Kittitas county is located about in the center of the state, and
takes in the upper reaches and most of the watershed of the Yakima
river. It has a population of about 20,000 in an area of 2,400
square miles. On its northwestern side it is bordered by two ranges
of the Cascade mountains, while its southwestern side lies on the
Columbia river.
Among the sources of the Yakima river are three large lakes, Keechelus,
Kachess and Cle-Elum, most beautiful bodies of mountain water and
the sources of the great irrigation systems now fathered by the
national government and making the Yakima valley a veritable garden
pot of orchards and vegetables, grasses and flowers.