The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1908-01-30
TRIBUTE TO
HOOD RIVER
STORY Is TOLD IN WESTERN LIFE
Marion MacRae Is the Author Of an
Interesting Article in that
Magazine.

Interesting Article in that
Magazine.
Among the msuy aliuring calls to
homesekeers which have gone out
from the great northwest in recent
years, nue strong, clear, true and in
sistent predoT mates. 1t is the sum-
mons of Opportunity to Oregon's
Garden of Eden - ~ aod Rive Valley.
No siren call j. IT.. hot an honest
importantly ~ n .tei.igant settler
to come iutu ,ni .n'liug valley of
plenty aud rg H. Jf NATURES prodi-
gality OF ,.,.. Aad be who an
swers II is ai@uys amazed and delight
ed to find what awaits him, always
acknowledging that the halt has never
teen told. The door is open and u
welcome every ready for the newcom
er, and while it is only one of many
garden spots in the Arcadia OF the
Pacific Northwest, its staunch end
sturdy citizens feel that it is the best
and want the whole world to know
about its wonderful production.
Small iu area, phenomenally rich in
soil, blef ed with climatic
conditions which hring health and
wealth alike and surrounded with
magnificent scenery equulled in but
few places in the world, enc instinc
lively feels that God smiled more be-
ni9nly on this valley than elsewhere
And whom man comes down from the
heights of the artistic in nature to
oommercialism and compIehends wha.
mere "patches" of this wonderful soil
will do for him In dollars and cents,
he Is more convinced than ever that
it 10 spot blessed among the blessed.
For Hood River Valley is the home of
the big red appie-the apple that has
broken the worlds record for quality
and price 1t is the valley whose Or
chard productions are known through
out continental Europe and in far
away Siberia, China and the Philip
pines. and while 1T is insignificant in
size compared with the vast area of
tie great state of Oregon, 80 famed
are its products that buyers come
from these distant countries anl offer
record breaking prices for its bount
eous and perfect crops. But first
something of the location OF the fruit.
buyers Mecca-then of it's productive
ness.
East from Portland, 65 miles, the
turbulent icy waters of mountain
stream plunge into the placid depths
of the great Columbia. This is the
Hood River finding its source In the
perpetual SHOWS and glaciers of Mount
Hood whose $1,000 feet of virginia.
majesty rise from the Cascades %
miles to- the south The valley
through which this little river forces
its way from Mt. Hood to the Colum-
bia lies in the heart of the Cascade
range as though great hand had
parted the steep mountains to allow
the magic of the sun full scope, and
viewed from distant heights looks for
all the world like blue-green rift in
an inverted bank of beautiful clouds.
Its average width is six miles and
perpetual snow line is only 26 miles
south fiom it's gateway, but withal it
$1,000 acres of the finest
fruit land on the face of the Zig green
earth, and the small proportion of it
now Ia bearing orchards has made
fortunes for those whose intelligence
and industry have brought ii to the
top notch of production. In past ages
this beautiful sncw mountain from
which river, valley and town takes
name, was formidable volcano belch-
ing forth lava and volcanic ash to the
desoation OF a then desolate land. Ia
this age the flies have gone and the
bare mountain sides have been cover
ed with mantle of perpetual white; ;
the ash and lava beds have decompos-
ed, and with the never failing water
supplied by the SHOWS of old Hood,
evolved into green orchards, waving
fields and imposing forests. lt has
been a good many years since the first
orchards we're planted In the Hood
River Valley. and the pioneer settlers
have long been convinced that 1t
would become what it is today one
of the most celebrated fruit sections
OF the world. Years of experiment
br fought out the fact that the apple
could be raised to greater perfection
as an orchard fruit and the straw
berry as small fruit than other va
rieties ana the result is that practic-
ally all of the growers in the valley
pull together and produce enormous
outputs OF apples and berries. The
result is that Eeing able to buy in
car load lots, big firms offer higher
prices for the crops, and it is always
so salable that the supply has never
reached hall the demand. The hig-
gest apple firms In the world has stat
ed that 1t the entire $4,000 acres of
orchard land In the Hood River Val
ley was brought into actual bearing it
alone could handle all of the output,
so great is the demand for such per-
feet truit as is sent out from that sec
tion. With this assurance that there
will never be an over production,
both new aud old settlers puts his
scientific thought and closest alton
tion on the proper culture Ut these
fruits, with the results already known
world wide popularity. A soil onaly-
sis shows three elements which 90 to
the production of firm and we'll color
ed fruits-potash, nitrogen and iron.
With this soil, the cold nights pro-
deuced by the adjacent snow modn-
tains, floods of hot sunshine during
the days of formation aud ripening,
confined With the intelligence and
never falling energy Of the orchard
lists, Uood River Valley stands today
the banner fruit section of the world
and offers friendly challenge to all
other sections to ecm )ete with her.
The highest prices ever paid for ap-
pies have gone to her and the greatest
records tor perfection and keeping
quality aie also hers. Other fruit
sections of the county have ATTEMPT
ed to "talk back" to Hood River by
maintaining that they have Just as
good soil aud climate and can there .
fore raise apples "iust as good. u
And Hood River always says: "lhen
why don't you do itY" Right here ID
the secret God hns furnished the soil
and climate and water. but man must
do the rest, ami in Hood Rivel man
thoroughly understands this aud j:
co stently ap aud doing There is &
spirit 9f pull together, best or none,
there that h,s resulted Ia the valie,
ncchpging the front pew In the fruit