| Show IN EASTERN OREGON I Utah People There Prominent Promi-nent in Business and Mines I OREGON LUMBER COMPANY i I I It Is Owned and Managed by Ogden MenThe Annexation of South Baker City Made Commotion City Council Submits t People n Proposition Propo-sition to Bond the City for Public Lighting System Lumber Company I Com-pany Opposes the Proposition and Threatens to Move Its Plant I i Baker City Or May 3A great many people from Utah reside In and about Baker City They are engaged In i mining farming lumbering and manufacturing enterprises All of the principal officers of the Ogden City waterworks reside here the Ogden Waterworks company being an Oregon corporation Tohn C Young an old Salt Laker and former Tribune man Is one of the leading l citizens of Baker City He is a leading stockholder in the Eagle mine near Jiere in which several Salt Lake parties are also largely Inter ested The company is Utah corporation I corpor-ation I is understood here that the late l K C Chambers was a heavy stockholder in this property Thc mine Is I considered one of the valuable claims of East Oregon a The Oregon Lumber company of which David Eccles Thomas D Dee W ll Spencer and others of Ogden and Salt Lake are the principal stockholders stock-holders has Its mills and lumberyards lumber-yards located here This company I owns the Sumpter Valley railroad a narrowgauge road which runs from f here to Sumpter about thirtylive l miles west from here In thc heart of the Eastern Oregon timber and mining mi-ning region The men back of the lumber and railroad companies are also the owners own-ers of the Baker City Gas and Electric Light works and thereby hangs a taleS tale-S a A The mill and lumber yards of the lumber company are In South Baker 1 which until recently Joined Baker City on the south A CJ very prosperous village of several hundred people mostly employees of tho lumber company com-pany from Utah has grown up there during thc past four or five years The residents of South Baker have enjoyed all the comforts of city life without the annoyance of having to pay taxes for municipal purposes The payroll of the lumber company amounts to over 10 i 000 per month a great deal of which finds Its way Into the tills of Baker City merchants C When the Oregon Legislature was in session last winter among numerous I other measures passed was one amending amend-ing the charter of Baker City by extending ex-tending tho southern boundary line about half a mile toward the equator The bill passed was signed by tho Governor and became a law some time ago but Its effect did not dawn on the lumber company people so they say until a fow days ago when as General Passenger Agent Joe Barton put It We found out we were in town The annexation of Sputh Baker adds many thousands of dollars worth of taxable property to the municipal taxroll of Baker City The South Baker people declare that they never petitioned for annexation to Baker City and they object most emphatically emphati-cally to being taken in In this way To add to the discomfort of the situation situa-tion the City Council not long since voted to build a municipal electric light plant and thus Inaugurate the system of municipal ownership of public utili ties hero In Baker City a system which was very much in favor seemingly seem-ingly with a large majority of the people until Saturday last when the t coldblooded announcement was made that in case the proposition to bond I the city to build an electric light plant carries at the special election specal on Monday Mon-day tho 20th lust the Oregon Lumber Lum-ber company would In all probability move their mills and lumber yards to Whitney the new terminus of the Sumpter Valley railroad about fifteen I miles beyond Sumpter The lumber company people dont take kindly to the Idea of being annexed to Baker City against their voice and vote anon an-on top of that having their property taxed to build a municipal light plant to run in opposition to the one they own and on which they will have lo pay taxes to build the rival plant They claim that as they own the railroad they can move their mills to Whitney for n much less sum than their additional taxes will be If I they remain and the bonds carry tr a I When the announcement of the contemplated con-templated move was made n wave of consternation spread through Baker City and especially among the business I community Just before the proposition I to move the mills was made public the friends of municipal ownership I had very little opposition to contend With the electric light bonds apparently parently wore sure to be voted Now It Is different Several leading business men have been out working hard against the light bonds and the result Is uncertain a I The friends of municipal ownership say the lumber company Is working n bluff to kill the light bonds in tho interest of their own lighting company com-pany and that they would not move the mills under any consideration no matter how tho lighting proposition is decided Several leading merchants say they do not care to run the risk of a move and they are trying to defeat de-feat the bonds |
