare for them will
De the ones that will reap the greatest
benefits. Dallas has already made a
good start in this direction, by aiding
in the construction OF a railroad into
the Coast mountains, and by using
her influence in helping to secure the
wagon road from Falls City to the
Siletz Basin.
When Polk county opened the Rock
Greek road few years ago, the Court
was severely criticised by u few short
sighted people who had no conception
of the great natural wealth of the
Siletz Basin. 1t was asserted that
Polk county would never get enough
taxes from Rock Creek precinct to pay
for building the road. Time has prov
ed the wisdom of the course pursued by
the County Court, for the Rock Creek
country now pays more tax into the
county treasury each year than a half
dozen roads would cost.
The OBSERVER believes that it would
now be a good move to agitate the
building Of wagon road from Dallas
directly across the mountains to the
mouth Of the Siletz river. Such a
road would open up a rich country
and, eventually, would add greatly to
Dallas prosperity. The distance to
the ocean by this route would be less
than As miles, and the cost of the road
would not be great. Men who are
familiar with the country through
which this road would pass, say that
no heavy grades would be encountered
and that no expensive bridges would
be necessary.
From Dallas to the forks of the
LaCreole, a distance of Is miles, there
is already a fairly good road, there