Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1911-02-07
POLK IS PROSPEROUS
HOLDS HIGH RANK AS LIVESTOCK
AND FRUIT COUNTY.
Forests of Douglas Fir Pronounced by
Experts to Be Finest i'm
Known World.
anniversary Number oregonian.

: NAHHlNSISdiy ANuUlDSF OTeSOHldH.)
: Polk County, which has adopted a
its slogan the Blue Ribbon County o
of the Willamette Valley. 1t lies ol
: the west side of the Willamette River
between Benton and Yamhill counties
; 1t contains about 700 square miles o
territory and is watered by numerou
rivers and creeks, chief of which ar,
mute Rivers, and LaCreole and Mil
Creeks. The Willamette is nayigabl,
for ordinary light draft steamers alonl
the entire Eastern border of the coun
ty.
The eastern half of Polk County Il
rolling land with low foothills between
the water courses. 1t is all choice
farming and fruit land and is in a higl
state of cultivation. The original do
nation claims of 800 and $40 acres are
steadily being divided into smaller
tracts to provide homes for a constant.
ly increasing population, with the re,
Esult that the land is receiving more
intense cultivation than it was posi-.
BILE to give it under the old order oi
things.
The western half of the county is
made up of mountains and foothills
with numerous small mountain val.
leys which are uneXcelled for richness
of soil. First come the foothills, COW
cred with a thrifty growth of young
/ fir and grub oak, but affording an
abundance of good stock range
throughout the year. West of these
foothills are the mountains proper
the Coast Range. Polk County extends
westward to the summit of this range,
and, in places, even beyond it to the
Pacific slope.
Timber Wealth Is Great.
Here are the vast forests of the
Luckiamute and the Siletz, famous the
world over as among the finest bodies
of standing timber on the American
continent. Here are trees measuring
from 6 to 70 feet in diameter and 200
| feet in height, with a distance of from
| 100 to $50 feet from the ground to the
lowest limb. Here are found single
trees containing $500 worth of lumber,
even at the present low market prices
prevailing in the West, 1t has often
been proved, by actual calculation,
that one of these forest giants would
| furnish sufficient lumber to build an
ordinary five-room dwelling and leave
the builder enough scraps to inclose
the dooryard with a plank fence.
The greater part of this timber is
Douglas fir, or Oregon pine,' as it is
known in the lumber markets of the
East and Middle States. In addition
to the enormous quantity of rough and
finishing lumber sawed by the Polk
County mills each year, many train
loads of poles and piling are shipped
from these forests. A large amount of
the piling used in the construction of
the Hartman trestle across the north
ern arm of Salt Lake was cut on the
headwaters of the Luckiamute River.
The shipyards of the Atlantic Coast
draw heavily upon Polk County tim
Der, the fir being unexcelled for masts
and spars
Other varieties of timber in these
mountains are larch, hemlock, cedar
and spruce. Large sawmills located at
Dallas, Falls City and Black Rock turn
out millions of feet of timber annually,
and logs from the Luckiamute are
hauled by train to the mills at New
berg and Salem every day. With all of
this activity, however the area of log
ged off land. as compared with the to-
tai acreage of timber is as yet very
small. The great timber belt of the
Siletz Basin has not been touched by
the woodman's saw. There is, how
ever. no timber land subject to entry,
the forests having been taken up by
settlers years ago.
Rich Agricultural Country.
Polk County, once exclusively a
wheat producing county. still furnishes
large supply of that cereal; in fact,
grain raising can still be said TO be the
principal industry. The yield of wheat
an acre ranges from Is to S5 bushels.
The soil is also well adapted TO the
growing of oats and barley. Alfalfa
is new crop and one that is rapidly
growing in favor with the farmers
Progressive ranchers in all parts Of the
county are experimenting with this
crop. and all express satisfaction with
the results. Three crops year are
harvested and the total yield reaches
an average of from six to eight tons
to the acre. besides furnishing a con-
siderable amount Of pasture for stock
during the summer. With the increase
in the acreage of alfalfa, hog raising
is now beginning TO claim the attention
Of the farmers, and many are the snug
bank accounts that are being accumu-
lated by men who are devoting their
energies to this combination. Many
farmers living in the river bottoms de-
clare that hogs and alfalfa are even
more profitable than hops. and hop
fields which have made fortunes for
their owners are being converted into
meadows.
Polk is one Of the important hop
counties Of Oregon. An enormous acre
age is planted to this staple and the
amount WA WANiANs +AbNNAAA AAAAN
county by the hop industry reaches in
10 hundreds Of thousands Of dollars
annually. The principal hop districts
are the valleys of the Willamette.
YamhW. IaCreoIe and Luckiamute
Rivers. A bale Of hops grown in the
Independence district was awarded the
gold medal az the Paris exposition.
Home Of Blootied Livestock.
No branch Of industry IN Polk Coun-
tv Is showing a greater or more profit I
able growth than that Of stockraising- .
Credit for this desirable condition is
due to a few farmers who pioneered
the movement for better flOcks and
herds By spending fortunes for biooded
breeding animals Grazing contentedly
in the pastures ~ Polk County are 20
be sen prize-uinning cattle. sheep. /
goats and swine from at of the great
livestock fairs held in the United
states and Canada. in the last decade I
POLK County is the home o a herd of
-.sr- r.-r.esrafaH direct from Jersey lzl- 7