Walla Walla is so named from its abundant supply of water. Many little
streams run over the surface and many more under ground. This valley is
noted for the richness of its soil, which is decomposed lava, and its
wonderful climate. This delightful climate is shorn of its harshness by
the magical breath of the Chinook wind.
The principal crop here is wheat. A Walla Walla ranchman never thinks
of planting anything else. The soil is so easy of cultivation that all
he needs to do is to plow the ground, sow the wheat and go fishing
until it is ready to harvest. Wheat brings him wealth and prosperity.
Every year one-half of a ranch is allowed to lie fallow, but an
Illinois farmer would rotate crops instead. The fallow fields, however,
are kept perfectly clean and free from weeds.
During the rainy season the soil, which is rich in potash and
phosphoric acid, stores up moisture sufficient to mature the wheat.
Only three pecks of wheat are sown to the acre, as the grain stools
very much.
The average farm contains six hundred acres, but there are many ranches
of from a thousand to fifteen hundred acres.
For cutting the grain the old-fashioned header is used, also the
ordinary reaper and binder, but the combined harvester and thresher is
the king of reapers. It is drawn by from twenty-five to thirty mules,
cuts the grain, threshes it, sacks it, and dumps it on the ground ready
for shipment.
Wheat averages from twenty to thirty bushels to the acre. Some years
the average is much higher. In 1898 wheat went sixty bushels to the
acre.
The price of land runs from thirty dollars to sixty dollars per acre.
Comfortable homes and green orchards dot the landscape. The orchards,
however, must be irrigated. The Blue mountains supply plenty of water
for this purpose.
At the experiment stations established throughout the semi-arid
regions of the west, investigation of the excessive alkali in the soil
is being carried on.
In many regions of California and Utah large tracts of irrigated land
are practically non-productive because of the presence of an excess
of alkali. Investigation has proven that this is due to excessive
irrigation. When water is applied to the soil it brings to the surface
when it rises, the salts.
In seeking a remedy for this evil the experiment stations have
demonstrated that in most instances crops do not require nearly so much
water as is usually applied to them. Working along practical lines in
the solution of this, to the West, great problem, the stations hope
eventually to show just what quantity of water a given crop in a given
locality requires.
The establishment of this truth will save much land now under ditch and
extend the area of irrigation by demonstrating that more land can be
supplied with water from the available supply.
In Montana, Idaho, Washington and the semi-arid districts of other
states experiments are being carried on in the line of forage plants.
In these states success has been quite satisfactory with the cow pea,
which is usually planted with oats. Red clover flourishes as well here
as in the East.
Success in farming depends upon a thorough knowledge of soil, climate
and rainfall. The farmers are coming to depend upon the experiment
stations for much of this knowledge.
Agriculture was early practiced in this valley, the Walla Walla region
proper being part of the old Oregon country. The Hudson Bay Company
established posts at the junction of the Walla Walla and Columbia
rivers, at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia river and at Fort Colville in
the Colville valley, north of the present city of Spokane. With these
people agriculture and the fur trade went hand in hand. In 1828 seven
hundred bushels of wheat were raised at Fort Vancouver and in 1829
seventy acres were under cultivation at Fort Colville.