The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-05-06
Moorhead Department
OBSERVATIONS OF
UES1ER COUNTRY

HEAD PENS INTERESTING STATE
MENT oh HIS views or COUNTRY
BETWEEN HOME AND PACIFIC
CoAsT-FAcTs OBTAINED
After 81 stay Of about two months at
Los Angeles Attorney FWitheroW re-
turned a day6or two ago n agreeable
to promise he has. given out a state
inent of his varied observations sfor%the
benefit of the readers of The Forum
and those who know the thoroughness
practtced blythe writer in all that he
undertakes, know that statement
from him will be instructive at least.
The statement follows:
For, the of answering sue
cinctly and specifically the many in-
quiries which i had before leaving and
since returning as to real estate and
i business conditions In west, /
thought 1t easier to put my conclusions
In writing and hand them to YOU for
| publication. T. might say that the let
tiers of introduction which I carried
with me and the large number of per-
sonal friends and relatives whomtI vis-
tied gave me an excellent opportunity
to get accurate Information upon all
the subjects which / cared to inyesti-
gate, besides / examined great many
public records upon matters OF axes
and tax valuations, so that j feel that
the Information which I give you will
be fairly accurate.
ITO begin with, all of the lands west
of the Rocky mountains have been UNI
duly promoted by real estate Speculat-
ors and very few of them will return
al income upon the investments at the
present prices at which they are held.
This is particularly true of the fruit
| and irrigation projects. The usual real
estate promoters of these lands dilate
upon the possibility of a man earning
a living upon ten acres of this prop
erty and at the same time enjoying a
4 In f-cra q q ~ 1ntf " - FL nm Fart g 6Efr0aH ON
from labor in the pleasant sunshine and
/! climate of the west, while Nature caus-
es the fruits to grow wondrouslytbeau-
| tiful and wealth to drop into his lap
hammock, watching; the operations In
progress. But the reality lis that sub
stantially all of the lands which are
suitable for those purposes are entirely
worthless without water, and the cost
4 of irrigation oftentimes runs into
round, substantial figures. Then, the
/ work and labor Of planting trees and
caring for an orchard is very arduous
and difficult, so that instead of swing
ing inta$hammock the land owner is
! more likely to find himself with a pair
the operations of a stream of water
endeavoring to secure its even distri-
button over his ranch. Then during
the intervals he is busy spraying and
| pruning and in the fall marketing the
fruits, all upon a tract of land which
as one Dakota farmer termed 1T wasn't
large enough to turn a.. hayrack in.
| Then the. taxes n interest upon the
investment. amount up to sums which
are entirely unbelievable to a person
who hasn't had experience with that
class OF property.
What Records. show.
81 will give one instance copied from
the records. That of a ten-acre lemon
ranch. The real estate assessmentsWaS,
land $4,000; trees $T00;t buildings $T00t
rate of taxation 80 mills, or 39o; total
taxation, sos; almost S11 per acre.
Then / found others in 1.-The apple oq fnr
$500 an acre and the rate Of taxation
3 1-2% or sci per acre. In addition
to those taxes there are water rentals
ranging from $50 to SIS to be paid IN
addition. The profits are problematical
and speculative, depending upo the
Yields and the markets. Apples cost
about so cents per box to raise in the
trees and Is to II cents to box and
pack and if the orchardist%car1 succeed
in selling his crop for 81 per box or
better he can make q good. far proht,
but IL he should not succeed n selling
for that price, az many did not during
the past year. he would FACE something
of a serious loss as MS owl taxes and
operating expense must be borne con-
stantly as his entire orchard would be
ruined if it were neglected for a single
year. Then for prospective investors
in the raw lands for the purnoss ~
growing these fruits. At is sttn more
IL adFI1Sh d. VII j lIdpA tAANFa 49,
there is a great d~ifferenceIn the chem
ical constituents OF various soils lying
Immediately adjacent TO each other
and sometimes upon two plots 81
trees grown On will be an entire
failure while Upon the other, "a sue.
cess.
Apple Orchards.
Apple orchards are priced gentr-
ally from $500 to $1,000 per acre, while
orange and lemons run from $1,000 10
$500, depending upon conditions ard
the persons from whom they were pur-
chased. The cost of raising al acreHof
oranges or lemons is from $125 to $50
per acre for actual operating expenses,
taxes, and interest not included, me
yields run from zoo to 500 boxes per
annum of various grades and quali-
ties, and al constant variable market
price. AT 200 boxes there is a serious
loss In operating expense. At 800 boxes
good quality of oranges which are more
likely to be had in a large crop, there.
is a moderate profit. One of the best
growers whom i met told me that his
net profits over a period OF twenty
years had netted him about 500 per.
acre on the average, which he consid-
cred was bou 1875 onsS1,000 per acre,
but which would only yield AZ on
$500, at which many value their or
is made for the personal time and SUI
pervisioi1 of the owner, and there are
many who, through inexperience and
lackaof capital suffer serious losses In
the business.
City realty in aH the Pacific coast
towns is extremely high, being lrlduly
inflated through speculative buying by
eastern tourists who are commonly
termed '.suckers,a sof which one, real
estate broker, told me that they were
able to harvest q crop every day In the
year. AT the present time they are
stimulating many to buy under the
idea h values are going to be very
largely enhanced by thesopening of the
Panama canal, also they dwell elo-
quently upon the excellent climatic
conditions which prevail in that sec
ton of h country, statement which
i believe to- be correct, and they sue
coed in marketing blue sky and sun
shine forsEvery high prices, and sue
coed In gettingaa great deal Of real
advertisers and usually present things
so skiilfully to the attention Of the
irrespective buyer that the hands of
most of them seek&their pocket before
their Judgment has had time to- 3oper-
ate. 1861
washington and Oregon.
TN the western portion of Washing
ton&a oregon i found many excellent
dairying propositions, many of which
were successfu1, but as the land was
valued at $3.50 per acre, or t~hereaboutss
with no better grazing or marketing
conditions than there are here In the
He'd river valley. i did not see any
thing that Appealed to me sufficiently
to recominend TO n of my clients
who have not already purchased. One,
OF the few desirable investments which
L saw5Was that of some timber lands
-.1.. 49, 49, .,z1r ~ n II Ia q xri1 /, Or