Grant county occupies about 2,700 square miles of what was formerly
Douglas county, comprising the lands southeast of the Grand and
Moses coulees, bordering on the southwest on the Columbia river,
with Adams and Lincoln counties on its eastern border.
Ephrata is the county seat, on the Great Northern railway. The
northern part of the county is traversed by the Great Northern
railroad, and has developed into a vast region of grain production
without irrigation, although originally supposed to be valueless
for cereal-raising.
The southern part is new and comparatively undeveloped, but is
crossed by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, just now
giving this new county great impetus. The southern portion of the
county has long been a grazing ground for herds of cattle and horses,
but it is thought now it will be turned into a prosperous region
of small farms.
While the county is cut by several coulees, it is chiefly composed
of large areas of bench lands, comparatively level, barring a range
of hills in its southwestern corner called Saddle mountains. There
is considerable water in the county, Moses lake being quite a large
body of water with bordering swampy lands, about in the center,
and Wilson creek, in the northern and Crab creek, in the southern
part, furnishing considerable stock water.