Clark, Robert Carlton, Ph.D. "History of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Vol. 3.
Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1927. p. 346.
 
R. B. NELSON

     Few men have achieved such outstanding success in a field of effort with
which they were not previously familiar as has R. B. Nelson in the chicken
business, far from a modest beginning he has forged ahead until today his flock
is officially recognized as one of the best in the country, while his material
success has been commensurate with the efforts he has made. His poultry farm is
located near Springfield.

     Mr. Nelson is a native of Nebraska, his birth occurring on the 2nd of
November, 1886, and he is a son of Joseph and Nellie (Wilson) Nelson, the former
of whom was a native of Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools of his
native state and in 1902 came to Eugene, Oregon, where he was employed as a
laborer, painter and laundryman. In 1910 he went to work on the street railway
and eventually became a conductor on the Portland line. Later he removed to
Seattle, Washington, where he served as a street car motorman, and on leaving
that position, he returned to Eugene, where he worked as an electrician for the
Mountain States Power Company, with which concern he remained two years,
followed by three years as an electrician for the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company.

     In the spring of 1916 Mr. Nelson decided to enter the chicken business, at
which time his assets were five White Leghorn chickens, fifty dollars in money
and a large stock of vitality and ambition. Buying ten acres of land near
Springfield, he went to work and in the course of time, by persistent industry
and intelligent and thoughtful direction of his operations, he began to realize
on his enterprise, and from that time on he has commanded uniform success.
Starting in with practically no buildings, he now has a model poultry plant,
with substantial incubating and brooding houses, a cozy and comfortable home,
and a private water system, by which fresh water is constantly supplied to all
parts of the plant. He has fifteen hundred purebred White Leghorn hens, while
the plant itself, with the land, is valued at one thousand, six hundred dollars,
free of indebtedness. Mr. Nelson specializes in pedigreed White Leghorn baby
chicks, of which he hatched thirty thousand in the spring of 1927, and even at
that many orders had to be returned, as the demand far exceeded his supply. A
large number of his hens average two hundred and fifty eggs a year, while
several have averaged over three hundred. Eggs from the latter bring
seventy-five cents each and baby chicks from these high producers have brought
one dollar and a half each. Mr. Nelson has sold males lately for as much as
fifty dollars each. He has won many prizes on his stock wherever shown and won
two consecutive years at the Pacific International Poultry Show in Portland, on
the best display of any breed, also first, second, third, fourth and fifth
prizes on cockerels and first, second, third and fourth prizes on pullets. It
was said by the poultry press to have been "the outstanding exhibit of the whole
show."

     In 1909 Mr. Nelson was united in marriage to Miss Pearl Powers, a daughter
of Frank Powers, of Eugene, an early settler in the Willamette Valley. Mrs.
Nelson has ably seconded her husband's efforts and is herself an expert in the
chicken business. Mr. Nelson is a member of the Oregon Poultry Association and
he and his wife belong to the Christian church at Springfield. They are entitled
to great credit for what they have accomplished, and today they stand among the
leaders in the poultry business in this section of the country, a position not
attained by any lucky stroke of fortune's wheel, but only by the hardest sort of
work along well defined lines.

     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2016 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.