A Review of the Resources and Industries of the State of Washington, 1909 Part 19

RESOURCES.

The resources of the county consist in its timber, its fertile soil, and the fish in the river and ocean.

INDUSTRIES.

Logging, saw-milling, and industries growing out of these; agriculture, dairying, and fis.h.i.+ng are the chief occupation of its people. There are several logging concerns in the county and large saw-mills.

Fish canneries dot its river sh.o.r.es; several creameries and dairies are manufacturing b.u.t.ter, while its farms produce hay, potatoes, fruits, cattle, hogs, poultry, eggs, and other products, chiefly for the Portland market. Many of its citizens are fishermen and some make considerable sums trapping fur animals in the winters.

TRANSPORTATION.

The Columbia river is the great highway of the county; no railroads are within its borders or near. Owing to the small area of the county, this condition is no great drawback, as all the people have ready access to the river wharves.

PRINc.i.p.aL TOWNS.

CATHLAMET, on the Columbia, is the county seat, with about 500 people, and is the chief distributing center of the county.

ROSBURG, DEEP RIVER, BROOKFIELD, ALTOONA, and SKAMOKAWA are centers of industry. This county offers exceptional opportunities for the frontiersman.

WALLA WALLA COUNTY

Walla Walla is the county of many waters. It is the most western of the southeastern counties of the state, and is bounded north and west by the Snake and Columbia rivers. It has 1,296 square miles and a population of about 30,000. The elevation varies from 350 feet at the Columbia river to 2,500 feet along its eastern border. It is a succession of plains and rolling hills, covered with bunch-gra.s.s, with some trees along the streams. Its soil varies from quite sandy volcanic ash in the low lands near the Columbia to a [Page 87]

heavier clay loam in the eastern parts. In common with much of eastern Was.h.i.+ngton, these lands increase in fertility with successive cultivations. The climate is mild, healthful and vigorous.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 81.--Farm Scene Near Colville, Stevens County.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 82.--View of Calispell Valley and Pend d'Oreille River, Stevens County.]

RESOURCES.

Walla Walla county is essentially agricultural. Its chief resource is its soil fertility. This is such that few farmers can be found who have not bank accounts.

PRODUCTS.

The annual production of wheat in Walla Walla county is about 5,000,000 bushels. Barley is also a profitable crop. Oats and some corn are also raised. Large crops of alfalfa hay are annually marketed, chiefly from irrigated lands. Fruit of all kinds is abundant. There are 2,500 acres devoted to orchards. Market gardening is an important and growing industry.

TRANSPORTATION.

There are 310 miles of railroads in this county, both the Northern Pacific and Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company railroads competing for the traffic. In addition to the railroads, steamboats are plying the rivers around the edge of the county, giving additional facilities for transportation.

PRINc.i.p.aL CITIES AND TOWNS.

WALLA WALLA, the county seat, has a population of about 22,000 and is the commercial center for the southeastern part of the state.

Its streets are paved. The city owns its own system of water, at a cost of $600,000. It is lighted with electricity and gas, has large banks and business houses, U. S. land office, U. S. courts, U. S. cavalry post, an Odd Fellows' home, and a Home for Widows and Orphans. There are manufacturing industries employing 400 men, turning out $2,000,000 of productions annually. An electric system of street cars traverses the streets and is projected into several other near-by towns.

WAITSBURG is an important agricultural town of about 1,600 people, in the western part of the county, having both railroad systems, and s.h.i.+ps great quant.i.ties of grain. It has large flouring mills, warehouses, fine schools and churches, and is a prosperous, thriving town.

A large number of s.h.i.+pping points on both systems of railroads are growing commercial centers.

WHATCOM COUNTY

Whatcom county lies on the boundary of British Columbia, stretching from the Straits of Georgia to the peaks of the Cascade mountains--24 miles wide and 100 miles long, The eastern half or more of the county is included in the national forest reserve, with Mount Baker, 10,827 feet high, in the center of the county. It is one of the important counties on tide water, and has an area of 2,226 square miles and a population of about 70,000.

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The climate is not different from the general Puget sound climate being mild and healthful. There are no severe storms, no sultry heat and no severe cold.

RESOURCES.

It is estimated that Whatcom county has three billion feet of standing timber. This is its greatest source of wealth. The western half of the county, outside of the lumbering, etc., is blessed with a wealth of soil responding to the farmer's labor generously.

The eastern half of the county is essentially a mountainous, forest-covered mining region, and has in store many veins of nearly all the metals.

Game of great variety of animals and fowls and fish are abundant.

INDUSTRIES.

The people of Whatcom county are engaged in lumbering and running saw-mills, one of the largest of the state being in this county; manufacturing of various kinds from the raw products in the county, including s.h.i.+ngle mills and s.h.i.+ngle machinery factory, salmon canneries, planing mills, barrel factories, Portland cement factory, and many others. Of no small importance is farming, fruit-growing and dairying.

Prospecting and mining engage the attention and labor of a large number of citizens.

TRANSPORTATION.

Aside from having a long salt-water coast, open to traffic from the ocean, with splendid harbors, the county is traversed in all its agricultural half by a network of railroads, by the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, B. B. and B. C. railroads. These furnish exceptional means of traffic to all industries excepting the mining.

The county has also an admirable system of wagon roads, some planked, some graveled and some graded and drained, covering about 700 miles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 83.--Products of Thurston County Waters.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 84.--Thurston County Stick. 14,000 Feet.

Sandstone Quarry, Tenino, Thurston County. Logging with Oxen. Early Days in Thurston County.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 84.--Five Combined Harvesters at Work on a Walla Walla County Wheat Farm.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 86.--Ploughing the Ground for Wheat-Growing, Walla Walla County.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 87.--Bird's-Eye View of a Portion of Bellingham, Whatcom County.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 88.--Typical Farm Scenes in Whatcom County.]

PRINc.i.p.aL CITIES AND TOWNS.

BELLINGHAM, on a salt-water bay of the same name, is the county seat, and commercial metropolis not only for this county but much other territory. It has a population of about 40,000 people. Into it all the railroads center, while the harbor is one of the best in Was.h.i.+ngton. It is largely a manufacturing town, having plants for the production of sash, doors, columns, tin cans, boilers, engines, flour and feed, canned fish, condensed milk, and many others. It is a substantial, live business community of wide-awake people, and growing rapidly. It has a gravity water system, electric lights, and gas plant.

BLAINE is a city of about 3,000 inhabitants, situated close to the Canadian line and on the Great Northern railway. Timber and lumber manufactures are the chief sources of its prosperity. Fis.h.i.+ng and the canning of salmon are also important industries. The railroad [Page 89]

company has recently expended considerable sums in improving its facilities. Blaine is a growing community.

SUMAS, on the Canadian border, is a lumbering town of 1,100 people.

LYNDEN is an agricultural center of 1,200 citizens.