Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-25

"Wheat crop attacked by rust in this year,
own5 to late rains
The big man of Oregon. in the flour
trade, Is Theodore B. Wilcox, who began
life as a clerk at Ladd & Tilton's bank In
1877 and Is now rated at million.
He now operates thirteen mills, the
largest of which is located on the east
bank of the willamette river opposite
Swan island, three miles north of Port
land. The large mill, called the Olympic,
when run to it's utmost producing capac-
ity. is capable of turning out 400 tons of
flour daily.
Water Supply
Portland is now noted for having one
of the best and purest supplies of water
of any American city, derived from a
stream called Bull Run, rising on the
northwest side of Mount Hood and caused
by the melting snow being filtered
through beds of fine gravel for about
seven miles
This water is taken out in pipes and
conveyed to Portland, where it can be
thrown on top of the high school. a
three-story building, erected about 210
feet above tide level and about 125 feet
above the city front, without the aid OF
an engine. Ben Holiday. who built the
Oregon & California road, had the Bull
Run land as part of his grant from the
United States for building the road.
When he became insolvent in 1878 he
owed his confidential clerk, Albert G..
| Cunningham, over $4,000, and gave him
land warrants for the amount. which
Cunningham located on this Bull Run
river. In 1887 Cunningham sold this land
to the city water committee of Portland.
headed by the late Senator H. w. Cor
bett. In two years from the time the city
became owner of the Bull Run works it
h do ra6, on, IA
water rates, bringing the present rate
down to about 50 per cent of what it was
under private ownership.
PortIand's Hotels
Portland's hotels are equal to any
others on the coast. In the last five
years, however, Los Angeles has made
slant strides to the front. and has now
probably the best on the coast. San
Francisco has the Fairmont, but not
much outside of that magnificent hos
telry. Hence say that Portland is ahead
of San Francisco In this matter, and on
par with Los Angeles. The principal
hotel, called the Portland, was projected
by Henry Willard who was compelled to
abandon 1t at the second story for the
lack of funds. After 1t had stood for
nearly seven years, Henry w. Corbett
got some men together and said to them:
You haven't got a hotel in this town
where one business man can go to meet
another at light. What you want is a
general rendezvous for all sorts of busi-
ness men. It's going to cost about s5Ov,-
900 to complete that Willard hotel and
finish it. You go ahead, and when YOU
have raised $250,000 let me know and I
will furnish the rest of the money" Re-
port has it that he had to put up $3S0,000
| to keep his share of the contract.
Since the Portland was finished several
new hotels have been built, notably the
Oregon, the Perkins, the Imperial and
| the Lenox. The Imperial fills about the
same position in Portland that the Hol-
lenbeck does here, while the Oregon par
allels the Hayward or Van Nuys
Export Trade
| Until few years ago all the grain ex-
ported from the Columbia river went out
on sailing vessels, but now the tramp
steamers carry over sixty per cent of
| it. At present there have been seven
steamers chartered to load grain, three of
which have already sailed The following
were loading and one or two of them may
have sailed by this time;
Name Flag. Tonnage.
British Monarch-British. 2.547
riberius-German ..........................2 2,703
Borderer-British 2,S55
Auchbencrag-B .................,..'.. 2,5s2
| Total ................. 10, ,627
| This is merely the registered tonnage
of these ships which will be able to
carry away at least $1,000 tons between
them. All these four ships are under
charter to one firm, Kerr, Clifford &c Co.,
which did not exist when l left
Portland in 1888.
| In addition to the four vessels above
named. the British steamship Indiavelli
of 1900 tons will be there to load some
| time in December. The Queen Louise,
another 5000 ton British steamer. left San
i Load In