Western Stock Journal, Volume 2, No. 7, August 1913

Oregon City, OR: Grant B. Dimick, 1913.

Softcover. Very good. 9" x 12", pp. 171-194, stapled binding. Light soiling, old dampstain to back cover, but still very good. Single issue of this scarce magazine, which billed itself as the "only journal on the Pacific Coast published in the interests of stock men" and "devoted exclusively to to livestock, modern dairying methods, and good breeding." It was founded in 1912 by Judge Grant B. Dimick, a lawyer and Clackamas County Court judge who was then a well-known and highly respected citizen (a condition that was not to last). He was a bank president, head of the Willamette Valley & Southern Railroad, and a five-term Mayor of Oregon City, among other accomplishments. His agricultural bona fides came from his ownership of a 530-acre farm, where he raised cattle, sheep, and pigs. The Journal offered practical advice and news for farmers, as well as a healthy dose of Oregon and Pacific coast boosterism. It was published only until 1915, when it was purchased by and merged with the Western Farmer. Dimick went on to defraud as many as 500 people -- railroad men, clerks, storekeepers, laborers, widows, and farmers -- in a Madoff-worthy scheme in which he sold fake mortgages, securing clients by paying a higher-than-average interest rate, and doing a disappearing act with a suitcase full of cash when his deception was uncovered. We locate issues of this journal only at the University of Oregon and Oregon State.

Item #21854

Price: $75.00