The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1918-03-21
TWENTY YEARS IN
NIOSIER, 1S93-19l3



In my former communication | at
tempted to cover only the occurrences.
as | remembered them in about the
town" Of Mosier during the first ten
years Of my residence there, SO that |
will now have to attempt to cover the
surrounding country as l remember II
during that same period.
The fruit industry at the beginning
of this period was not DEVELOPED as il
is today The principal fruits grown
were prunes, cherries, plumS, and a
few were growing apples without the
use Of spray and the results were far
from satisfactory. the larger per cent
Of the product being wormy. AT that
time these engaged in growing these
fruits were Amos Root, Geo. Sellin-
ger, Lee Evans, J. NJ. Elliott. Jas. l..
Brown, Samuel Husbands and son.
Wm., Louis Davenport, Me Dichten.
muller and L. Lamb
In the fall of 1894 the writer bought
Of Wm Husbands 400 boxes Of I'M
packed apples at 40 or so cents per box
grown on the place now owned by your
popular manager of the Mosier Fruit
Growers Association, K. d. Chatfield
Prominent among the farmers who
at that time were not in the fruit in
dustry but engaged in general farming
and stock raising, 1.-THE country at that
time being an open rangel, | might
mention j. II. Mosier. who in addition
to owning the Mosier Donation Land
Claim, also owned the Marshall Dona-
tion Land Claim, now owned by the
East Hood River Fruit Co, also the
property now owned by L. l.. Mcken-
ma. Mr.. Mosier. being the first settler
in the country, had gone into the stock
business and at one time the cattle
upon thousand hills" covered with
bunch grass, were his. Others at the
period so engaged We're VIM. Mcclure,
Sr., and his two Sons, Thos. j. and
VIM. L. Mcclure; Robert Dunsmore,
Mathew Thiel and his brother, Hub
bard; Frank Lapier; N. p. Sturgess
Geo. ireland V. c. Young; W. A..
Stark, Mrs. N. Bowman: Reece Pra-
ther, Mrs. Huskey; w. E. Huskey
and our old friend, Mr.. Meeks with
his two sons, Stephen and Thomas
John Evans and Mr.. Godbersen. j. N.
Watt and X. F. Hardwick were at that
time employees of the 0. r. 4 N. Co.
in the b. 4 b. Dept, but their fam
lilies were on the farms. These and
possibly some that have overlooked
or forgotten, besides quite a number
of homesteaders, made up the princi-
pal part of the farming population at
the beginning Of this period
About this time or soon after, others
now prominent in Mosier affairs began
to arriYe and buy, or locate on govern.
ment land. Among such note my old
friend and your worthy councilman
from the "Steenth ward, G. j. +.
Carlson A. l.. Lundborg; j. ?. Car
roll and his two sons, Geo. L., and
Jno. NJ. Hill Hunter, father of your
efficient postmistress, and his brother,
f. NJ. Hunter; the two brothers of
your 'old timer" Lee Evans, Dick and
VIM. Evans also the father of these
prominent Mosier citizens. Your old
time citizen, G. r. Wood, was also on
his homestead on Little Mosier.
Old Mr.. Wyss with his boys, Gerald
and Arnold, were holding down claims
on Mosier creek.
1t was along toward the close Of this
period that the growers began to wake
up to the possibilities of apple cul-
ture.
Some of the growers and shippers of
Hood River Valley who had been en-
gagged in berry culture, discovered
that with modern methods of cultiva-
tior saro,fit,o ap1 thprouCh : orunpiz . q .
tion, putting out an honest pack, they
could beat the world in the production
Of certain varieties of apples such as
the Spitz and NewtOwn. So thorough
ly did 1hey carry forward the project
that by advertising and thorough or
ganization they established market
that netted the grower. if ! remember
correctly, about So. Is for exrta fancy
stock.
Taking advantage Of the opportun-
ity to exploit the only place on earth
that could produce such apples at such
prices, the wide awake people of Hood
River engaged in this business created
such demand for orchard land that it
advanced to unheard Of prices and
everyone from the lady stenographer
to the staid lawyer and doctor went
crazy on the orchard question, and you
could sell land sight unsen in the fruit
section for any old price that your con
science would allow you to ask.
And so ended the first ten years OF
my experience at MOsier.
TO be Continued
When in Portland stop at the moderl