And is reached from Portland via Pendleton, on the main line of the Union
Pacific Ry. From Pendleton to Spokane Falls on the north the soil is rich
beyond belief; a black, loamy deposit so deep that it seems well-nigh
inexhaustible. This heavy soil predominates in the valleys, and while the
uplands are not so rich, still immense crops of wheat are raised. For
hundreds of miles on this new division of the Union Pacific the country
is a perfect garden land of wheat and fruit, and these farms are often of
mammoth proportions. Here are 13,000,000 acres of land possessing all the
requirements and advantages of climate and soil for the making of one
vast wheat-field. The enormous yield of 7,000,000 bushels of wheat has
been harvested in one valley.
The authentic figures of the crop yield in this splendid country seem
almost incredible. Fifty thousand bushels of wheat have been raised on
1,000 acres of land. As low as 35 bushels and as high as 74-1/4 bushels
of wheat to the acre have been harvested in this section. The average
covered seems to be from 47 to 55 bushels per acre, and no fertilizers
of any sort being required. The berry in its full maturity is very
solid, weighing from 65 to 69 pounds per bushel, this being from five
to nine pounds over standard weight. While wheat is the staple product,
oats are also grown, the yield being very heavy. Rye, barley, and flax
are also successfully cultivated. Clover, bunch-grass, and alfalfa grow
finely.
In the growing of fruits and vegetables this grand empire of Eastern
Washington is quite unsurpassed. At one of the recent agricultural
fairs a farmer exhibited 109 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and
cereals. These included the best qualities of Yellow Nansemond sweet
potatoes, mammoth melons of all varieties, eggplant, sorghum and syrup
cane, broom-corn, tobacco, grapes, cotton, peanuts, and many other
things, some of which do not attain to so high a degree of excellence
elsewhere farther north than the Carolinas. Peaches, apples, and prunes
of superior quality delighted the eye. Peaches had been marketed
continuously, from, the same orchards, from the 15th of July to the
15th of October. There were hanging in the pavilion diplomas awarded at
the New Orleans Exposition to citizens in this valley for exhibits of
the best qualities and greatest varieties of corn, wheat, oats, barley,
and hops.
The advantage to the farmer of rainless harvesting months is obvious. The
wheat is all harvested by headers, leaving the straw on the ground for its
enrichment. Thus binding, hauling, and sacking are largely dispensed with.
The grain, when threshed, is piled on the ground in jute sacks, saving the
expense of granaries and hauling to and from them. These jute sacks cost
for each bushel of grain about 3 cents, which is far less than farmers
elsewhere are subjected to in hauling their grain to and from granaries
and through a system of elevators until it reaches shipboard.
Here, as well as in Western Washington, most vegetables grow to an
enormous size, and are of superior quality when compared with the same
varieties grown in the East. Those kinds that require much heat, as
melons, tobacco, peppers, egg-plants, etc., grow to great perfection. The
root crops--beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, turnips, etc.--yield
prodigiously on the fertile bottom-land soils, without much care besides
ordinary cultivation. The table beet soon gets too large for the
dinner-pot. It is nothing unusual for a garden beet to weigh ten pounds,
and they often grow to eighteen or twenty pounds' weight. Mangel wurzel,
the stock beet, sometimes grows to forty and fifty pounds' weight, if
given room and proper cultivation. They may easily be made to produce
twenty-five tons per acre on good soil. All other vegetables, such as
parsnips, carrots, peas, beans, tomatoes, onions, cabbages, celery, and
cauliflower, are perfectly at home on every farm of Eastern Washington.
Market gardening is becoming quite an important pursuit, and holds out
particularly high inducements to the farmer, because of the superb market
now afforded by the non-producing mineral and timber regions, easily
accessible in this and adjacent Territories.
There are over 2,000 square miles of arable land in this magnificent
region, and there has never been a crop failure since its settlement.
Outside of Government lands prices range at from $4 to $10 per acre for
unimproved, and from $12 to $20 for improved lands.
[Illustration: HORSE TAIL FALLS, ORE.
On the Union Pacific Ry.]
Along the line of Union Pacific in this grand new empire will be found
many energetic, thriving young towns, all possessing those social and
educational facilities which are now a part of every Western village.
Pendleton, on the main line, is a wide-awake, bustling young city,
situated in a fine agricultural district. Walla Walla, Athena, Weston,
Waitsburg, Dayton, Pullman, Garfield, Latah, Tekoa, Colfax, Moscow,
Farmington, and Rockford are all thriving towns, and are already good
distributing centers. The last-named town enjoys the advantage of being
in the center of a fine lumber district, and within a circuit of five
miles from Rockford there are ten saw-mills, besides an inexhaustible
supply of mica. Crossing the border into Idaho, rich silver and lead
mines are found along the Coeur d'Alene River.
Rockford is twenty-four miles from Spokane Falls, and has about 1,000
population; its elevation is 2,440 feet. Four miles distant is the
boundary of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, a lovely tract, thirty by
seventy miles in extent, embracing beautiful Coeur d'Alene Lake and the
three rivers, St. Joseph, St. Marys, and Coeur d'Alene, which empty
into it. There about 250 Indians on this reservation, and they enjoy
the proud distinction of being the only tribe who refuse Government
aid. They have been offered the usual rations, but preferred to remain
independent. They live in houses, farm quite extensively, and use all
kinds of improved farm machinery; many of them are quite wealthy. The
lake is one of the prettiest sheets of water on the continent; its
waters are full of salmon, and in the heavy pine woods are many
varieties of game, from quail to grizzly bear and elk. The town of
Rockford will in the near future assume importance as a tourist point,
both from its own healthy and picturesque location, and its nearness to
Coeur d'Alene Lake. A Government Commission is now at work on a
settlement with the Indians, whereby the whole or a part of this noble
domain will be thrown open to the public. The peculiar attractions of
Coeur d'Alene must in a short time render it a much sought for resort.