Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1911-12-07
Communication
Ashland, Oregon,
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.Novs29. 1871

il am glad .to-;;..yasit -tn,yS-tt- of
the. courtesy Of ;tllesgsas wspaper
page in orderro reacH you, as
1t Is. NOT p ,ssIble 10 A'rite let
tiers to ! GU all. l haHe delay
ed writing through 4he press
as that would reach#so many
and | wished to be Wal inform
led before committing myself
in this way. 4
Ihave now been here two
months. Mrs. Mac Allister
and Donald came a month earl
Ter in order to be in time for
the opening of the public
schools
First you will want to know
about the climate. During
September, I am told there
were about four rainy days
which were much appreciated
after the long dry season. The
first two weeks Of October Were
fine Then we had some very
chilly rainy days =thermome-
ter probably about s3S to As
but to usit seemed much colder
than those figures would be i'm
Iowa. I suppose the greater
chill is due to the elevation
here-2O0O feet above sea level.
Following these chilly DAYS,
we had fine weather until the
second week of November
when we were surprised one
morning by two inches of snow
and a freezing temperature.
Since then the weather has
been fine. Many DAYS you
would call perfect" Much
like our "Indian Summer" in
Iowa. Occasionally there was
day when fog was blown in
from the Pacific and those were
chilly.
There are many here who
have come up from various
parts of California and they
seem to like the climate better
than further south. | walked
down town one day with a law
yer who seemed a man of good
Judgment. He told me he had
lived in this western country
for 40 years. Had travelled
much in it been in California;
various parts of it, nd up to
Vancouver Had np(particular
reason for living here, only
that ne preferred it to any
place he had lived in and re-
turned to it after an absence
once of eight years.
AS to scenery, we. are sur
rounded by mountains The
Cascades on one side OF us and
tSiskiyou on the other he
Rogue River Valley at Ash
land is not wide so that there
is not great space for ranches,
but there are some very fine
ones here, and the foothills are
being cultivated increasingly
and it is said with success.
The price of land is high. l
have not heard of any unculti-
waited land lower quoted than
$3.50. per acre, and bearing or
chards run from $3.50. to $500,
! per acre. Peaches, apples and
pears are the preferred crops.
They say the land is too valu-
able for raising potatoes.
These are shipped in by the car
load. Some excellent sorts are,
however, grown in this Valley
and | am told two crops per
year can be secured.
Ashland is verypretty little
city of 5000 population. Il
seems to me to have too many
stores when one considers the
country tributary to it. The
stores are good. There are
several fine dry goods stores
with large stocks, and about
eight grocery stores. possibly
no The climate attracts bust
ness men and when they come
they seem to hold on, but | do
not think they are making
money. | d. not notice much
competition in prices. | think
there is an agreement among
the merchants each to take
what trade he can get without
cutting prices.
We have three handsome
school buildings. The new high
school building, which with It's
large campus cost about $500,
600. was dedicated last week.
The interest shown by the citi-
gems was excellent. Stores
were generally closed from |
It'll 4 .. M, and "The Whole