(pg. 1-2)
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Remarks on the Bay
and
County of Coos
* * * * By Star Key
* * * *
In a descriptive
narrative of this section of the coast credit should be
given to the early settlers who
hewed the pathway in advance and who
were first in developing its resources.
The battle with hardships, the
dangers averted and the obstacles encountered
were all met with patience
and perseverance: therefore we owe them
a word of praise in recognition of
their early efforts in the virgin woods,
encompassed by ferocious animals
and treacherous Indians. There
are lofty ideals; yet none transcend that of
the pioneer who risks every thing an
uncertain venture; who forsakes the
enjoyment and advantages of civilization
to enter into a project that may
result disastrously to him and his.
Many of the early pioneers of Coos have
departed this life, and those who are
still with us are in "the sere and yellow
leaf;" therefore, all honor to the pioneers
of Coos county.
Coos Bay.
A great deal
has been written on the resources of Oregon, and truly it
is a
country of immense capacity. The
south-west portion, in which Coos
County is a leading feature, has not
received that at- [ printout illegible] due
the climate, [printout illegible;
= manifold?] fold resources, and position,
demand. Coos bay coming first in
importance as a commercial center and
distributing point for the surrounding
country, will first attract attention.
The entrance to Coos bay is situated
in about 43 degrees north latitude, and
124 west. By referring to a chart or
map its position will be observed to the
northward and close to cape Arago, on
which stands a prominent
lighthouse.
The channel
at the entrance has thirty feet of water at mean tide.
Since
the government improvement at the entrance
commenced, the depth of
water on the bar has been steadily increasing.
It speaks volumes for the
harbor to know that thirty sailing vessels
and ten steamers are trading
between this port and San Francisco,
California, and there is steam
connection with Portland and other ports
of the coast. Passing Rocky Point
after entering the port we have the full
sweep of the lower bay before us,
about a mile wide and eight in length.
The long sand spit with high dunes
which support a variety of timber, are
on our left hand, a permanent barrier
to the fierce waves of the great Pacific
ocean. Here, on this magnificent
sheet of water, there is sufficient space
for thousands of vessels to anchor in
safety. Passing up the bay we observe
the pioneer town of Coos Bay --
Empire City. At this place the
Southern Oregon Company have [verified]
built a fine mill which has a cutting
capacity of 150,000 feet of lumber
daily. Proceeding we turn to the
right at North Bend where a magnificent
sight bursts into view. We have now entered
the upper bay, and the scene is
one to be remembered and to absorb studious
attention. The distant hills are
clothed from base to summit with an evergreen
envelope, and the lofty fir
trees abound on every hand. Cedar,
myrtle, and other varieties of timber
extend in every direction. Great
quantities of timber are destroyed in
clearing land; the same, if stored or
otherwise preserved, would be valuable
in the manufacture of furniture and other
fine work. Commencing with the
North Bend mill we can count four sawmills
within range of the eye.
Coos river enters
the bay at the left hand upper corner, directly opposite
Marshfield. There are some fine
farms on this river and the orchards for
beauty and flavor of fruit are unsurpassed.
This section stands unequalled
for dairying and stock raising.
The winters are so mild that cattle roam
through the timber and over the hills
and require but little feed from their
owners. There are scattering tracts of
land from which the timber has been
burned and grass has grown in those burned
districts, as they are called, and
in these and on the banks of streams
and open spaces cattle find abundant
feed. It is no uncommon thing for
fine beef to be taken off the ranges in
January which have had no feed furnished
to them excepting what they
have found in pasture. Snow seldom
falls, and when it does appear it is so
light, and lies so little time on the
ground, that it does not prevent the cattle
from finding the grass which the dense
woods afford abundant shelter from
the wind.
The cool, but
temperate climate is admirably adapted to making butter
and cheese, and those industries are
very remunerative.
In illustration
of manufacture of cheese, a table furnished by one of the
best farmers in the county will show
what is done in the line. The table
gives the result from the milking of
60 cows 30 of [printout illegible]
milkers and 30 poor milkers.
[chart, not copied ]
Weight of cheese,
after shrinkage, 23,496 pounds.
This product
was sold in Marshfield at prices ranging from 10 to 15
cents per pound.
There
are many products which can be raised here at a profit.
The
bottom lands produce beets of the finest
quality and will average at least
twenty tons to thee acre. There
has been a movement looking toward the
establishment of a beet sugar manufactory,
but nothing definite has yet been
accomplished.
Fruit growing
is a flourishing industry throughout the county, there
being a large export trade to California.
The varieties produced are apples,
pears, quinces, plums, cherries, and
smaller fruits. The trees begin to bear
when remarkably young and are exceedingly
healthy and vigorous and
being free from disease, will live to
a great age. The trees are very
productive and the fruit possesses a
delicious flavor. This county is a very
Eden for cherries, plums and prunes.
Strawberries, currants, raspberries,
gooseberries and cranberries of a fine
quality are raised in abundance.
Several varieties of the hardier grapes
are also cultivated. Blackberries are
cultivated and they also grow wild in
the woods in vast quantities, and are a
natural product of the soil.
Fruit trees will grow
from six to eight feet the first year and bear fruit the
second, third and fourth years according
to variety. They thrive in the
valleys as well as on the foothills,
and up to a considerable height in the
mountains, but especially in dry,
sheltered soil. Yearling prune and
yearling cherry trees seven feet high
have been exhibited. Apple trees
commence bearing very young, sometimes
producing fine fruit the second
year after grafting and, if properly
cultivated, are always in bearing when
four or five years old.
Climate.
The climate
is remarkable in its equability; and, while it is a physical
impossibility to discover a climate that
will suit each case, we are not
afflicted with extremes of heat or cold.
A report of
the signal service is subjoined, showing the mean
temperature for each month of the year.
[chart: not copied]
Lumber.
With accessible facilities and an unlimited supply of material,
a
lamentable picture is displayed in the
cessation of labor resulting from the
suspension in operating two of the largest
saw mills on Coos Bay.
Litigation is the cause in one case,
but in the other the motive is not
apparent. Both companies own exclusive
timber tracts, and possess
excellent positions for the manufacture
of lumber and the construction of
sea-going vessels. It is to be
hoped that in the [can't read = near?] future
"the clouds will roll by," and that then
these superb mills will be set in
motion adding to the bright outlook for
business on the bay [printout
illegible] buzz of their wheels.
During the past
forty years the North Bend mill and the Newport coal
mine have been operated continually,
and the proprietors of these industries
deserve commendation and the reward merited
by their perseverance. That
which has been accomplished by the untiring
efforts of A. M. Simpson, the
late firm of Flanagan and Mann,
and Goodall, Perkins, and Company, can
be accomplished by others, consequently
the activity now apparent on Coos
bay and the Coquille river is an omen
of more extensive operations in coal,
lumber, creameries, and canneries.
The progression and development of the
resources of Coos County have been tardy,
owing principally to a paucity of
capital: but now that attention has been
called to the possibilities of a
harvest from the stores of nature hitherto
lying dormant, capital has
approached, and there is no doubt of
its obtaining tangible results and
remuneration commensurate with the undertaking.
Coal.
The coal which
is found in the local coal measures, is lignite or brown
coal, and is the best for domestic use
of any found on the Pacific coast. It
carries but little dust or soot and burns
well. It is not claimed to be the best
for steam, although it is much used for
that purpose. The country has not
been thoroughly prospected; and shafts
have not been sunk to any great
depth; but it is estimated that in the
Coos county coal fields there are four
hundred square miles of underlying coal
beds. The amount of coal in such a
vast field can hardly be estimated.
All the coal which has heretofore been
mined, exported, and consumed locally,
has not worked out two square
miles of territory. Much of this
coal land can be bought for from ten to
twenty dollars an acre. The Newport mine
continues to run steadily and is
no doubt profitable. It has a rail
road about three miles long from the mine
to deep water. Other mines can
be worked profitably but are waiting capital
to take hold and develop them.
The coal measures
on the Coquille river have not yet been fairly
prospected but the good work is going
on both on the river and on the bay
and the ventures being in the hands of
expert miners, there is a fair prospect
of success. The export trade in
timber and coal is increasing gradually; and
before the end of the approaching year
- 1901 - the prospects are that the
business will receive such vigorous propulsion
as portends prosperity and
permanent progress.
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(pg. 2-3)
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MARSHFIELD.
_____
[Ed. note: see pix with #2]
The accompanying
cut shows only a sectional view of Marshfield, and
was taken from a photograph by E. A.
Stauff. Marshfield is situated on the
head of Coos bay and at the confluence
of Coos river, Isthmus and Coal
Bank sloughs. It is the metropolis
of the county, and the first city of
importance to Coos county, and a shipping
and distributing center for the
neighboring towns, where saw mills, coal
mines, creameries, logging
camps, ship yards, etc., are operated.
Its growth in business and population
in late years has been a marked one,
which bids fair to continue for many
years. Marshfield is populated
with an intelligent and progressive class of
people who lend every encouragement both
in deed and act to the
establishment of enterprises in this
section. For example, the citizens of our
town, notwithstanding we have a modern,
up-to-date shipbuilding plant in
active operation within the city limits,
contributed a subsidy of $1,000 to
Capt. H. R. Reed to establish a yard
across the bay, one mile from
Marshfield. This is only one of
the many acts of encouragement of our
generous and progressive residents.
In the past year over three thousand
dollars has been spent in the improvement
of streets in this city, and
surveyors are at work on the plans for
a complete sewer system for the
town, which is to be put in during the
coming year. Besides public
improvement the year just closed has
broken the record on building in
Marshfield, business blocks and numerous
fine residences having been
erected. Marshfield is a modern
town with telephone, electric light, and
water system. The water system
which is on the gravity plan, maintaining
100 [or? Can't read] pounds pressure
to the square inch, was installed two
years since, which, with an excellent
volunteer fire department, caused the
underwriters after investigation to reduce
the rates of insurance to the
minimum. We also have a La France
steam fire engine which is always
kept in readiness on the water front,
thus giving to the city a protection from
fire, which is equal to any town of twice
its size on the Pacific coast.
The financial
interests of this city have always been protected by the
well-known banking firm of Flanagan and
Bennett. This institution has
withstood, like the rock of Gibraltar,
all the panics and is known in banking
circles as one of the solidest firms
on the Pacific coast, a fact to which we
point with much pride.
Marshfield supports
a free reading room, under the direction of the Y.
M. C. A. and in keeping with the general
advancement in the line of moral,
educational and spiritual improvement
maintains six churches of different
denominations.
The foregoing
statements are but a few of the brief facts -- no more, no
less, they are neither embellished nor
exaggerated. The beauties and
interests of Marshfield are too well-known
to warrant any other than a
truthful exposition. If you are
contemplating a change of home and desire
to locate where the acme of intelligence,
moral worth, and wealth besides
can be maintained, come to Marshfield.
By an act of
the last legislature Marshfield was re-incorporated as a city,
the present officials being:
E. A. Anderson,
mayor; W. H. S. Hyde, recorder; J. S. Coke, Jr.,
city
attorney; W. B. Curtis, F. P. Norton,
Wm. Nasburg, J. N. Nelson, Chas.
Bradbury and J. A. Matson, aldermen;
John Carter, marshal; J. E.
Fitzgerald, nightwatchman [ sic].
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THE MARSHFIELD SCHOOL.
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If there is
one thing the citizens of Marshfield are prouder of than
any
other it is their excellent public school.
The fine edifice shown in the
accompanying cut was erected in 1895
at a cost of about $15,000.
Prior to that
time the school facilities were very poor. The building
was
antiquated, containing only four illy
lighted [sic], heated and ventilated
rooms. The new structure contains
on the upper floors, eight large school
rooms, a spacious assembly hall, principal's
office, and three broad
stairways. In the basement there
are furnace and fuel rooms and two large
play rooms for boys and girls separate
from each other. All the class rooms
are provided with the most approved style
of cloak rooms and teacher's
private closets. There are speaking tubes
throughout the building, and each
room is fitted with an electric bell
so arranged that they may be sounded
singly or all at once, from the principal's
desk. There is, besides, a large
gong in the assembly hall for regulating
the movements of the school.
The building
is well furnished and is equipped with necessary apparatus,
including an excellent piano. The
heating and ventilating are the most
modern and approved, being the "Morgan
system" of warm air. Each room
is lighted by four spacious double windows,
throwing the light to the rear of
and from the left side of the pupils.
The trimmings of the building are of
white cedar, finished in hard oil varnish,
in the natural color of the wood.
The walls are plastered in neutral tints
with white ceilings.
On entering
the new building, the school was thoroughly graded, and
a
two years high school course was added
to the work. The latter is in
addition to the work of the average country
high school, includes plain and
solid geometry and two years in Latin.
The course is so comprehensive and
the work so thorough, that the school
is accredited at the state university
with fifty credits for admission to that
institution -- an honor conferred upon
no other institution in the state with
less than three years of high school
work.
The grading
of the school and the arranging of the details of the work
have been effected under the skillful
management of the present principal,
Prof. F. A. Golden, a graduate of one
of the leading Eastern universities.
Mr. Golden's experience of fifteen years
devoted to teaching in some of the
best public schools and colleges of large
Eastern cities has rendered his
services of great value in raising the
school to its present high standard.
Too much praise cannot be given the school
boards of the town for their
loyal devotion to the interests of the
school. The best teaching force
available is secured, regardless of residence,
politics, religion or
"influence." This is the chief
secret of the success of the school. Of the
present corps of assistants, one comes
from Iowa, a classical graduate of
Knox College, Ill., two are normal school
graduates, one is an experienced
teacher from New York, and all are highly
skilled in their respective grades.
To show their enthusiasm in educational
work: it may be remarked here that
four of the corps will next vacation,
take a summer course in methods at the
Chicago Institute, under Dr. Parker.
As an evidence of the reputation the
teachers of our school have made, it
is a noteworthy fact that three have
been appointed to lucrative positions
in the Portland city schools, one has
gone into the Astoria schools, and two
have secured appointments in
Roseburg.
The school ranks
among the best in the state, and has been the cause of
inducing quite a number of families to
invest in homes in Marshfield to
secure the benefit of its educational
advantages. Besides these, there are
quite a number of non-resident pupils
in attendance, who have been
attracted to the school by its thoroughness.
The remarkably high degree of
system and order maintained in the school
has been a subject of great
surprise to visitors from other sections,
including Portland and San
Francisco. Wherever, in the state,
Marshfield people visit they are met with
the inquiry, "Is not your town the place
where they have such a fine
school?"
Since the high
school was established there have been four graduating
classes, numbering thirty-one members.
The present senior class has
thirteen members, and the enrollment
of the school for the present session,
up to the time these statistics were
secured, is 345. Five years ago 189 was
considered a large attendance.
The board of
directors at present consists of Dr. J. T. McCormac,
chairman, and Messrs. F. "Hagelstein
and C. A. Johnson. Mr. John F. Hall
has for many years past been the school
clerk.
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