Josephine County
History
Abstracted from The
Oregonian's Handbook Of The Pacific
Northwest - 1894 by The
Oregonian Publishing Co.
Grant's
Pass, Oregon. -- Grant's Pass, the
judicial seat of Josephine county, has a
population of about 2,000. It is
located in the heart of hte valley of
the Rogue river which has its source in
Jackson county, flows through Josephine
and Curry counties and empties its
waters into the Pacific ocean.
Grant's Pass is the largest town in the
Rogue river valley. It is
supported by the rich mineral, timber
and agricultural resources of the
country adjacent. It is located on
the main line of the Southern Pacific,
296 miles south of Portland and 476
miles north of San Francisco. The
merchants here have the benefit afforded
by the competition of the Portland and
San Francisco wholesalers to sell goods
in this field. The town is the end
of an important division of the Southern
Pacific, and a round house and railroad
repair shops are located at this
point. The principal industry of
Grant's Pass is the manufacture of sash,
doors, blinds, mouldings and
boxes. A company with a capital
stock of $125,000 is engaged in this
business here and about 100 men are
employed in the factory. Other
smaller factories at Grant's Pass are a
brick-making plant, planing mill and
broom factory. Several fine brick
blocks have been erected on the main
business street of the town and one bank
looks after the financial affairs of the
business community. A large
ten-room brick school building occupies
a prominent site in the city and eight
teachers are employed in the public
schools here. The number of
scholars in attendance is about
350. There are seven churches
located here, four of which -- the
Methodist, Presbyterian, South Methodist
and Baptist -- own their own
buildings. A circulating library,
free reading room and a new brick opera
house, with a seating capacity of 1,000,
are located at this point.
The
Rogue River Courier and Oregon
Observer, two weekly papers are
published at Grant's Pass. Grant's
Pass annually ships a large amount of
fruit, lumber and brick, and about
$100,000 in gold annually reaches this
point from the rich placer deposits of
the valleys adjacent.
Josephine County, Oregon. ---
Josephine county lies to the east
of Curry, south of Douglas, west of
Jackson and extends to the California
line on the south. Its area is
about 1,800 square miles and its present
population is about 8,000. Until
the completion of the Southern Pacific
railroad through the southern part of
the state comparatively little was known
of this rich part of Oregon.
During the past ten years, however,
wonderful strides have been made here,
and this is now classed among the most
prosperous portions of the Northwest.
The
soil of the lands of Josephine county is
of remarkable fertility and will produce
almost anything grown in the temperate
zone. Cereals and fruits of all
kinds grow in profusion here. Snow
seldom falls in the valleys of the
county, but on the higher elevations,
which are covered with valuable forests
of fir, cedar, oak, pine and other
timber, the snowfall is sometimes
heavy. The valleys of Josephine
county are now practically one vast
fruit garden. Peaches grow here in
size and flavor equal to the most
luscious of the New Jersey peach crop,
and the tons of melons raised here which
are annually shipped to the Portland and
other markets to the north are not
excelled in quality by the melons raised
in the most favored parts of the United
States. All varieties of fruit do
well on these lands and the vineyards
and orchards of Josephine county will
some day rival those of the famous
California fruit belt.
The
entire area of Josephine county is well
watered, numerous creeks of the clearest
water flowing down the mountain sides
and traversing the land in all
directions. These streams also
furnish fine water power at convenient
points. The mountainous districts
of the county contain rich deposits of
gold quartz, silver, copper and other
metals. Widespread attention is
just at the present time being attracted
to the mineral wealth of this county and
the mines here some day will rival those
of Eastern Oregon or of the Coeur
d'Alenes in Northern Idaho.
Transcribed
by Linda Blum-Barton, Oct. 15, 2008
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