I live just West of Condon Or, on an old Air Force Radar base. The nearest town (Condon) only has 500 people in it and is 5 miles from me. I love living out in the "sticks"!

My county is about 1,800 sq miles, and we only have about 1,700 people in the county......

We're mostly a farming, and ranching area.

 

My dad is putting up a new shop building that should be complete within the next month. I can help you with oil changes, fuel filter changes, etc... plus some other common fixes for the 7.3

Got any pics of the truck?

 

97 is nothing! Maybe towards the North end a bit, but still it isn't anywhere near as remote as further East. Try heading to the SE corner of the state for remote.

The valley is 1/5 of the state's land. 80% of the population lives in the valley. The number 1 employer in the state is high tech, mainly found in Portland, Eugene and Corvallis. There is a little bit over in Bend, but not much. The three cities with any kind of manufacturing are Portland, Salem & Eugene-Springfield.

The number 2 employer in the state is forestry. By its nature, forestry is spread all over the state - almost 1/2 of the whole state is forest.

The number 3 employer in the state is agriculture. Agriculture is very diverse in Oregon, due to the wide climate variety. The coastal river plains are ruled by dairy. In the valley there's a wide variety; nursery, vegetables, grass / grain seed, corn and wheat. The area near 97 is heavily farmed as cattle range land. Lots of the fields over there are all broken up with lava rock formations and haphazard good and bad soil. It's just plain hard to farm so it get used as range-land. Just East of 97 on the North end of the state is the wheat basket of the state.

 

And that's why I'm going to OSU for the forestry program... And then get another job working for the man so I can keep my military retirement I already started paying for.

 

Thanks for the Oregon info-- diesel and non-diesel.

I get the diversity of the climates and soil here, and how that creates jobs (or not) and types of agriculture.

A couple of Willamette Valley questions. The horse people bitch about the clay (no drainage) and the soil (valley hay leaves much to be desired in the way of nutrition; they have to import Eastern Oregon hay). So....

1) What grows/is raised well here?
2) Why put a land grant university in Corvallis if the Willamette Valley isn't "all that and a bag of chips" for soil that supports bigger farming?

Just curious about the farming and historical questions.

Brown Falcon-- can I come by for help with that oil change? (Man, that was an embarrassing question....gotta start somewhere).

Pics of Tall Georgia Smokestack, my "museum quality" 2001 F-350 will be forthcoming as soon as I can clean her up some. She doesn't look very "museum quality" right now. Dirt, rain and black truck don't mix.

So another "best of" question:

Best detailer?

 

The soil in the valley is actually two very different types. If you're under 400' the soil is very good and drains well, BUT the water table is high all winter. In most places the water table is right at or above the surface. As soon as you get on the hills, it changes to heavy clay soil. Either way it is miring slop from October till June.

You will always find the horses on the clay ground because if people try to put them on the quality soil they'll be up to their knees in water and mud in the winter.

The biggest problem with valley hay is that you can't harvest it during it's prime. We don't dry out until late June. It is usually over ripe by the time it dries enough. Over on the other side it's easy to harvest right at the prime.

Corn, mint, meadowfoam, broccoli, onion, radish, pumpkin, silage, grass seed, sod, and ornamental nursery stock. That's just what I come up with off the top of my head

In terms of $$$$, the Willamette Valley is the center of ag in the state.

It is declining though, some of the best land has already been paved over. All of the farms are gone from the Willamette Delta (out by the airport). Over in Hillsborough there is very good ground there that is rapidly disappearing.

 

Grass for seed is the largest crop in the valley, over 1 million acres of grass, wheat is making a strong prescence now because prices are thru the roof, wine grapes and vineyards are popping up everywhere and hops are declining. I work in the Ag Chemical industry, its a great job in a declining economy because the crops keep growing no matter what. Evan great choice on Forestry, I deal with Weyerhaeuser and all the major foresters in the valley and on the coast, you may have met our Forestry Salesman Bruce Kelpsas, he gives presentations at OSU and has field days

 

Thanks for the Oregon climate/ag background. I don't think I could have learned so much so fast from the OSU circle I'm with. (We do less useful academic things.) But I love the general mission of land grant schools, so I want to figure out how the one I work for (and I) can actually be useful to the taxpayers in that state. It's just how I roll.

Can't believe they put an airport over good farm land.... when there is so much land....when the Willamette Valley and it's local university were already aware of it's value for growing....in a farming state. This isn't California where they are running out of space.... or scrape off the top soil and sell it before building on that land.

 

The whole story of the Willamette Delta stinks. It was originally diked by farmers. Most of the land is barely above seal level. If it wasn't for the dikes and pumps, it would be under water.

In WWII, Kaiser Steel was looking for land to build a city to house workers they were bringing in to build liberty ships and aircraft carriers. They picked the only open land nearby - where Portland International Raceway and Portland Meadows are now. In 1949 the city the built - Vanport - flooded and was washed away. The USACE agreed to build the dikes back, but the city had to agree no more building in the flood plain.

The original airport was on Swan Island. Swan Island is right on the Willamette just downriver from the I-405 bridge. When the jet age arrived they needed a longer runway and couldn't fit it there. Again the open land in the Delta caught their eye. It is a horrible place to put an airport. When the river is high, the runways can be as much as 30' below the river level. The gorge winds and ice mess up the airport frequently.

The airport was the only thing in the delta until the 80's. By then it was completely surrounded by city. It was a very frequent area of contention as both sides fought in court and in the legislature. Around 1990 development was green lighted and it filled in very fast.

 

Gotcha-- a standard kind of late-20th Century story. 30' (that would be 30 FEET?) below the river for those runways?

An important lesson for us all contemplating drainage issues: You will never win against water.... but you can spend every nickel you have trying.

Last trivia question, promise:

What is a 'Dalles,' or "Dalle" as in The Dalles, OR? And not pronounced "Dallas"?

 

The Dalles is French for flagstone. It was named for the rocks around the city.

There is a Dallas 25 miles North of you. That usually messes people up, having two cities with similar names.

 

Thanks, joe. I did know the Dallas/The Dalles difference. Now with your explanation of the French name, I can fool some of the people some of the time about my Oregon knowledge.

 

I'm sure we can work that out. I'd be glad to help you out with an oil change.
Can't help you on a detailer. The most detailing my truck has ever got is a shop vac and a hand-wash.

I havn't started the actual program yet, and the degree I'm getting is part of the forestry program but not specifically forestry. I'm trying to get a bachelor's in Recreational Resources Management.

 

Best Detailer bar none, Willamette Auto Detail in Salem, they use the best products and have the best prices around, they actually care about their work

 

Props to Brown Falcon for helping me change the oil on Smokestack for the first time. The Red-n-Whiter was right there in the driveway so that I could find the place. It looks even nicer in person and Evan has some good plans for it. I'll be psyched to watch the progress.

Evan, I did find an appropriate "thank you" gift for you. I'll bring it by sometime. Evan's dad also makes biodiesel. Smokestack says she's like to try some of that homebrew.