Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-08-28
The CORVALLIS BOYS.
And What They Are Doing
Seeing the Sights.

Thomas Whitehorn, the jovia
Corvallis man who, with Henr,
Gerhard, is still driving throrgl
Southern Oregon. enjoying pro
longed vacation, writes anothe
very interesting letter to th,
Gazette man. The same is giver
in full, since it is of general in
terest:
81 presume you will notice VIZ
have Travelled quite a distance
since I last wrote, and have foune
several towns.
We drove to Coquille from
Marshfeld and saw some of the
land on which they claim to grow
700 and 500 bushels of potatoes
per acre, but / think this must
be an off year, as we think the
;spuds will run about so bushels
per acre. They ask from 500
to $50 per acre for land.
From there we went to Bandon
which is a nice little place with
plenty of wind, match factory,
woolen mill and saw mill. We
then headed for Port Oxford, past
the Skies river, very nice drive.
There are only a few fish at this
time of the year. The land is
nearly all uncultivated and I
don't think it amounts to much.
Port Oxford is a very nice town,
one blacksmith shop, a little
store, a small hotel and very few
houses. ....--.-. .....-
We next went to Gold Beach,
where we expected to get shaved,
but we found it was the county
seat and nothing else. One
hotel, without boarders-as court
is not in .session-a little feed
stable, and I think the black
smith had left, so that shows the
prosperous eondition OF the place;
brt we got plenty of fish. We
went down on the beach aud
helped Hume's men pull in the
seine and got all we wanted.
There is cannery on the other
side of the river.
We went to Chetco, camped
half way at Pistol Creek, and
drove over one mountain about
20 miles. The people there call
it valley. One man owns 5000
acres, another 10, 900, and I think
the balance is owned by nonresi-
dents. But Chetco is fine little
city, with one store and no houses
at all. .ss59.. +.
We next went to Smith River
Corners. a very pretty little place
and some fine land around it,
with fne houses and barns, but
the bottom land is limited. Land
is 500 an acre and over, that is
the asking price. I can't say
what the selling price is, but I
should think some of il is not
worth 81 per acre.
Our next move was to Crescent
City. I think considerable
business is transacted there, al
though they have only 100 in
habitants. From there we pulled
out tor Grants Pass. Perhaps
you will not believe it, but we
drove so miles and saw only four
houses. The hills are all solid
rock. You could not keep a
goat on what we saw. The roads
were very good in California, but
when we came to the Oregon line
on the mountain we got it. and
got it proper all rocks and bould-
ers for nine miles. We were all
bilious On account of eating so
much, but that ride shook US up
so that we were completely cured.
Well, we finally landed in
Grants Pass, where William
Broders left US for home. From
there we went to Medford, which
is a good town, six new brick
buildings now going up.
From there our route led US to
Jacksonville, thence back to Gold
Hill. We intended to go on a
hunt with Jesse Houck, but I am
sorry to say that he was called to
Seattle by the death of his little
grandson.
We still find land 500 or more
per acre, lots of it for sale, but
little being sold.
Tomorrow we leave for some
~Ef.~p s>l~A~