A Review of the Resources and Industries of the State of Washington, 1909 Part 20

FERNDALE is a lumber center of 1,000 people. Besides, there are a dozen smaller business centers in the county, growing and prosperous.

WHITMAN COUNTY

Whitman county is one of the chief agricultural counties of the state, lying immediately south of Spokane county and on the Idaho state line, having the Snake river for its southern boundary. The county is a plateau of rolling prairie lands, a large portion of which is farmed, watered by a number of streams, which are utilized for irrigation purposes in some of the bottom lands--although the rainfall is sufficient to mature crops, and no irrigation is had on the great bulk of the farms. The area is about 2,000 square miles. The population is about 40,000. The soil is a strong mixture of volcanic ash and clay of great fertility and permanence. Twenty years of wheat-growing still leaves the soil able to produce from 25 to 50 bushels per acre.

RESOURCES.

All the resources of the county originate in this splendid soil.

For growing all the cereals and fruits and vegetables it has no superior. The county is well settled, and probably no county can excel Whitman county in the per capita wealth of its farmers. The products of the county are varied, and include wheat, oats, barley and hay, all giving splendid yields--wheat from 30 to 50 bushels, oats 60 to 100 bushels, barley from 50 to 80 bushels, and hay from 4 to 6 tons per acre. Potatoes, sugar beets and other vegetables produce fine crops.

The hardier fruits, such as apples, pears, plums and cherries, are successfully raised in all parts of the county, while on the bottom lands, along the Snake river, peaches, melons, etc., are produced in abundance. Seventy-five carloads of fruit go out annually from one orchard.

Wheat gives up five and one-half million bushels to the farmers each year. Oats one and three-fourths million and barley about one-half million bushels. Whitman county has more banks than any county in eastern Was.h.i.+ngton besides Spokane.

TRANSPORTATION.

Whitman county is as well, or better, provided with railroads than any agricultural county in the state. The Northern Pacific, O.

R. & N., Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the S. & I. railroads are all interlaced about its grain-fields. These all connect with Spokane, and give access to all eastern and western markets.

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PRINc.i.p.aL TOWNS.

COLFAX, the county seat, situated near the center of the county, on the railroads and Palouse river, is the largest town in the county, with about 3,600 population. The town owns its own water system, has electric lights, fine court-house, banks, mills, warehouses, etc.

PULLMAN is a town of 3,000 people, near which is located the Was.h.i.+ngton State College, a large educational inst.i.tution supported by the state, having about 1,000 students. It is an important grain-s.h.i.+pping point. It has a public water system, electric lights, and is a thriving and growing commercial center.

PALOUSE is a railroad center of 2,500 people, a large s.h.i.+pping point for grain, live stock, fruits and pottery.

OAKESDALE is a town of 1,500 people, having three railroads, and is an important s.h.i.+pping point.

TEKOA has a population of about 1,400, is a railroad center, and is a large s.h.i.+pper of fruits and grain.

GARFIELD has a population of 1,000, and s.h.i.+ps much grain and other produce.

ROSALIA has 1,000 population, and is an important grain center.

This county has a dozen other s.h.i.+pping points where from 300 to 700 people are supported by the business originating on the tributary farms.

YAKIMA COUNTY

Yakima county is one of the large and important counties in the state, having the Yakima Indian reservation included within its boundaries. Its area is 3,222 square miles and it has a population of about 38,000. It is watered by the Yakima river and its tributaries, and through its valleys the railroads from the east find their easiest grade toward the Cascade pa.s.ses. It is a county of level valleys and plateaus, having a soil made up chiefly of volcanic ash and disintegrated basaltic rocks, of great depth, which yields fabulously in cereal and gra.s.s crops, fruits and vegetables with the magic touch of irrigation. Artificial watering is 30 years old in this valley, and yet only a very small area was thus treated until the matter was taken up by the national government. But now vast areas are being provided with water, and the consequent growth and development of the county is wonderful.

A series of lakes in the mountains are being utilized as reservoirs, and from these lakes the waters are being distributed in many directions in the large irrigating ca.n.a.ls. When the projects now under way are completed, more than 200,000 acres will be under ditches.

RESOURCES.

Yakima's wealth consists in the combination of its soil and water and climate. The county, lying east of the Cascade mountains, in [Page 91]

large part at a low elevation, receives somewhat severe heat in the summer, which gives the opportunity successfully to ripen the less hardy fruits--peaches, apricots, grapes, etc. The county has half a million bearing trees and two and one-half million young trees growing in its orchards.

INDUSTRIES.

Naturally the industries of the county consist in exploiting its natural resources, and so we find Yakima citizens busy in raising fruits, hay, grain, and garden vegetables, to supply the big cities of the Sound. Its last year's contribution will probably exceed ten million dollars in value.

Of the items which compose this large sum, fruit is probably chief in importance. Alfalfa and grain-hay is an important item, as is also the crop of melons and potatoes. The combined fields of alfalfa and orchards make ideal bee pasturage, and Yakima honey is a constant factor of barter in the Sound cities. The upland farms produce quant.i.ties of all grains--wheat, oats, and barley--and some field corn is successfully raised in the warmer parts. Sheep, cattle and horses are also exported. Hops are a large crop.

PRINc.i.p.aL CITIES AND TOWNS.

NORTH YAKIMA is at once the county seat and chief metropolis of the entire Yakima valley, having a population of about 12,000. It is situated on the Northern Pacific railway and Yakima river, and is the distributing center for both merchandise and farm products for a large surrounding territory.

The State Fair, supported by the state, holds annual exhibits here.

It has extensive fruit canneries, flour mills, lumber mills, other woodworking factories, large warehouses, paved streets, big business blocks, fine churches, schools, banks, newspapers, etc.

SUNNYSIDE, a town built up among the irrigated farms, has a population of 1,500. Here are a cannery, pulp mill, creameries, etc.

TOPp.e.n.i.sH and MABTON are commercial centers of importance of about 700 inhabitants each, and growing.