The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-12-09


low tree. The COW then turned her at.
tention to the flour bag, making wild
hooks at it with her horns. Flour,
however, was too precious for cows,
and We drove her away as quickly as
possible.
when spring came you may guess
we we're all ready to leave. but the
faith of those women held u.s."
For the next 25 years, according to
Mr.. Turner, settlement in the Hood
River valley did not prorgess very rap
idly:
81 know of at least 80 families who
came, fingered q while and then went
somewhere else," he says. 1.-THE real
development Of the valley did not begin
until about rs years ago, after David
Sears and J. c. Porter, the pioneer
East Side orchardists, had planted a
large tract of commercial apples. T.
R. Coon, too. had given the valley a
boost by demonstrating that strawber-
ries could be grown here successfully.
"The pioneer settlers in the Upper
Valley" says Mr.. Turner, "were An
drew H. Tieman land Mason Baldwin,
who took up land in the mead0wland
country of that region and began stock
raising"
MIR. Turner was married March IS,
1866. 81 cooked my own wedding din.
ner, she says. land it was good din
ner, too. il l do say it myself. The
minister, Rev. Thos. Ramsdell, had to
walk a part of the way to my Odell
place, where my bride. Mandy j. Neal,
and her family had assembled, on skis.
The next day | went out and began
grubbing bushes on my homestead
As soon as my wife had finished wash
ing up the breakfast dishes she Joined
me and burned the brush while grub
bed. You see, pioneer wives helped all
they could"
Three sons and a daughter were
born to this hardy, pioneer couple.
Following the death of his first wife
MIR. Turner was married again l9 years
ago, his second wife being Laura E..
Frost. MIR. Turner has now retired
from active business life. He and his
wife reside in this city.
MIR. Turner devotes his time to the
protection of songbirds and to his gar
dens. He delights in getting a crowd
of children around him and telling
them of the joys the birds will bring
them, and many local lad has learned
from him not to molest the robbins and
blue birds that come here in spring
time to build their nests. Mr.. Turner
usually has the first sweet corn in the
valley.
81 have been amused the past year, +"
he says, lover all this talk about the
possibilities of corn raising in Hood
River. have known for so years that
Hood River would grow fine corn.
bought 10 pounds of ear corn in The
Dalles 80 years ago, paying a dollar
for it. ! planted the seed, and since
that time ! have not been without
corn, and plenty OF it. My neighbors
always used to grow it. In the early
days we hauled oui grist to the old
HARRISON mill on Neal creek. | have
seen wagon loads of corn brought from
Mosier to be made into meal.
MIR. Turner carries his 79 years we'll.
His life has been one of temperance
He is one of the Oldest members of the
Asbury Methodist Episcopal church in
the city, having. become a member OF
this faith in California almost 60 years
ago.
MIR. Turner fs an optimist, and likes
to leave smiles. He is a musician, too,
and pioneer meeting is never COM
plete until after MIR. Turner has rem
dered some old time melody on his be-
loved fiddle. At recent pioneer re-
union some one mentioned the quest OF
Ponce de Leon for the fountain OF
eternal youth. E. L. Smith. another
Hood River pioneer, was still smiling
at the rendition of "The Arkansas
Traveller" by MIR. Turner on his violin,
and speaking quickly he said:
"Ponce de Leon did not come far
enough west. That fountain, l think,
is located up here on Davy Turner's old
farm"