The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1907-01-11
ATHENA.


opportunity to say something good of a
town or locality in which his popular
and influential magazine circulates.
In the current number he thus speaks
of Athena:
In the midst of the very richest of
the wheat raising lands of Umatilla
County, Oregon, lies the beautiful and
attractive city of Athena, which boasts
of about 1, 200 population and is sit
uated about seventeen miles from Pen
dleton, the county seat. 1t is located
upon the Washington & Columbia Rail
road about 33 miles from Hunts juno
tion, now Alfalfa; fourteen miles
from Pasco, Washington. 1t is also on
the Washington branch of the o. R. &
N.
Athena is one of the best points up
on the line between Walla Walla and
Pendleton, and boasts of strong bank
| and general commercial Institutions.
Here is located large Touring mill
the Preston Parton Milling Co-which
grinds annually the marketable output
of this part of the country and consumes
all of the wheat sold at this point.
This mill will grind over 100000 bu-
shells of grain this season and is a
great coon to the commercial interests
of this place. Because of this mill
the farmers get from one to three cents
more bushel for their grain than they
would were they compelled to ship it
out to other points.
The farmers here engage almost ex-
olusively in wheat raising, but corn
and hogs form substantial part of the
ranchers' income. The wheat yield
for 1908 of the country directly tribu-
tary to Athena is about 272.00O sacks,
or 100000 bushels. Herewith is pre-
sented view of fifty horsepower
steam combined harvester and thresh
er as it was photographed operating
on George Perringer's Umatilla Re:er-
walton lands. This powerful machine
has daily capacity of quitting, thresh-
ing and sacking fifty acres of grain,
averaging from thirty-five to forty
five bushels to the acre. AS will be
seen, the machine merely cuts off the
upper part Of the stalk-that which
contains the berry.
The schools and churches of Athena
are we'll worthy of mention-the
schools maintaining an excellent high
school course and the churches here
mum bering among their edifices two
magificent structures, of $4,000 and
$4,000 cost respectively.
The people of Athena are enterpris.
ing and public-spirited. The city pre-
sents prosperous and inviting ap-
peaIance. its clean and we'll built
business blocks and the cosy and we'll
kept homes which compose the resi-
dence district make it a place to be
desired. The stores carry varied aud
complete stocks of merchandise and as
a trading center the city is the choice
of large area of the country. The
prosperity of the farmers makes the
prosperity of this place.
One evil. however, which will mean
good in the days to come when others
will want homes and the land owl ners
can no longer hold on to what they
have, is that the country in this vicin-
ity is becoming depopulated, through
the operations of the bonanza farmer
@ho buys all the ground he can get
and holds all he can pay for, which
with the bountiful crops of the past
five years has meant great deal.
Death, however, will even up all these
absurdities and the foolishness of it
all will be very evident when these
men have passed from the scene of act
lou.
This wheat raising country is beau
tlful and chosen land and those who