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A
Newspaper from Medford's Lost Era
SOUTHERN
OREGON TRANSCRIPT
Medford, Oregon Nov. 10th 1887
EXTRA
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MEDFORD
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In and About the City.
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The following "boiled down" is in reply to an inquiry from the east.
Medford is on the line of the Oregon and
California
[Railroad], about midway between Portland and Sacramento, and is the
chief city in Southern Oregon. It is in the heart of the valley,
surrounded on every side with miles of the finest fruit, grain and
grape lands in this state. It is a wide-awake, enterprising city.
Church and school interest dominant. Moral tone and sentiment higher
than that of any place of its population in the state. Eastern people
as citizens, principally. It is the chief shipping point for the great
fruit belt of Southern Oregon. A 1,000 tons make the fruit shipments
this season. Some manufacturing industries. Its growth is rapid and of
a wholesome, permanent character. It is the point at which to leave the
cars for a look at the best, most attractive portion of Southern
Oregon. The people will greet the stranger cordially.
The climate is about perfect. It is a
happy medium
between the dry of California, and the extreme rainy season of the
Willamette. The valley here is about 1400 feet above sea level, and the
air is dry and pure. In both valley and mountain, nature has provided
just the climatic conditions required by the industries of the county,
fruit-growing, agriculture, mining and stock raising. To the eastern
man especially, who desires in summer a warm climate without the
excessive heat of his native state, and in winter a clear, bracing
atmosphere unaccompanied by extreme cold, and exemption from continuous
snow and rain, this valley presents attractions peculiarly inviting. It
is beyond question the Paradise of Oregon. Storms, tornadoes and
cyclones which visit other countries and scatter desolation and death
in their track are here unknown. Spring and summer, autumn and winter,
seed time and harvest, come and go in regular succession, but the
transition from one to the other is so gradual that one fails to note
the end of one, or the beginning of another.
The health of the people all over this
valley is
something remarkable. There are no diseases that can be said to be
prevalent in this valley. The climate is peculiarly beneficial to those
who come here suffering from asthma, catarrh and the like.
As to the soil, we call it somewhat
spotted, here it
is decomposed granite, there sandy loam, again adobe, sticky in the
rainy season, but when rightly worked as it is by our farmers, the
strongest, most inexhaustible soil we have. It will yield fine crops of
grain year after year without the use of any fertilizer. The granite
soil is specially adapted to fruit growing, and when properly manured
is excellent for garden purposes. Nothing more astonishes the novice
than the crops found growing on lands which appear to him as of little
worth. This is a peculiar country, and its soils are not less
remarkable.
On this black soil near this city
22--500 [sic]
pounds of fine large large [sic]
potatoes, is an average crop. Thirty
to thirty-five bushels of wheat to the acre, is common enough. Corn, as
good in quality and as large in both stalk and ear, as any raised in
the corn states of Iowa or Illinois, is a common crop in this vicinity.
Alfalfa yields three and four crops, of 2½ to 3 tons to the
acre. It is worth about $8.50 a ton for hay.
All the climate and other conditions,
natural and
acquired are just right for the growing of fruit. Medford is in the
great fruit belt of this valley. It is in the central point in that
belt. We grow to perfection in and about Medford and its precinct,
apples of the best summer, fall and winter varieties; peaches very
large in size, beautiful in color, and choice in flavor. Pears of a
superior quality, and almost phenomenal in quantity. Cherries fine in
all respects. Apricots choice ones. Plums and prunes of all the fine
varieties, are grown to perfection in this valley. Some of the latter
are marvelous in size, and all are unmatched in flavor. Grapes find a
natural home in this valley, and along the foothills to the east and
west. Grape growing will be one of the chief interests here in a few
years. General fruit growing is the principal industry and is
increasing every season.
Wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, clover, alfalfa, timothy, all the
vegetables, cabbage, squash, turnips, beets, sweet potatoes, common
potatoes, beans, peas, radishes, celery, carrots, parsnips, onions, and
almost every kind of berry nameable, and sugar cane are cultivated here
with marked success. A few figs are grown here. Peanuts grow and
produce well. The flora wild and cultivated, is attractive. Walnuts and
acorns and almonds thrive in this climate. We have in this country fir
of a number of varieties, prime white and black oak, ash, maple, laurel
and some other varieties of timber. Gold and silver mines are
profitably worked in the mountains. Water power is abundant all through
this region of country.
So far as general crops are concerned
irrigation is
not needed, not practiced, not at all necessary. Gardeners and persons
engaged in raising berries and other small fruits generally resort to
irrigation in order to prolong the season and produce several crops
from the same piece of land. It is not required on the farm in order to
raise vegetables or fruits for family use. There is not a farmer in the
county who cannot with a reasonable degree of industry, raise
vegetables, cherries, all his prunes, grapes, plums, peaches, apples,
&c., without irrigation.
The mountains are full of game, bear,
deer, elk,
grouse, hens, quail and the smaller birds. Transportation is good.
Portland is only 14 hours away for the fruit and berry shipper. San
Francisco is as near. Rates for freight are made so as to help the
grower and induce shipment. The grower will never be without a prompt
market. All the region east of the Cascades in Oregon, and all that
region embracing the vast territory of Washington, Idaho, Montana,
Dakota, and even beyond that, is not adapted to fruit raising and the
people there must come to Oregon for fruit.
Every foot of land in the valley and on
the hills
will raise good fruit when properly cared for, and the experience of
California fruit growers would lead to the conclusion that an acre of
land set out with peaches, prunes and other fruits, and taken care of,
will in a very few years furnish a good income for the support of a
family. As a rule, no country is more prosperous, more beautiful in
appearance, and filled with more cultivated, comfortable homes than one
devoted to horticulture.
Good water is one of the things this
city and valley
can boast about. The water in the wells of this city comes from
mountain springs, through gravel undersoil. It is cold and pure; wholly
free from anything like vegetable matter.
Medford and the immediate precincts
sustain
excellent schools. In this city we have a graded school, employing four
teachers.
The social status of Medford and this
valley will
compare favorably with that of communities in the older states. The
people are from the eastern states, and for the most part, American
born and raised. The proportion of foreign born is small.
Land is selling in the immediate
neighborhood of
Medford, at prices ranging from $15 to $59 an acre. Improved farms;
land good for fruit, near town; within 3 miles $25 to $40. Nearer, $35
to $50. Unimproved in the foothills, 6 or 8 miles away, $5 to $12. Very
little arable government [land] remains in this county. Farms rent for
from $2 to $3.50 an acre in cash. In crop 1/3 gathered. House rents
cheap in this city; about $10 for a five or 6 room house. Store rents
reasonable. Family living expenses are about 10 per cent higher than in
the east. The cost of living is being reduced rapidly, since railway
connection with 'Frisco has been made [a month in the future, on Dec.
17, 1887].
Mechanics get good wages. Farm laborers
from $20 to
$25 per month and board. Building lumber from $12 to $15 and $30 per M.
Common cows are worth from $30 to $40. Horses for farm use from $100 to
$160 each; calves $10 to $12. Sheep $1.75. Furniture and bedding costs
20 per cent more than in the east. Meat, beef 12 to 15 cents.
A man willing to roll up his sleeves and
take hold
can get work. Idlers not wanted. In this city, the stranger will find
honest, fair-dealing real estate men, to assist him in making a
purchase. Other citizens will aid him with trustworthy information. The
secretary, or any member of the Board of Trade will help the stranger
in making a location. He has only to be candid and frank to obtain
candid and frank treatment. If he comes with a family he can always
obtain good accommodations, at reasonable rates at the hotel here.
Builders and contractors will put him up a house in a jiffy; or he can
rent for awhile. The real estate men will take him behind a team of
horses and show him the country. He will meet a cordial reception from
citizens generally. He need not have any fears about finding a place to
suit his taste or his purse. It is a good plan to come and look over
the country, but if you have made up your mind to change, just bring
your family and household goods, and cast your lot here. It is an
exceptional man who misses it, in making the change. The fault is with
him, not with this country. Buy your ticket to Medford, either by
Portland or San Francisco, the latter is the best for people east of
Omaha or St. Paul.
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Our Mail Sack.
Writing from a farm home near Cincinnati, Ohio, a young man says: "If I
should come to Medford with money enough to buy a small farm, and a
willingness to work, could I find employment on a farm until I could
look about and make an investment."
We have no hesitancy in saying, yes.
Half a dozen
times within as many weeks, have farmers been in this office, inquiring
if we knew of any help they could get. We have had to say no. If you
were here to-day, you could put your money away, and go to work, within
an hour, at fair wages. You will have no difficulty in finding such a
farm as is within your means, whether you have $800 or $1000 or $3000.
If you are cramped for elbow room on the old home place, and your
father cannot afford to buy you a farm at Ohio prices, let him give you
any one of the above named sums, and we can assure you a farm here,
equal to any of three times the price where you now live.
A young lady writes from Amherst,
Massachusetts, saying, "I saw a copy of the Transcript at
the house of a friend here, and I write to ask if a girl of nineteen,
fairly educated, knows something of music, does Sunday school work,
knows all about housework, in a word is a working girl in that sense,
can find an opportunity to make a living and a little money over in the
city of Medford?"
There is but one reply to make to this
letter, come,
and our word for it, the opportunity for a home, and a good one, will
present quickly enough.
A man dating his letter at Bangor,
Maine, says, "I
want to find a climate that is better than this for a man inclined to
asthma. What about your part of the state?"
It is not claimed that Southern Oregon
is a
sanitarium, or that the temperature is suited to the cure of all kinds
of diseases, but we do assert that the climatic conditions in this
valley are peculiarly conducive to health, and because of the fact that
we are greatly elevated above sea level and have a pure, dry air, these
conditions are highly favorable to the cure of asthma, catarrh and
kindred troubles.
In order to save space we here bunch up
three or
four letters, one from a watchmaker, one from a photographer, another
from a dentist and still another from a stone cutter.
There are good openings for these
tradesmen, if, as
they say, they can land here supplied with implements of their
business, and some little money to pay their way until they get to to
work, two or three or a half a dozen months perhaps. The first and
third can get business from the start, if they come to stay. Transient
people in either business, will get but little patronage.
Writing from central Michigan a farmer
who can sell
out for $3000, asks "What can I do with that sum of money on hand when
I land in Medford?"
Double the acreage you now have in
Michigan.
Double, if not treble, the profits of
your farming.
Get the best climate on the Pacific
Coast.
Locate in the midst of excellent social,
church and school interests.
Buy choice fruit or grain land adjacent
to the best town in Southern Oregon, Medford.
Increase your chances of health by
having an even and splendid temperature.
Exchange the intensely bitter cold of
the winter in
Michigan, for a climate in which open air work is possible the year
through.
Purchase land close to market, on which
all kinds of
fruit can be produced, and which, when marketable, will bring you $200
an acre, net.
Find a summer temperature which admits
of field
labor, without any possibility of being overcome by heat or sunstroke;
an air that invites labor.
Obtain soil peculiarly adapted to the
culture of
apples, pears, peaches, plums, prunes, cherries, all the berries and
melons belonging to the temperate zone of America, grain of all kinds,
corn, clover, alfalfa, in a word almost anything nameable.
Find a location where stock can pasture
almost all
the year around, and where it is an uncommon thing to feed more than
week or two during the winter.
Your $3000 will give you an excellent
farm in this
splendid valley, and, if you plant an orchard on ten or fifteen acres
of it, and attend to business, that farm will make you rich in ten
years.
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A farmer out in the valley wanted a man to do chores, and an Indian
youth was the first tramp presenting. The Indian agreed to work, and
the farmer told him to milk the cow and rake his hay. The Indian stood
and reflected a little, as though endeavoring to get at what the farmer
meant. It dawned on him finally and he said smilingly, "Me suck em calf
and scratchem grass; me saba."
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Claus Spreckles says that in Germany farmers become rich growing sugar
beets, 100 acres being a large farm for the purpose, and only about
one-third of the land planted to beets each year, in order that a
rotation of crops may be had. Here is another opportunity for the
farmers of this valley.
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Odds and Ends.
Medford a growing, thrifty, wide-awake city on the main line of the
Oregon and California railway, and in the very heart of the great fruit
belt of Southern Oregon, has become the chief shipping point of this
portion of the state. It is naturally, and in an acquired way, the
principal shipping point for the fruit grown in this immense stretch of
country.
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During the present season we have shipped about 1000 tons of fruit,
nearly 100 tons going as express matter. One of the shipments consisted
of a train of ten cars, loaded and dispatched as a single shipment by
H. E. Battin & Co. of Portland.
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In order to have an adequate conception of the almost marvelous
development of the fruit business in this portion of the state, one
will have to come here and see for himself. Fruit growing will from
this on, be the chief interest for the people of this valley, in the
midst of which Medford is located. Instances are very common this year
where fruit farmers have received from one to five hundred dollars per
acre for the produce of their orchards. The figures might seem large,
but they are vouched for and are correct unquestionably.
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The following article published in the Transcript a few
weeks ago, will be apropos
in this connection:
A mile or so south of the city of
Medford, Mr. E. E.
Gore, one of the prominent citizens, and farmers in this valley, has
quite a large orchard, mainly, fine varieties of apples. For weeks the
trees there have been bending under the weight of a magnificent crop of
fruit. To-day, these apples are turning into a handsome pile of twenty
dollar gold pieces. H. E. Battin & Co., who purchased this
orchard,
have already handed Mr. Gore checks for $350, and expect to make him
several more payments of that figure, before the produce of this
orchard is in boxes at the depot in Medford. Mr. Gore may not have
found the legendary stone, transmuting all to gold, but he certainly
has discovered that an orchard well cultivated, in this climate and
soil, is the much heralded goose that lays the golden egg.
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For the past 60 days J. S. Howard the agt. of the railway company, has
sold upwards of 80 town lots; consideration $4500.
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A Portland merchant, who owns a lot or two in Medford and who has not
visited the place for more than a year, made a stop here one day last
week and expressed himself as greatly and agreeably surprised at our
advancement. He says it will pay him to make a further investment in
property in such a growing city. This is what every practical man says,
who gives Medford an examination.
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Medford maintains a Board of Trade of 60 members, as well as a city
council.
This organized effort has several
enterprises under way:
Flour Mill,
Water
Works,
Public Park,
Public Library,
Tile Factory,
County
Fairgrounds.
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Medford is confessedly the handsomest, the best located, and the most
wide-awake and business city in this valley. The citizens do not intend
to permit anything to interfere with an uninterrupted progress. Popular
interest in the welfare of the city is kept constantly alive.
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The railway company has given block 68 to the city for the purpose of a
public square.
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Heaped up in a pile in this office, the visitor will find about two
bushels of the finest specimens of potatoes ever shown in this valley.
They were grown on the farm of Thos. McAndrews, about a mile northeast
of the city. They are well-named the Prolific. Twenty of these potatoes
weigh 55 pounds. One of the lot weighs 5 pounds and 5 ounces. Mr.
McAndrews gathered 45,000 pounds of potatoes from the two acres, or 750
bushels.
These potatoes are a surprise even to
old-time
settlers, who have had an idea that good crops of potatoes could not be
grown in this valley. The truth is, there is no stronger, or more
fertile soil in Oregon, than just here about Medford. Good cultivation
will always bring such happy results as these contributed by Mr.
McAndrews.
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If any of our farmer friends in the east ask what opportunity [exists]
for a farmer or a fruit grower in Southern Oregon, we tell him in part
in [sic]
the following article descriptive of a farm near Medford.
It is said that the man who owned it,
used to rent other land on which to grow his potatoes for family use.
To-day the visitor stands on the lawn in
front of a
large handsome residence, recently built, on the highest ground of the
farm, and looks out upon these acres to see the results of diligent
application of the practical methods of farming: the results of a long,
patient and close study of the science of dealing with the soil, in the
agricultural sense. Close at hand, an acre or two of young orchard,
representative of all the varieties of fruit on the entire place,
growing there close at hand for the use of the family. To the right, a
splendid variety of California fruit; an acre or so. West of it all,
long rows of well trimmed and trained raspberry, blackberry, currant
and gooseberry bushes then wide stretches of strawberries, vegetables
of all the different kinds--acres of sweet potatoes; the yield of which
is enormous, then far-reaching patches of watermelons, and muskmelons.
Beyond these fields of ripening corn. To the south of the house, we
find about thirty acres of a peach orchard, and another stretch of
corn. Upon this land we have been describing the owner has an orchard,
all told, of about 140 acres; largely fall and winter apples which will
be bearing in two or three more seasons. Besides this several acres of
a nursery; trees chiefly to experiment with, or to replace any in the
orchard, that may be injured in any way.
Make such farms as this, and Jackson
County would be
the choice portion of the Pacific Coast. We have the soil and the
climate. No better anywhere, when used to the best advantage.
M. E. BEATTY & CO,
--Dealers in--
REAL ESTATE, CITY
& COUNTRY PROPERTY BOUGHT & SOLD
$2000
No. 106
117 acres
Good young orchard, fair buildings and
nicely located; fair improvements--six miles from Medford.
$8000
No.
107 312 acres
All under fence and cross-fenced into 5
different
fields, building insured for three years for $3070--two orchards 25
acres in alfalfa, post office on the place, pays $200 yearly, mostly
rich sandy loam, good water and nice location.
$300
No.
108 80 acres
The improvements on this tract for sale;
four acres
under fence and in cultivation, small house and stable, 50 fruit trees;
this is government land, and can only offer the improvements.
$30 per acre No. 109
143 acres
One-half mile from Central Point, on
Bear Creek, mostly rich bottom, and part on time.
$2500
No. 110
120 acres
Eighty acres under fence and in
cultivation, house
24x26, fair barn and outbuildings; good bearing orchard; mostly free
land; adjoining store and post office.
$3000
No. 111
160 acres
Good buildings and within sight of
school house--all under fence and in cultivation; mostly free land.
$1900
No. 62
120 acres
Choice fruit land, will sell in 40 acre
lots at $20 per acre.
$6660
No. 112
666 acres
Seven miles from Medford--partly rich
bottom land,
one-half mile river front; $3000 cash, balance from one to five years
time, 10 per cent interest.
$5250
No. 95
21 acres
One mile from city. Splendid land, 150
acres under cultivation, 20 acres timber.
$5460
No. 51
273 acres
All arable land; about one-half sticky
soil, balance
free land. Choice fruit and grape land. Will sell all or in lots to
suit at $20 per acre. Four miles northeast of Medford.
$4000
No. 55
600 acres
This fine ranch is situated on Antelope
Creek, 12
miles from Medford 80 acres under fence, mostly arable lands. Box
house, 5 rooms, good frame barn. Well watered.
$8000
No. 52
349 acres
300 acres under fence and in
cultivation; fine
orchard of prunes, plums, apples, peaches, etc., and ½ acre
of
vineyard; fair buildings, splendid water and in good neighborhood.
$4000 cash, balance on time to suit.
$3840
No. 81
480 acres
Eight miles from city. Unimproved lands.
$4500
No. 95
160 acres
Seven miles from Medford, all under
fence and well
improved, splendid grain land, good water and splendid neighborhood;
handy to school. Terms: One-half cash, balance, time to suit.
$1300
No. 96
80 acres
Six miles from Medford--all under fence
and cultivation, small house, outbuildings.
$19,200
No.
25
320 acres
All under fence and well improved, good
orchard,
rich bottom land, with water advantages; the farm can all be irrigated
when ditch is completed; rich elevated soil.
$550
No. 115
35
acres
Two-one-half miles from Central Point in
the Willow Springs precinct.
$1400
No. 116
39 acres
One-one-half miles from Medford--near
the road leading to Jacksonville, young orchard and small building.
$900
No. 119
20 acres
Good new house and barn and spring, all
rich bottom
lands, 5 miles from Woodville, one-half cash, balance on time, 8 per
cent.
$3000
No. 119
160
acres
Situated 2 miles from Eagle Point. 14
miles from
Medford; Little Butte Creek runs through the place affording abundance
of water for irrigating purposes, fifty acres under fence and in
cultivation, good irrigating ditch.
$1480
No. 120
280
acres
Thirteen miles from Medford, 160 under
fence, mostly
prairie land, a number of good springs, good out range for stock.
$1100
No. 121
40
acres
14½ miles from Medford; rich
bottom land.
$500
No. 122
40 acres
Situated 20 miles from Medford--splendid
meadow land and in the good stock country.
$450
No. 113
160 acres
Twelve miles from Medford--splendid
land, good
buildings and well watered must be sold at once or will be withdrawn
from the market; this is an extra bargain.
$2000
No. 64
119 acres
12 miles from Medford, adjoining the
town of Eagle
Point; fine bottom land, mostly under good irrigating ditch. Splendid
alfalfa ranch.
125 acres under cultivation, good
alfalfa land, with
a No. 1 mill-site and race on the farm; orchard, good buildings and
splendid outrange. Handy to good school; one mile from Eagle Point, 13
miles from Medford.
$2000
No. 67
160 acres
20 miles from city, 100 acres under
fence, 25 in cultivation, 4 acres young orchard. Mostly rich, sandy
loam.
$800
No. 68
235 acres
75 acres deeded land including
improvements on
pre-emption right of 160 acres. Splendid water, good location, and a
Big Bargain.
$1650
No. 63
160 acres
All under fence, fine location; fair
house and barn. 80 acres in cultivation. Handy to outside range.
===========================================================
CITY PROPERTY
------------
70
Choice residence lots in city $40, $50 and $100 each.
CHOICE
BUSINESS LOTS
From
$350 to $1,500, on the principal streets of Medford. Call on or address,
M.
E. BEATTY & CO.
Medford, Oregon.
===========================================================
$7200
No. 97
240 acres
Five miles from Medford--Splendid
location; mostly
rich adobe soil; splendid orchard and fair buildings: one-half cash;
balance on time to suit with 10 per cent interest.
$3500
No. 98
240 acres
Ten miles from Medford--150 acres under
fence, 80 in
cultivation; good house and barn, 100 acres splendid alfalfa lands,
running water through the farm; one-half mile good church, one mile
from school, three miles from post office.
$2500
No. 99
200 acres
One-half mile from Brownsboro--fifteen
miles from
Medford--all under fence; 40 acres in cultivation, 100 acres arable
lands, 349 fruit trees partly bearing, small house and outbuildings,
two good living springs, also good irrigating ditch which cost $250,
can irrigate 75 acres; would leave part on the place at 10 per cent
interest.
$1500
No. 93
100 acres
Three-fourths mile from Eagle Point--12
miles from
Medford--40 acres under fence. 100 acres arable land, young orchard,
fair building and good springs.
$800
No. 94
320 acres
This place is located on Little Butte
Creek,
suitable for stock ranch; splendid water advantages, no improvements;
part creek bottom, balance rolling hills.
$500
No. 117
160 acres
Situated on Evans Creek, good irrigating
ditch and
in a good location for keeping stock, 300 rails and considerable
improvements, only the improvements for sale government lands.
$2000
No. 144
160 acres
Ninety acres under fence and in
cultivation, fair building, good springs. Situated on Rogue River.
$3500
No. 100
160 acres
All under fence, 125 in cultivation,
forty acres
rich bottom land, two hundred fruit trees, three-fourths mile from
church, two miles of Eagle Point, good stock water.
$2700
No. 101
165 acres
Eleven miles from Medford--6 miles from
railroad
station--85 acres under fence and in cultivation, good orchard,
splendid water, mostly rich sandy loam.
$2200
No. 102
900 acres
This tract is situated on Rogue River.
10 miles from
Medford--partly rich bottom lands--fronting Rogue River; a bargain.
$4000
No. 103
320 acres
Situated on Little Butte Creek, ten
miles from
Medford, 260 acres under fence, ninety in cultivation, good house and
barn and orchard, mostly rich sandy loam.
$1500
No. 104
100 acres
One and one-half miles from Eagle
Point--splendid location and good neighborhood and handy to school, etc.
$2800
No. 105
160 acres
Adjoining the townsite of Eagle
Point--good fruit
land and mostly good grain land; this is an extra good bargain.
Address: M. E.
BEATTY & CO., Medford, Oregon.
Last revised April 20, 2008
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