Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1914 — James McManus Thinks Oregon Ia Alright. [ARTICLE]

James McManus Thinks Oregon Ia Alright.

Corvallis, Oregon. December 8, 1914.' Jasper County Democrat, Rensselaer, Indiana. Dear Sir: in response to your letter of Nov. 19th, I am pleased to_ tell you that though we have been away from Rensselaer for a period of ten years, we have oftln spoke of our former friends who lived there when we did, many of whom, are no^> no doubt, living in distant parts. When we sold our farm three miles west of Rensselaer, in 1904 and in December of that year held our closing-out sale, the event of our departure to a new country was a dual one: we regretted to leave our friends, but looked with pleasure to the anticipation of spending our future in Oklahoma, in the “sunny South,” where we would be free from winters chilly blast and iblinding snow. Snow on the ground at Rensselaer was a foot deep, and to our surprise, Oklahoma was almost as deeply hovered and we didn’t get an opportunity to see Oklahoma’s soil until some time i n February We lived in Oklahoma for six years, having purchased a quartersection, rented 240 acres more, and wwn iP *L ed u°, farm on a lar ® e scale. With the help of my sons we managed things very well, and made j\ little money. I came to the conclus on, however, that grain farming ex- . clusively was not satisfactory in that country; but that diversified farming must be adopted. During tne first three years we lived there we experienced a continuous drought We then confined our efforts to the quarter section we owned, and raised mainly kaffir corn, cotton, milo maize and live stock. l n the sixth year we read considerable literature f?, a Oregon, and being successful in finding a buyer for our land, dec ded to push on to the far west We made stops in Colorado, Utah and Idaho, but failed to find a location suitable to our fancy, and continued on to Oregon. We stopped at l ortland a couple of days, and while there decided that owing to educational advantages offered, we would to Corvallis, where some of the PhUdren might attend the Oregon Agricultural College. We have been f *°Hs hay e enjoyed the best of health, like the climate, the people, and the country, and’will likely remain here. The town in which we now live is the county seat of Benton county. Benton county, although compara-

tively small, contains some of the finest agricultural land in Oregon. Bounded on the north by Polk coun 4>'. on the east by the Willamette river, which separates it from Linn, on the south by Lane, and on the west by Lincoln (southern part of which was originally Benton county), has an average length of 31 miles and an average width of 16 miles. When a single county enters into competition with all other counties of a great state like Oregon, in a display of the products of the farm and orchard, and carries away the “blue ribbon,’’ emblem of superiority, year after year, there must be some substantial basis for the claim that that county has superior natural advantages and resources. That is what Benton county did at the Oregon State Fair for the past several years. Corvallis has a residence section, beautified by long stretches of hard surface pavement and broad parkings, miles of cement walks and hundreds of beautiful homes. Every year Corvallis becomes more nearly the ideal city. With a pure mountain water system (municipally owned), a sewage system adequate for a city several times larger than Corvallis, and as void of snares for boys and girls as the laws of the city and state are able to enforce (there are no saloons in Corvallis and it is typical dry), the people have brought it up to the standard that it deserves to be, the educational city of Oregon.

Sincerely yours,

JAMES McMANUS.