Wasco County OR Archives Biographies.....Hage, C. A. February 8, 1868 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 24, 2007, 10:22 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

	C. A. HAGE.  That success is the legitimate outcome of persistent 
industry, backed by good judgment in taking advantage of opportunity, has been 
exemplified in the business career of C. A. Hage, of Mosier, Wasco county, 
Oregon, who has gained a wide reputation as a maker of high grade cider, his 
product being known from coast to coast.  Mr. Hage was born in Bavaria, 
Germany, on the 8th day of February, 1868, and is a son of Jacob and Katie 
Hage, also natives of that country.  His father was a farmer and a preacher of 
the Mennonite church.  Both parents are deceased, the father dying in 1877 and 
the mother in 1887.  They were the parents of eight children, Joseph, Otto, 
Bertha, Gustaf, Oswald, Elizabeth, Jacob and C. A., of whom Joseph and Gustaf 
are deceased.
	C. A. Hage received a good education in the public schools of his 
native land, walking two miles to and from the schoolhouse, and from the age 
of nine years he also worked on the home farm every day outside of school 
hours.  After leaving school he worked on farms in his home neighborhood for 
several years, and also resided for about seven months in Munich, the capital 
of Bavaria.  In 1885, when seventeen years of age, he came to the United 
States, and went direct to Pekin, Illinois, near which place he worked on 
farms for four years.  He went from there to Wisconsin, where he was employed 
at railroad work during the winter, which proved to be the coldest winter in 
the history of that state, the thermometer registering sixty-seven degrees 
below zero.  In 1890 Mr. Hage went to Spokane, Washington, where he worked for 
the Northern Pacific Railroad until 1905, when he came to Wasco county, and 
located on one hundred and sixty acres of land which he had bought in 1901 and 
which was located about four miles south of Mosier. The land was covered with 
oak grubs and after clearing off about ten acres and finding that the soil was 
not adapted for fruit raising, he sold the place and in 1912 bought fifty-five 
acres of land adjoining the town of Mosier on the west.  This was raw land, 
being covered with timber, brush and stones, but the soil was good and the 
location ideal, so he at once erected a good house and in the fall of that 
year started an apple cider plant.  He bought a small power cider press and 
during that season made one hundred barrels of cider.  Owing to the lack of a 
ready market, most of this cider turned to vinegar, but as the superior 
quality of his product became better known his market gradually increased and 
during the subsequent years has grown to enormous proportions, so that in 1925 
he made twenty-five thousand gallons of cider, for all of which he found a 
ready market.  In 1918 Mr. Hage bought a large, modern press, added a boiler 
to the plant, and from time to time has made other additions to the plant, so 
that he is now the owner of one of the best equipped cider factories in this 
section of the country, the mill now having a capacity of two thousand gallons 
a day, equivalent to forty fifty-gallon barrels.  He ships his products to all 
states west of the Rocky mountains and, through the advertising which he 
receives from the many tourists who stop and buy the cider, he has received 
orders for it from every section of the country.  During the past two years 
Mr. Hage has been making a new drink, composed of half cider and half 
cranberry juice, which has become exceedingly popular.  He has a fine supply 
of pure spring water, which he keeps in storage tanks under pressure.  His 
equipment includes a machine for washing the apples and one for washing 
bottles and jars, both of which are electrically operated.  All of the 
containers are thoroughly sterilized before being filled, and the cider is 
sterilized before being bottled, so that it will keep sweet indefinitely until 
opened.  He always provides in spring time for the tourists’ trade with about 
ten thousand gallons of cider, all being put up in glass, from one pint to 
five gallon containers, handsomely labeled.  Mr. Hage erected the buildings 
and installed all of the equipment himself, being an all-round mechanic, stone-
mason, carpenter and machinist, and can personally operate any part of the 
plant.  His home is surrounded by a splendid lawn, the grounds having been 
laid out and improved by him, and he now has one of the most attractive homes 
in this locality.  He is a keen lover of nature in all of its forms and has 
made a game sanctuary of his property, from which hunters are excluded, and 
during the months of cold and deep snow, he feeds the wild birds, which 
recognize him as a friend and protector and flock to his place.  Shade trees 
and flowers abound on the place and Mr. Hage has as far as possible indulged 
his love for the beautiful in nature.  He is unmarried, his home being kept by 
his sister-in-law, whose husband, Mr. Hage’s brother, assists in the operation 
of the ranch.  Mr. Hage is a man of kindly and genial manner, hospitable and 
courteous to all who come his way, and many tourists have found his place a 
real oasis, where they can rest and refresh themselves on their travels.  
Throughout the community he is held in high regard by his fellowmen and is 
considered one of Wasco county’s best citizens.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley from The Dalles to the Sea, Pages 164-165

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