COLVILLE is both the county seat and principal town in the county,
having a population of 1,600 people, and is a growing town, a
distributing center on the railroad, surrounded by prosperous farming
communities.
NORTHPORT is the center of much mining activity and has a large
smelter for the reduction of ores of the precious metals. It has
a population of 1,200.
CHEWELAH is a center of agriculture, mining and lumbering industries
in the center of the county, having about 1,000 people.
NEWPORT, in the southeastern part of the county, is an important
agricultural distributing center. A dozen other smaller towns offer
great opportunities to the homeseeker.
[Illustration: Plate No. 77.--Raising Potatoes in Young Orchard,
Spokane County.]
[Illustration: Plate No. 78.--Basalt Columns, Spokane River at Spokane.]
[Illustration: Plate No. 79.--STEVENS COUNTY VIEWS. "Where the
Elephant Drinks," a Remarkable Crag on the Bank of the Pend d'Oreille
River. A Typical Fruit Ranch. Flume Creek Falls.]
[Illustration: Plate No. 80.--Stevens County Timber. Cedar Forest.
White Pine Forest. Yellow Pine Forest.]
[Page 85]
THURSTON COUNTY
Thurston county is known as having the state capital, Olympia,
within its borders, and as including the extreme southern reaches
of Puget sound. It is a county of wooded hills and valleys with
a few open prairies well watered by mountain streams, chief of
which is the Nisqually, which forms its dividing line from Pierce
county, and the Des Chutes river, which makes a splendid waterfall
of some 85 feet, a few miles south of Olympia. It has an area of
about 700 square miles, 100 miles of salt-water shore, a population
of about 20,000, and a delightful climate and magnificent scenery of
lofty mountains; great expanse of inland salt water, and green-clad
islands and fields in every direction.