Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1909-07-07
HAPPENINGS ON THE ROAD TO THE BURNS COUNTRY

Harney County, July u l9U9'
In the first Seventy-fNe miles of our trip did not
counter any aka to speak Of All the cattle saw If
good condition We many herds of HerefOrdS and Dur
hams The sheep we're out of sight the higher ranges
Another name for the beautiful Beuab valley is Agency
yaIey-t should be Evergreen valley The big mountain Is
called Agency h after an Indian agency and school that was
conducted here for many years.
We reached DrewSey at p July |, and at $3.50 drove
out 10 get the Sinking Water range into the amey valley
staying at the Buchanan oadhouSe about thirty miles out Of
Burns, had had no sleep for foryeght hours but what
could snatch on the blackboard on mountain road and hit
the hay with dull thud The Sinking Water valley is about
5000 feet above the level The fossil indications are that
this is an oil country Like the farmers COW dog II ought
20 be good for something railroad through central Oregon
is likely to develop both coal and OIL D, M Watson of Port
and has paid great deal Of attention to oil fields and says
he confident Maheur and Harney will one day become one
OF the greatest oil fields in the United States An oil we'll IS
being sunk IN Haney county and four or five are being put
down in Malheur county,
WdeS The view from the tops OF these great baCkboneS
running across the state reveals thousands of square miles
OF elevated SNey peaks and pateaus Svey with SagebuSh
and aIka with limestone and chalk These vast regions are
mostly worthless for grazing because devoid of grass and
water un1habtabe because unproducVe OF grain and vege
tables and devoid of fuel What will become of this egion2
II will not even support graSShoppeS will remain desert
The Sinking Water ridge is about 1900 feet hgh or 1000
feet above the valley That irrigation and reclamation SyS
and power pumps will reclaim some OF these lands no one can
deny Supplied with wells or small reservoirs to get water for
Gatte t1e cattle business VIII be extended
band OF coyotes running rabbits on Niger Flat was the
lrSt Sound we heard day morning when the O'Clock call
came he sun started its daily illumination with great
SpokeS OF orange and azure blue in its chariot Wheels and
as IT'S S rays tipped the silver on the SagebmSh we started
on the long last run down into the lamey valley The ski
hours sleep the mountain road house after going without
Tor ory-egh hours was the sweetest have had in many
years and was alone worth the price Of the whole trip
Both Maheur and Haney county are to be COmpimented
ON keeping up good roads, Some OF the great climbs up and
down the mountains are really wonders of engineering in al
4 ill
derneSS
lhe second section of our caravan carrying Mr. Crimes
JACK om ana Lawrence came out OF DreWSey after few
N0uIS sleep IN livery stable hay-moW The town is Widel
open with Saloons poker games and cemetery for the name
eSS dead VINO are buried beneath unpanted poSS-the VIC
HmS 81 accidental gun-payS was the first touch of reaI
Ogh e we had OF this kind and the gang made good get
away where every saloon proprietor in the town offers you al
thing
At DrewSey the principal mercantile firm IS Porter MIrerI
Sz with Clarence Ddnkwaer as manager who IS no tender
Ool ana knows the country perfectly He is putting through
agood telephone Secea heavy cedar post set in the ground
WIN taperlng sawed pole SpICed on to carry the wire
Inc Hamey valley IS great expanSe of Sagebnsh with
mere ana mere elevations some almost mountains surrounded
by me PLAIN Here and there new farm house, with bamI
and windmill shows signs Of settlement All around rise the
low enclosing rum OF mountains All the east entrance we Seel
away or TO the south STEMS mountain covered with snow
DrWng hY miles along the north side of the valley to Burns
one gets conception OF the possibilities OF development OIL
course me waehoeS and creeks about all taken up and
he men pack OF the reservoir and storage ideas are Just COM
l1g INTO Inc ed Inc government engineering projects are
all very large and expensive So are the big capitalized con-
temS like the Brogan project on the Willows But he is taking
land worm Sl0 ar acre and making il worth $780, MANY
pretty irrigated patches OF land where two to four hundred
acres OF land are holding water right that ligaeS one OIL
Two hundred acres will day become reservoirs and supply
water to ten thousand acres with irrigation In place of one
his place will be bought up for reservoir dam built twenty
feet high the neck of the valley enough melting snow
and waste waters held up to ngae ten or twenty thousand
acres There are places around the Hamey VALLEY for hun