Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-05-12
HEALTH and WEALTH
Albert johnson Gains Them in Or
chard Work in Ashland and
Tells the Story of 1t.
written for the Journal, by Fred
Lockley.l

(Written for the Journal, by Fred
Lockley.l
Strangers in Ashland often point
to beautiful new home on the hill
side overlooking the city and ask,
Whose beautiful home is that?" 1t
is the home of Mr.. and Mrs. Albert
Johnson and there is very interest
ing story connected with it. visited
Mr.. Johnson at his home recently
and together we went out on the
front porch. Below us lay the city of
Ashland and in the far background
Nat. Pitt, Mt. Ashland and the ever
green-clad Siskiyou mountains. To
the north and east stretched, mile af-
ter mile, the fertile valley of the
Rogue river with it's fields and or
chards and gardens. Come down
into the basement. This is my work
room and this is where spend a
great deal of my time" said Mr..
Johnson.
The basement was fragrant with
the aroma of the Bartlett and Winter
Nellis pears, of ounces and Spitzen-
berg and Newtown apples. =, Leaning
against his work bench, Mr.. Johnson
said: when man gets to be 60
years old or more and sees failure
staring him in the face it is a pretty
tragic thing. l am II years old now
and nine years ago l saw nothing
ahead of me but failure and defeat.
l had been groceryman all my life.
Nine years ago l was the owner of a
grocery store in Kansas City For
a year or two my health had been
very bad, my wife's health also was
poor and it seemed that all we could
make in the grocery business we had
to spend for doctor bills. Ill health
and the long hours of confinement
in grocery store, in connection
with the fierce competition, made
me determine to get out of the gro
cery business. Unless you have been
groceryman you have no idea of
the worry one has in that business.
Canvassers would come to my gro
Gerry store and purchase a few
pounds of my best grade of Mocha
and Java coffee. Using this as a
sample, they would go to all of my
customers and offer to sell coffee
like this for from 25 to 80 cents a
pound. AS my customers were pay
ing me 40 cents pound, very natur-
ally they secured orders from most
o. my customers. They would then
C. me to my store or go to some
other grocery house and purchase
coffee in bulk at from 12th to Is
cents a pound or secure Arbhekle's
coffee or some other cheap grade and
fill the orders they had taken When
my customers woke up to the fact
that they had been defrauded it was
too late to do anything.
Finally the work and worry oil
the business completely broke down
my health and l had to sell out. The
doctor told me that l would have tC
go to some health resort or l could
not live long. l started west with.
out any definite idea of where
should go. I stopped for a while ir
Idaho and while there someone spoke
of Ashland, Ore, as an ideal health
resort When I arrived in Ashland
l had just 400 left. After beins
in Ashland few days / determined
that here was the place that 1 would
make my home. I found four acrel
of fertile land on the edge of, towI
which l could get for $4,100.
bought it, paying the $1,4OO l hat
down as the first payment. This lef
me sick man with sick wife OF
a place with no money. However
there was fair house on the plac,
and in the purchase had been in
cluded part of the furniture, tn
farm tools, chickens and some stock
You will know how weak and sick
was when l tell you that | bough
16 cherry trees and it took me thre,
weeks to set them out. After dig
ging for few moments l would b.
completely exhausted and would hav,
to come in and lie down. NV wifi
and l both spent most of our tim
out of doors and our health begal
steadily to improve. Three month
from the time l came to Ashland
felt stronger than l had for 20 year
and was able to put in a prett
good days work. For the past min
, years have worked hard. but |
never seemer to me like work. Wit
, the exception of being little unde
the weather now and a cold that
, had which laid me out for a weeI
about four years ago, have had tn
best of health ever since l have bee
: here. My wife, too, entirely recoy