Magnificent Wheat Harvest

MAGNIFICENT WHEAT HARVEST

Is Reported From the State of Oregon

CORONER B.F. WATTS

Receives Letter From His Son Giving Glowing Description of Western Crops

The following interesting letter touching on farming conditions in Oregon has been received by Coronew B.F. Watts from his son, W.W. Watts, who is now agency instructor of the New York Life Insurance Company in Oregon, having recently been promoted from the office of cashier of the Portland office of the company to his present position. Mr. Watts, whose letter is addressed from Portland, Ore., and dated August 16, says:

"I have been away for several days, up in the eastern part of the state, or rather in the eastern part of our western part of the state, as our territory only includes the western half of Oregon. I left here Tuesday and went to the Dalles about ninety miles up the Columbia. I went from there about fifty miles further east and back through the mountains into one of the great wheat districts of the state. Talk about wheat! The poor farmers out in that section who only have 400 or 500 acres have a crop from fifteen to twenty thousand bushels; many of the farmers or rather ranchers, as they call them, have 1,000 to 2,000 acres in their ranchest and you can see nothing but wheat for miles around you.

"They make a big profit in raising wheat at about fifty cents a bushel. A rancher and a couple of his sons will take care of the entire ranch and the crops excepting just at harvest time, when they then hire a few men or else have the crop cut under contact. They claim that it does not cost them over 25 cents a bushel to raise the wheat and put it on board of the cars. A man with 20,000 bushels will make a profit of at least $5,000 for his season's work and many of them have 50,000 or 60,000 bushels. I saw one young man, a hard worker, who struck that part of the country with only $75 three years ago, and he now has about 500 acres of land all paid for and this year has a crop of about 12,000 bushels of wheat."