Ashland weekly tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1919-1924, 1922-11-29

/, My position of enthusiastic booste
for every good things which ma
consistently be brought to Ashlan
. is TOO well known TO need persona
confirmation. AS is generally know
the writer built and operated tn
first cannery in southern Oregon
!, and when the Ashland Red Cros
, brand came on the market in tn
fall of 1901, there was no other can
merry between Eugene, Or, and Chico
Calf, distance of about 450 miles
We also enjoyed the unique distinc
tion of operating the Ashland can
merry for IL consecutive seasons. ant
we always made some profit even IL
the poorest seasons, working alst
with insufficient capital and undel
every imaginable handicap.
i At that time we sold nearly all the
pack to the retail stores of southern
Oregon and northern California, di.
rect, mostly on future orders taken
early each spring. The Ashland
canned goods had become so popular
locally by 1906 that the writer, by
making one short trip through
northern California and by mailing
out personal letters with price lists
in April each year, could by June l
have enough orders on hand to prac-
tically care for his fall pack, which
amounted to from five to ten thou
sand cases.
By 1908, the Ashland canned
goods had attracted enough atten-
tion that two Portland wholesale
grocery firms made bids to obtain
the whole pack, which later was
handled for two or three seasons by
a Portland jobber, but not with en-
tirely satisfactory results, which was
the fault of no one.
Furthermore, during the several
preceding seasons, numerous small
shipments of Ashland canned peach
es, pears, apricOts, berries and cher
ries had been made into Dakota,
Minnesota, to Louisiana, and even so
far as New York state, all of same on
the high local freight rate, but our
canned fruit was a revelation to the
eastern people and several repeat
orders came in spite of the high
freight rate. Two carloads of Ash
land canned peaches were sold lone
year to leading wholesalers in Chi
cago and there made a decided hit.
The Ashland solid pack tomatoes
always made hit wherever they
were introduced, and our canned
string beans grew constantly in
favor. Even the Ashland berries
seemed to be superior to other can
ned berries, and the standing of Ash
land canned cherries has always been
very high. The quality in our soil
and climate which imparts such de-
licious flavor to all our Ashland
fresh fruits seems to carry equally
with the canned product. 1t is a
well-known fact that Ashland fresh
cherries have on several occasions
been shipped without ice in open ex-
press cars as far as points in Dako-
ia and Texas, holding up fine. and
this very quality has much to do with
the superiority OF the canned article.
During my canning experience at
Ashland l placed considerable ton
mage of peaches and pears in cold
storage for periods ranging from
four to six weeks, and can say that
cold storage at Ashland means an
improvement in quality rather than
deterioration, and I believe it should
be considered as most important
adjunct in handling large pack and
in extending the season here in COM
mercial canning of high grade pears
and peaches.
Bartlett pears in California and in
the moist climate of the northwest,
when taken out of cold storage, go
down fast and have to be handled
very rapidly, besides there is more
apparent deterioration at other
points than at Ashland. The first
large lot of Bartlett pears handled
at the Ashland cannery out Of cold
storage was convincing and showed
remarkable results. When removed
from 40 degree temperature where
they had been held about five weeks
they were left for nine days In lug
boxes on the cannery porch in warm
Indian summer weather before they
were ready for canning, and the
quality could not possibly have been
better. There is also less coarse fl
ber, more fine grain and hold-up tex
ture to the Rogue river Bartlett pear
than any | have ever seen; 1t also