The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-02-11
HuSum Visit Described


Henry" strain has written the follow
ing about visit with friend at Hu-
sum:
A short time ago |, whose name
might be Old Jack Billson or most any
thing else, received very kindly invi-
tation to visit some very worthy
friends over in Husum, Wash. ! was
met at the Underwood landing by our
old friend, Roy Cohoon. who has been
having very serious time this winter
with rheumatism, but who is around
again and amply able to do full justice
to his three hearties per day, and who,
by the way, is one of the very best
men in about 40 states. | soon discov-
cred. however. that his former capacity
for truth and veracity had not been
impaired in the least by his late i'll
ness, and that the usual amount of
deviltry seemed to be oozing out of
him at every pore.
We drove out by waysof the big dam.
which looked to me to be about 10 or
20 feet high, but which Roy assured
me was two or three hundred feet
high, and that the pond which looked
to be about 80 feet wide, was several
hundred feet across, and upon my ask
ing about the fish in it he solemnly as
sured me that there were fish in that
pond as long as from my house to the
barn. Now the distance from my house
to the barn is about 400 feet, but as
knew Roy's reputation for truth and
veracity. especially when talking about
fish, | never doubted his word in the
least, but on telling the children .about
it after | came home my youngest son,
who is somewhat of an amateur nim-
rod, remarked that he did not believe
that he would care to 60 to Husum,
and when | asked why he said, "I'd be
afraid some of them big trout might
swallow me, and then added, When
they dive to the bottom there must be
about 200 feet of the tail sticking up
out of the water" | saw that he was
becoming critical and sent him about
his business with the remark that he
had yet much to learn about fishes, and
that anyway he should not be too criti-
cal about the remarks of professional
fishermen who we're supposed to know
what they were talking about.
But | am getting away from my
story. We reached Husum in time,
where as the guest of Roy and his es-
timable wife, | enjoyed very pleasant
visit. Husum is a lively little town
much bigger than Hood River was in
1882. 1t lies on both sides of the White
Salmon river, one of the most beauti-
full mountain rivers in land of beauti-
ful streams, whether its fish are as big
as Cohoon said they were or not. The
town is situated in a basinlike valley,
where the country breaks away into a
series of rolling hills, much of which is
cleared and planted to apple trees, not
irrigated, but which looked thrifty and
healthy and though the ground was
covered with snow, was able to note
that the soil was of light, fine clay
much like that of the best apple sec
tion on the east side of Hood river.
ssThey do not irrigate their trees, and
that was the most disappointing feat
ure that | saw while there. | know
that the trees will bear and do fairly
we'll for series of years, perhaps 10
or Is, if well cultivated, for that class
of soil is very retentive of moisture
when cultivated. but cultivation does
not produce moisture, it only conserves
what is already there, and when the
trees get big they will draw out all the
available moisture before the crop is
mature and as you can't take some
thing from nothing, the crop is bound
to suffer. Now do not wish to dis
parage the country by these remarks,
but as an old son of the soil who has
always made living by scratching the
face of old mother earth, could draw
no other conclusions. However, | hope
that | may be wrong in my surmise.
The town has nice large hall for
dancing and other public entertain
ments, and while there we we're FORUM
ate enough to attend an entertainment
at the hall and heard some very fine.in-
strumental and vocal music, and also
met some very pleasant people while
there. The notes of little girls and
boys voices, who sang, still seem to
ring in my ears like the chimes of a
silver bell.
The most beautiful thing of all the
beautiful surroundings, except the la
dies, of course. was that clear rushing
stream dashing its clear waters over
the messy rocks and whirling away
among the overhanging trees. Upon
my expressing a desire to go fishing in
it, was Immediately invited by all the
handsome women of the town to stay
over and go fishing with them, but the
demands of that stern old task-master,
Duty, forbade my accepting so desir-
able an invitation, and reluctantly turn
ing my back on all their beauty and
the prospect of landing a 4O0-foot
trout, | again hied me across the
mighty Columbia with its immortal ca
dence of forever and forever" still
ringing on the breeze.