Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/46

40 cherry, of the old list have been destroyed and the stubs dug out. Over a large part of the State east of the Missouri divide, this orchard wrecking has been as complete as with us.

In those snowy and ice-bound regions before referred to will in a few years be found vast aggregations of people. Let the experiments of planting acclimated fruits be ever so successful, all that can be grown either for ornament of their bleak homes, or for the supply of the local markets will be but a fraction, and an insignificant one at that, of the amount required.

But to follow up the line of thought from the virtual blight and vital paralysis of this industry in our own borders, to illustrate the spirit of the times, California now leading off, had gathered enormous crops from her immensely large orchards. The problems of rapid transit, safe packing for long distances, transportation and reasonable freight rates, had not received the attention they deserved from orchardists and railroad men. Things were in a chaotic state. The facilities for canning were entirely inadequate. The fruit could not be handled, and thousands of tons were left to rot, or taken to an unremunerative market, and dumped into San Francisco Bay. There was a flurry among fruit growers; outspoken, indeed clamorous expressions of alarm were heard on all sides. The timid prophesied wreck, ruin, and disaster. Newly planted orchards were given over to neglect; large tracts set aside for tree planting were left to native pasturage, or sown to wheat, oats, clover or grass. A vast, important, and promising industry was in great jeopardy. The press of the Golden State, the common carriers, the far-sighted men who saw what the possibilities were in this direction, came to the rescue with well-considered presentations of the true facts in the premises. They discussed the subject at issue in the light of well-established and fully-recognized business principles.