Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1911-03-03
(By MILFORD Allen.)

"esteIu oregon, the SeOSrapDeT
changed the spelling of the word
Rouge, as applied to the stream that
finds birth on the green timbered
! slopes of the Cascades below Crater
lake, and after a short but turbulent
career pours its volume into the Pa
cific, to Rogue. The transition was
natural and unprecedented. The
Frenchman saw in the tints of the
water real or fancied resemb-
lance to the rouge of his sisters
handmade complexion; later corners
were impressed with the playful
ROBUSTNESS of a stream that exhib-
its all features of river character in
its length, the placid pool of the lower
reaches, the swirl of the eddy, the fall
700 feet of drop in one of it's miles
and then the beauty of its setting
gives it charm that is as exquisite
as it is Undesirable. To the lover
of the great outdoors the Rogue
breathes of fishing for trout and sal
mon that has no superior on the con-
tinent, and of tenting amid beau
teous surroundings, with the scent
of the oak, the pine, and the fir in
the air, and of game from the quail
and gray squirrel to deer and bear
so plentiful that the novice need not
return from the quest empty handed
But it is in the valley of the
Rogue as it figures as an asset in
the commercial world that the people
of today are becoming interested.
The Rogue River valley lies down
on the California line, separated
from that state by the Siskiyou
mountains, with the Umpqua noun
tains to the north, and the Cascades
and Coast Range to the east and
west, being hemmed in on all sides
by towering peaks, timbered and
snow-capped, giving the valley eli
matte conditions all it's own. Gil
mate, we are told, is what we have
with us all the time while weather is
what happens, and the Rogue booster
says his country is long on climate,
| but that weather seldom occurs. The
winters are mild, IS to 20 above zero
| being the lowest the old-timer will
talk about, and summer heat, while
occasionally up around the century
mark, is tempered by the breeze
from the mountains, and 1.-The nights
are always cool" Wind? That is
an element that can find no starting
place in the Rogue valley, and the
! trees grow upright and symmetrical,
without that pitch away from the di-
rection of the prevailing wind that
we find in a less sheltered country.
/ The valley proper has an average
width of about ten miles, and a
length of thirty, but in addition to
leys lying along the creeks and
streams that reach back into the
foothills, and that with transporta-
tion will likely prove as valuable as
the principal valley has already be-
come. The elevation is from 1000
feet at Grants Pass to 1000 feet at
Ashland Medford, which lies at
about the center of the valley, having
an elevation of 400 feet.
The rainfall of the valley Is an
average of 81 inches per annum
largely in the winter and spring
months, with an occasional furry OF
snow that does not lie long upon the
ground. To augment the light rain.
fall of the summer months the num-
erous streams, branches of the par
ent Rogue, are being requisitioned tC
supply water for many private and
public irrigation systems.
The Rogue, like the klamath, is
an old settled country, for sixty years
having yielded up an easy living fol
the farmers and stockraisers who
lived there in content. But a few
years ago it blossomed out as fruit
district, taking front rank in the pro.
ductlOn or apples, pears ana grapes
reaching out for, and grasping, too
; capital prizes at national apple
shows and fruit fairs. Two varie-
ties of apples, the Yellow Newtown
Pippin and the Spitzenberg, are be-
: ing planted in the main now, as
these reach the highest development
and command the best prices, but
several varieties of pear, as the
/ Comice, Bartlett, Winter Nellis and
d'Anjou, are giving the apple close
race for supremacy, and some of the
tales told of bank accounts made fat
by the product of few acres almost
shake ones belief in the veracity OF