Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1916-06-26
Most Wonderful
Thing Is Ignorance

"The most surprising thing to me
about your beautiful and wonderful
Ashland is that | had never hap
pened to hear of it before coming
down here" said Mr.. Noel Alymer
Dew, noted English writer and lum-
Der expert, who is making an ex-
haustive study of the timber re-
sources and numbering activity Of
Oregon for the "Timberman," a mag
azine published by the timber inter-
ests in Portland, Ore. This magnif-
icent monument to the human in
genuity, this wonderful natural park
made trebly grand by the hand of
man, is-but then you wouldn't
think ! was sincere should / describe
the effect which your city and park
and mineral waters have had upon
me-" At any rate what / can't see is
why, after spending all the money
which you must have spent in build
ing this. it is not backed up with
worldwide advertising"
Mr.. Dew spent a day and most of
a night in Lithia Park and leaves
Ashland booster for the park and
the mineral waters. The park he
proclaims to be one of the most beau
tiful he has ever seen, and he has
visited many of the old-world re-
sorts. The water he proclaims to be
an invaluable asset, one for which
the big English resorts would pay
millions if possible.
Mr.. Dew asked us If we knew that
65 per cent of Oregon's population
drew its income from the lumber in
dustry. We looked wise and admit
ted that we knew it, afterward cor
roborating the statement by refer
ence to the Oregon Almanac, which
is full of reliable data on such sub
jects. He then remarked that of this
number a great many worked in the
woods and in the end big majority
of them became victims to rheuma-
tism. gout and the like and sought
relief at Colorado Springs and other
resorts when right here at Ashland
they can find the very cures they
seek in the east "
Mr.. Dew says that while he is
down here supposedly to write only
about timber resources and activities,
he can hardly see how he is going
TO abstain from dropping in few
words about Ashland.
He surprised US quite little when
the talk turned to his ground, the
numbering industry. Upon inquiry
we hazarded the guess that there
were two and perhaps three sawmills
of small capacity running in the Vi
cinity of Ashland. He proceeded to
show us from his findings in the
short time he had been here that
there were six industries working in
lumber alone, and added that before
he left he would find anyway ten.
And we believe him.
Mr.. Dew is enthusiastic about this
work. He had but recently finished
a survey of the entire Oregon coast
country. Associates are doing Cali
fornia and Washington and he will
eventually go to Canada and Alaska.
The information secured is actually
first hand. The investigators see for
themselves, and the resultant data
will furnish the first really reliable
compendium of information concern
ing the lumber industry of the Pa
cific coast.
Drifting back to the Ashland
project, Mr.. Dew said he had received ,
a valuable object lesson that very
morning out at the government en-
tomological station. Out there he
was shown little tiny beetle with a
name as long as the first drink at !
Hornbrook. The "bugologists" told ,
him that this little beetles species
never worked alone, but would gath ,
er by the thousands upon thousands,
eating a ring around the bark of a
tree. The tree would be girdled in ,
a few hours and wound eventually ,
die. AS a lesson in cooperation Mr.. :
Dew says he believes any of us could I
gain much from study of this bee
lie. t