The Hood River Glacier, Hood River, OR., September 20, 1895, page 2

OUR OAKS

     A recent visitor from the East who was in our office had much to say of the magnificent oaks trees which are so conspicuous in the yards and on the streets as well as the hillsides which form the background of our city. He considered them a great local attraction, giving the place an air of strength and beauty, and removing the raw aspect which so commonly belongs to new western towns. "We are spending thousands of dollars in Massachusetts," he said, "to preserve the elm trees of our cities and villages from the elm-tree beetle. Your oak trees, being native and hundreds of years old, will be the pride of your place as long as it stands." This gentleman is not the first who has made comments of this nature, and we were pleased to tell him that our citizens in general set a full value upon these ornamental trees and will not sacrifice them to any notion of mere utility. At rare intervals one of the monarchs goes down through the exigencies of the building lot, and we have heard a remark as to their being "too thick for city streets" on some of our suburban thoroughfares. But the public sentiment of Hood River will keep every tree now standing on the public domain, and the lots are of so generous dimensions that houses can usually be located so as to save the tree or trees, which increase so materially the value of any building site. Our old friend, Samuel Price, who is himself a lover of trees, tells a story of one of his neighbors in Salem, who when his house caught fire, insisted upon the fire engines playing upon his oak trees and letting the house go. "I can build another house," he said, "but no human power can a replace those trees in a hundred years." The GLACIER by its name is brother to the oaks and pines, and proposes to stand by them as part of its religion and good citizenship.

HOOD RIVER VALLEY

     In the heart of the Cascade mountains lies this beautiful valley. It extends from the Columbia river on the north to the base of Mt. Hood at the south, and both its eastern and western boundaries are formed by ranges of the Cascades. So completely is it hemmed in by mountains and river that only one public wagon road enters the valley from any other part of the state; almost the entire communication with the exterior world being carried on by means of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's line and the line of steamers plying up and down the river. In contour, the valley may be considered as a low plateau between the two mountain ranges, rising sharply from the Columbia river to an elevation of 300 or 400 feet at half a mile from the water's edge, and thence rising gradually, as one proceeds southward, till the snow line of Mt. Hood is reached, at a distance of 28 miles. At a distance of eight or nine miles southward from the Columbia, the valley is divided into two arms by a low mountain range, which gradually increases in elevation as one follows it southward. In its extent from east to west the valley of varies from four to six miles, and through this the little river, from which the valley takes its name, has cut and forced its way to the Columbia, much of the way through the hard basaltic rock. Day and night, year in and year out, this noble little stream goes roaring and foaming downward from its source among the glaciers and mountain lakes to the great Columbia, where it is lost in the bosom of that magnificent stream.
     It its natural resources there are few places on God's fair earth where nature has emptied her horn of plenty more profusely than in this little valley. Throughout its upper part are the finest forests of pine, fir, hemlock, larch and cedars, which clothe the mountain ranges to their very summits and only await the toll of the lumberman to convert them into a lumber to be sent to all parts of the eastern country. In the lower part of the valley is scattering timber consisting of the Oregon oak and the various evergreens indigenous to the Cascade ranges; but these are rapidly disappearing before this sturdy toil of the laborer as the soil is wanted for cultivation.
     Of all the native trees of this vicinity, the oak is the one in which every resident of this community takes a just pride. It is these grand old trees, standing all along the streets and in every door-yard and on every lawn, that attracts the eye of the visitor and gives the little town of Hood River a place pleasantly remembered in the heart of every visitor to its midst. The foliage of these oaks is peculiar. As the leaves expand in springtime, they have been the appearance of having been coated with a covering of varnish, so green and shiny are they. This appearance does not depart with the first sunshine and rain, but remains throughout the summer. The day that sees these trees cut down or destroyed will witness the departure of all that is most beautiful, most attractive, most pleasant to the eye of the visitors -- the health and pleasure seekers who every summer come to spend their vacation in and around our little town.
     Speaking again of the natural resources, the productiveness of the soil of this valley must not be forgotten, for it is that which gives it nearly the whole value to our land. However rough and stony and difficult to clear a piece of land may be, it will always yield a bountiful crop, and its fertility and productiveness are often in proportion to the amount of stubborn toil required to subdue wild nature. The writer had the pleasure of having a piece of land cleared this past spring where in many places, after the oak grubs were taken out, the ground was not visible for the quantity of small stones which covered it; but when these stones were removed and the soil broken up and set to apple trees, then it showed its fertility. Trees which were set in the latter part of April, and which were only tall whips without a limb when set, have pushed forth heads formed of branches from 24 to 36 inches long. One-year-old trees which were set a year ago have put forth their fruit buds this summer and next year will begin to bear fruit. This is only a single illustration of the wonderful adaptability of the soil to the apple trees.
     There are a few varieties of fruit aside from those of the tropical or semi-tropical regions which do not flourish to perfection in this valley. The apple, the peach, the plum, the prune, the cherry, the pear, the quince, the nectarine, the apricot and all the multitude of small fruits here find a home which to them seems to be their home. But the two fruits above all others which have made and will continue to make Hood River valley famous are her strawberries and apples. Each year sees the former of these pushed farther and farther into the Eastern markets, and it is only a question of a couple of years at most when the Hood River strawberry will be found in the markets of Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. The refrigerator cars will do it. In the meantime the young Apple orchards are coming on, and as soon as their product can be shipped in carload lots, they, too, will find a market east of the Rocky Mountains.

Our Fruit Growing Interests

     It is doubtful if there is in the state of Oregon a more hopeful community than the fruit growers of Hood River valley. The excellence of the products of our berry plantations and orchards has attracted wide attention, and the Hood River strawberries and winter apples are favorably known not only in the markets of the Northwest but in those of Denver, Omaha and Chicago as well. The volcanic soil of our valley, coupled with the climatic conditions, give to our fruits high color, fine flavor and long-keeping qualities.
     The Clark seedling strawberry, which originated near Portland, finds here its most congenial home, possessing greater firmness, higher color, and stands transportation much better than when grown in a more humid locality. This seedling rules supreme among our growers of small fruit, and the area devoted to its culture, some two hundred acres, will be nearly doubled the present season.
     We have now in orchard form well onto one hundred thousand apple trees, and this number will be largely increased the coming fall and spring planting season. Such Spitzenburgs, such Pippens, such Baldwins have seldom been equaled and never surpassed in any section of the country. The apple is indeed the king of fruits, its season extending nearly through the entire year, pleasing to the sight, delightful to the taste, and imparting health and vigor to the body. It is therefore not strange that "among the heathen gods of the North the apple was fabled to possess the power of conferring immortality."
     At the present rate of planting it will not be many years before not only car loads but solid trains of berries and orchard fruit will leave our station for less favored regions to the east and north of us.
     The very drawbacks to fruit growing -- insect pests and fungus growths -- will give to the vigilant and thorough cultivator who profits by up-to-date methods a more certain market than if they did not exist.
      Many new houses have been built during the past year, the larger tracts of land are being subdivided, and at no remote period the more desirable sections of the valley will have the appearance of a straggling village rather than a country district. Many a hillside now covered with the oak and the pine will then be transformed into productive orchards laden with their crimson and gold and treasures.

E.L.S.

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©  Jeffrey L. Elmer