This Rogue river valley country, of which thriving Ashland and fast-growing Medford—cities of stone and brick—are the centers, sends broadcast, annually, thousands of boxes of the finest apples, pears and peaches. These rolling valleys and forest clearings make an unexcelled fruit and farming country. Jacksonville, off to the west, is on the old California trail; the first gold discovery of Oregon was near here, on Jackson creek. Over this trail, which the railroad closely follows, traveled adventurous trappers and hunters, and after that, the gold seekers, before the days of wagon-roads or railways. The road skirts the red waters of the Rogue—originally called Rouge by French-Canadian trappers of the Hudson’s Bay Company—as far as Grant’s Pass, a bustling city that is the center of a rich lumber, gold and copper mining and farming country. The Rogue and its tributaries, like other Oregon rivers, are fast flowing and never failing streams, with rapids and waterfalls at frequent intervals, fringed by forest trees that help make pictures at every turn. Here, at Gold Ray, an enterprising electric power company has developed tremendous power, which will be used for the many mining industries, as well as in the progressive ranches and homes, through all this region.
HOUSE BOATING ON THE WILLAMETTE, WITH ITS CLEAR WATERS, ITS WELL TIMBERED AND PICTURESQUE SHORES, IS A JOY OFTEN INDULGED IN BY MANY OREGONIANS
ALONG ASHLAND CREEK ARE MANY SCENES RIPE FOR AN ARTIST’S CANVAS
TABLE ROCK ON ROGUE RIVER HAS BEEN A STRIKING LANDMARK SINCE MAN FIRST TRAILED THIS COUNTRY
SHEEP RAISING IS AN IMPORTANT AND GROWING INDUSTRY OF OREGON
Around Roseburg, about two hundred miles southerly from Portland, are vast forest resources, with outlying valleys and cañons and mines and farms that help to make this a thriving place. Long before reaching here the road crosses and recrosses the Umpqua river, which flows through its fertile valley northwesterly into the sea. At Cottage Grove, as at other points along here, there are more signs of Oregon’s rich mines, signs of the placer camps of early days, as well as of the more recent developments in quartz mining. The records show that gold to the amount of $120,000,000 was washed from the streams of Oregon during the early ’60s. During recent years there have been many gold strikes, and to-day all through these ranges prospectors and expert agents for mining capitalists are searching and locating the precious metal. The famous North Pole mine, for example, ranks among the largest and is valued at over fifteen million dollars. At Cottage Grove, the road first touches the picturesque Willamette river, following its course to Eugene—seat of the University of Oregon—crossing it at Junction City, touching it again at Albany—a big shipping point for luscious Oregon prunes; again at Salem, the state capital, a city of 15,000 people, and at Oregon City.