Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-15
illustration of the general increase Of
wealth in the valley.
Cooperation of the People.

A remarkable fact mentioned by Mr.
| Butler is that during this nine years nc
| mortgage has ever been foreclosed in
! Hood River valley, and he is confident that
| the remarkable record that has been made
! here. in that and other respects-the
growth of the population. the increase OF
wealth and the development Of the apple
industry may be attributed to the friendly
| cooperation of the people and their
| neighborly support Of each other. There
| have been the usual rivalries and jealous
| les between individuals and competing in
! terests, but everybody has worked with
zeal and sincerity for the general welfare
| And when a citizen has been unfortunate
| he has received the assistance and sup
| port that he deserves. The banking inter
| ests and men of means have been gen.
erous in extending credit and in loanine
money to newcomers who have bought
| land and set out trees, and have helped
| them over the non-productive period
| which occurs in the experience of every
| fruit grower while his orchards are ma
turing. This fact is confirmed by people
| of other towns who invariably cite Hood
River a model to initiate and attribute
Its extraordinary success to the friendly
feeling that has always been manifested
by the citizens toward each other and the
| team work of the business interests in
promoting immigration and trade and in
advertising the place.
A good many New York and New Eng
land apple growers have come out here
and have bought orchards. They stay
here during the summer. look after them
very closely and after selling their crops
go east for the winter.
The prices of land are fabulous. There
have been sales as high as $500 an acre,
and you could not buy mature orchard
for less thin 81 600 an acre anywhere.
Only the other day Willis Van Horn
Sold an eighty-acre orchard to II. G. Pc
tiers of Cincinnati for $4,000 This tract
| is covered with three-year old Spitzenbers
and NewtoWn sp!ppin trees and will not
| produce apples for at least two years,
| but considerable portion of it is plant
| ed to straw berries.
More Profitable Than Gold Mines.
1 have heard of was enjoyed by William
| Mason. a letter carrier in Portland. who
came here twelve years ago and bought
a forty-acre tract for $125 an acre A por-
ton of 1t was planted to Newtown pippins.
| and he added to his orchard every year
until he had the entire acreage in trees.
except little patch Of garden. He hired
man to take care Of the place, but
| used to come out from Portland in the
summer as often as he could to look after
It himself. During the last eight or nine
| years ne has averaged $4,000 year net
for his crop Of apples. and he has saved
more than $4,000 of this revenue and
| has it invested in securities.
Mr.. piping. a. Washington, D. c., boy
| and professional musician. who sang
| in the choirs of ST. Matthew's and ST.
Patrick's churches. and was a student
| of Dr. Kimball. took me around the val
| ley in his automobile. He told me about
| the different orchards that we passed
and about their owners, but nothing was
80 interesting as his own experience. He
| left Washington and came west on ac-
count of his health, settled In Portland,
where he taught music and sang in a
l,0S- IL =
him to take UP some outdoor occupation.
homestead. borrowed 81 900 of Leslie But
| tells me that he has made more than
| $4,000 clear money out of it,
Charles Mooney. who was station agent
OF the Oregon Railroad and Navigation
Company at Cascade Locks at a salary of
$40 month loaned Elisha Cooper. a
neighbor. $500 toe go into a mining
scheme. It failed and Cooper made over
to Mooney a tract of forty acres in the
Hood River valley to settle the debt
Mooney considered the money wasted
but when he got a vacation he went up
TO look at the land. He discovered that
his neighbors were making money from
apple orchards, so he cleared the place,
set out trees. and during the last five
years his net income from the forty acres
has averaged $1,000 a year. Only re-
Gently he was offered $500 an acre for
his farm.
L might give you several columne OF
similar experiences, which show that
Hood River apple trees are more profta-
BILE than gold mines.