Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/491



THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON ;r29

Ifowovi'i-, ;is it is now <;cii('raiiy coiiceiled our flocks arc oi' as high (|iiaiity as aii.\ in the wiirld, we ha\r iiothiiiii- much to lose by these restrictions.

'I'iie Angora goats of Oregon are of a good type, the foundation stock l)eiiig the higli grade Angoras introduced fifty years ago.

In 1872 or 7;^ Mr. Lantlrum exhibited a small flock of Angoras at the Oregon State Fair at Salem, and the following year brought an additional ten animals for exhibition. His first flock pastured in a brush enclosure near Salem, having created a great interest in Angoras throughout that section, a large sale flock was brought into the Willamette Valley by him in 1874 or '75.

According to Mr. George Houck, writing in the Oregon Agriculturist and Rural Northwest (November 1, 1897), the first Angora goats brought to Oregon came from California about 1867. The band, consisting of one hundred and fifty-two animals, was from the flock of Thomas Butterfield, a former associate of William M. Landrum, the pioneer In-eeder, who first introduced Angora goats in California.

These were brought here l)y Mr. A. Cantral, and he was one of the first, if not the first, to introduce them into the Willamette Valley. They were fifteen- sixteenths and thirty-one thirty-seconds Angoras. There were 150 ewes, which cost Mr. Cantral $12.50 each, and a pure-blooded buck and one pure-blooded ewe. For these two he paid Mr. Buttei'field .$1,500, this being the highest price for two Angoras by an Oregon breeder at that time of which there is any record.

Mr. Cantral located near Corvallis. Some of the older Angora breeders still remember when he made an exhibit at the Oregon State Fair.

Most of the goats of the state of Oregon are descendants from this Landrum stock, their record of breeding being traceable through the Peters flock to the animals of the original Davis importation from Turkey. Many other flocks have since been brought into the state, notably that of John S. Harris, a late im- porter of Angoras from Turkey, until today, as the outcome of forty years ex- perience with this class of stock, the Oregon breeders have developed a very fine type of Angora goats — rugged, robust animals, of large size and densely covered with mohair of good quality.

With such stock for foundation, our present' breeders have from year to year by intelligent breeding and patient care, combined with a knowledge of climate and local conditions, developed a quality that is the envy of the world and a source of pride to the state.

We have today men who have achieved a national reputation through their interest and development of the Angora and mohair industry. Men like Wm. Riddell & Sons, of Monmouth, Oregon; U. S. Grant, of Dallas, Oregon; J. B. Stump, of Monmouth, Oregon, and E. L. Naylor, of Forest Grove, Oregon, are known from coast to coast and are entitled to the gratitude of the public for the incalculable good done by the exploitation of an industry that has added millions to the wealth of the state.

From the' initial importation fifty years ago the industry has flourished and broadened out until there is scarcely a county in the state in Oregon where they may not be found ; and the State of Washington is taking thousands there to put to work on her waste lands. Polk county. Oregon, has been and is still the "Blue Ribbon" county for Angoras. There will be found the famous flocks of Grant, Farley, (iuthrie Bros.. Riddell & Sons. Stump, McBee, and others, and