Walla Walla County, Washington - Chapter 12: The Land We Live in, 1901

In this chapter we propose to view some of tlie general physical aspects of this great state in which Walla \\'alla county is located. After such a view of the state as a whole we shall find it the more interesting to traverse in imagination our own county, and arrive at a due conception of its rich resources. Of all jTeculiarities of the "Evergreen state," none is so impressive as its infinite variety. From the rolling grass plains of the eastern part to the arid flats of Yakima, from the aiguilletted and glacier-crested uplifts of Chelan or Okanogan t.i the smiling vales of Walla Walla, from the fog-shrouded shores of Puget sound to the drifting sands and perpetual sunshine of Kennewick. with all the variety of products which conform to such differences of nature, - coal, gold, silver, wheat, cattle, fruit, wool, hay, lumber, fish, hops, etc.. ad infinitum, - we note that one predominant fact of variety. To stranger and resident alike this presents an indescribable charm. In one sense Washington has no characteristics, for it is both dry and wet, both clear and cloudy, both timbered and jtrairie, both mountainous and level, lx)th barren and li-.xuriant, both beautiful and dismal. Equally contrasted are its products. All characters, then, may be said to Ijelong to it.

This grand and varied character of our great state has received its tribute of admiration from both x'isitors and citizens. W'e cannot render this chapter attractive in any better way than by quoting some of the best of these beautiful tributes.

For a brief review of the progress and present conditions of the great state of \Vashington there can perhaps be found no more reliable and incisive account than the following, which appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of Sunday, December 30, 1900:

is not too much to claim for the state of Washington that it is at least the equal of any state in the Union for diversity of resources and magnificence of opportunity, and far surpasses most. Its location on the Pacific coast is shared by only two other states, neither of which contains within its boundaries all of the advantages possessed by the most northwestern of the states of the Union. Its great inland sea of Puget sound forms a harbor imrivaled by any other in the world. Its mountains are full of mineral, its forests will yield lumber for many years, its wheat fields produce as fine a quality of grain as any in the United States, its orchards are infinite in their variety, its meadows are richer than can be found anywhere else, and as a dairy state it has no equal. Of no less importance is the fact that its climate is the most conducive to sustained energy. The temperature runs to neither extreme, and is absolutely free from blizzard, drouth, tornado or flood.

to a Kentucky member of congress named Stanton. The petition to be set off as a separate territory from Oregon was before congress as early as 1852, and the territory was created ]\Jarch 2. 1853. The name proposed was Columbia, but Stanton said : 'We have already a territory of Columbia. This district was called Columbia, but we never yet have dignified a territory with the name of Washington. I desire to see a sovereign state bearing the name of the father of this country. I therefore move to strike out the work Columbia wherever it occurs in the bill and insert instead thereof the word Washington.'

"It remained a territory until 1889. Acting under an enabling act passed by congress, the constitution of the state of Washington was framed by a convention of seventy-five delegates chosen by the people of the territory, at an election held May 14, 1889, under the act of congress approved February 22. 1889. The convention met at Olympia July 4, 1889, and adjourned August 22, 1889. The constitution was ratified at an election held October i, 1889, and on November 11, 1889. the president of the United States proclaimed the admission of the state of Washington into the Union. It is worthy of note that the act of congress providing for the state of W^ashington was approved on Washington's birthday.

"Tlie state lies between the 4r)tli and 49th parallels of north latitude and the 117th and 125th meridians of longitude west from Greenwich. It has an area of 69,994 square miles, and is. therefore, greater in area than any state east of the Mississippi, and is greater than all six New England states combined. In i860 it had a population of 11,594; in 1870. 23,955; ii' 1880, 75,116; in 1885, 130,465; in i8go its population was 349.390; and now it is 518,103.

"The first settlements were trading posts of the Hudson's Bay and Northwestern fur companies. There was a settlement of farmers from the Red river valley, who located at Nisqually in 1841. There were also early missionary settlements at Walla W^alla in 1835, and Spokane, then Fort Spokane, in 1838. The first American settlement on Puget sound was made in October, 1845, at New Market, now Tumwater. In 1880 the largest body of urban population in the state of Washington was found at Walla Walla, which had a population of 3,588. The next largest body was in Seattle, with its population of 3.533.

"The early historical accounts of what is now the state of Washington are very meager. Most of the expeditions had some other object tlian possession of this part of the country. Expeditions by Juan de Fuca, Captain George Vancouver. Captain Robert Gray, by sea, and by Captain William Clark and Captain Meriwether Lewis, by land, ha\-e left their marks 'w now familiar names. There was also one unfortunate expedition undertaken in 1832, under Captain Bonneville, numbering one hundred and ten men and twenty wagons, which, starting from Fort Osage, reached as far west as Fort Walla Walla.

"Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, of Massachusetts, also in 1832, got as far west as Fort \'ancou\-er. John Ball, a member of his party, opened a school - the first known - at that place. One of his teachers describes it as a primitive Babel. 'The scholars.' he says, 'came in talking in their respective languages - Cree. Nez Perce. Chinook, Klickitat,' and others whose names he did not know. Dr. Marcus Whitman is another of the heroic pioneers who has impressed his personality upon the early history of the state.

nanieil Kinc;, apix)inted Major Isaac I. Stevens tlie first governor, and all of these are remembered in the names of counties. A subdivision of Stevens county was. in i<^99, createil a separate county under tiie name of the first governor of the state, Eiislia P. Ferry. By proclamation. September 29, 1853. from the sumn-.it of the Rocky mountains. Governor Stevens announced his assumption of his executive duties, and soon after he arrived at Olympia, the selected capital.

"The remoteness of the new territory made it,= development very slow. The construction of the Xortliern Pacific Railroad, wliich it was intendeil to terminate at Olympia. but which was extended to Tacoma in 1880. is one of the great historical incidents in the development of the state. Even then it was supposed that Portlaml would be the real terminus, but work was pushed on, and on September 7, 1883, the last spike was driven. On Monday, the 5t!i day of July. 1887, the people of Washington commemorated the arrival the day before of the first overland train direct from Duluth to Tacoma. From that time the growth of the state has been rapid. The building of tiie Great Northern has placed the state on tiie line of another great transcontinental road, and many branches have since been addeil.

"The surface of the state is separated into two great natural divisions by the Cascade range of mountains, extending from north to south, placing about two-thirds of the total area of the state in the eastern division. This division makes a great difference in climate, and the tno portions dift'er very much also in soil and resources. The western side is much more thickly populated, and its climate is moist and far less variable than that on the east, where winter anil summer are more distinctly marked. Eastern Washington is the valley' of

"In western Washington the strip of land bordering on the Pacific coast and extending back as far as the summit of the first mountain ranges has a wet climate; the region between the coast range and the Cascades has a moist climate, varying in the amount of annual precipitation from twenty to sixty inches; in eastern Washington the annual precipitation varys onh^ from fifteen to sixteen inches, although there is an irregular ring within which the rainfall varys from fifteen to twenty-five inches annually, and these diversities afTect th.e character of the native productions.

"The moisture of western Washington results in wonderful richness of meadow products. Hay. oats and hops are the principal field crops, but the valleys are splendidly adapted to culture of fruits, vegetables and flax, and to the pursuit of the dairy industry. The drier climate of eastern Washington has made the cultivation of wheat the principal source of wealth, but irrigation of the volcanic soil has resulted in a marvelous production of apples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries and all small fruit.

"The mountains of the state of Washington are entitled to special mention on account of their grandeur of scenery and their timber lands. Beautiful though many of its mountains are. there is none anywhere which can compare with Mount Rainier. With an altitude officially given as 14.444 teet. although it is actually nearer 15.000. it is the third highest peak <in the continent, but it stands first in grandeur and sublimity. The higher altitudes ot" these mountains give fir. hemlock and spruce: the tablelands fir and spruce: the val- Icvs fir. cedar, spruce, cottonwood, maple and

"At one time the mountains harbored the mountain lion, but he has almost disappeared, and of animals to be feared there are left only the bald-faced bear of the Cascade mountains, although on the east side there may be found occasionally a remnant of the wolf family in the gray wolf, the black w^olf, and coyote. The cougar - the mountain lion - the lyn.x and wildcat are almost entirely extinct. The grand game of t!ie state is the elk, which is still to be found in the Olympic mountains. On the eastern side of the Cascades the mule deer stands next to the elk in size and grace. Whitetailed deer, black-tailed deer, wild goat and many fur-bearing animals are to be found, and occasionally the mountain sheep, or big horn, r- to be seen. Of upland game, grouse, quail and snipe are plentiful. There is a sufficient quantity of water fowl, of Canada geese and of many varieties of duck, plover and curlew t) tempt the hunter. The waters of Puget sound, of the rivers and the coast teem with fish, including salmon, sturgeon, halibut, smelt, cod, flounders, oysters and clams.

"Variety of resources is not more considerable than quantity. The state of Washington produces the largest merchantable timber, and has the largest mill in the world : it has the largest cannery in the world, and its jfroduction of wheat, timothy hay, alfalfa and hops, to the acre, is greater than in any other state IT the Union. Oats run from forty to eighty bushels per acre, and barley from thirty to seventy bushels per acre.

"The wheat yield runs from twenty to thirty-five bushels per acre, and even more, reaching as high as sixty bushels in the famous Palouse belt, and three crops of alfalfa can be

"One of the great resources of the state, 'second only in importance to lumber, is its coal. In the southern part of King and in Pierce county the coal deposits are estimated to be practically inexhaustible. The character of much of the coal is bituminous and semi-bituminous, making 66 to 68 per cent. coke.

has not yet been made a feature of the state industries, but gold, silver and lead mines are being developed rapidly. Copper is found in very large quantities, and tin has been discovered. Lime is of the finest quality, and good pottery clay is found in several counties. Apart from the advantages of warnnh and moisture which cause grass, flowers and various kinds of vegetation to grow the winter through, and justify the application of the name of Evergreen state as a distinctive description, the climate of the state of Washington is of \'ast importance in the consideration of personal comfort. The equability oi temperature is due to the fact that the prevalent winds are from the Pacific ocean. \''ery rarely, during two nvjnths of the year, the wind blows from the north, for tW'O or three days at a time, but the winters are made mild and warm and the summers cool aufl no less mild, through the action of the wind passing over the pathway of the Japan current. This breeze, coming from the westerly and southwesterly points, is called the Chinook wind, and its effect is that every industry can be followed with comfort throughout the entire year.

"A state possessing this great natural temptation to those who have suffererl from the extreme heat and extreme cold of other parts of the country, accompanied as it is by such marvelous resources, cannot fail to become one of the wealthiest in tiie L'niun. To the settler the state offers great \irgin forests, made up of trees two and three hundred feet high, some of them running over one hundred and fifty feet to the first limh; a soil which makes a farm of twenty to forty acres e(|ual to one of eighty or one hundred and sixty in the middle or western states ; orchards hearing fruit of the value of two dollars and three dollars to the tree : homesteads each of which w ill raise enough in variety to maintain a family within its own limits ; vast resources of mineral wealth ; opportunities for every kind of industry growing out of all this ahundance ; a ready resix)nse to the efforts of the industrious and a rich harvest for intelligently directed capital."

The general features thus belonging to the state as a whole find some of their most perfect (ie\-elopments in the vast area known as the '"Inland Empire."

The city of Walla Walla is recognized as representing the garden spot of the immense territory fittingly designated as the Inland Empire, and the old and historic county of similar name, ^^'alla Walla, lays just claim to as manifold attractions and as distinct a plethora of ]);-oductive utilities as any section of the Pacific northwest.

The Inland Empire is the vast and marvelous region of country between the Rockies and the Cascade range of mountains, comprising all of eastern Washington, northern Idaho, v.-estern Montana, northeastern Oregon and southern portions of British Columbia. It has ail area of more than one hundred and twenty thousand square miles, - three times as large as the great Empire state, and with a popula- ' tion exceeding half a million people and rapidly increasing. It is a region with hardly a rival in enchanting scenery and picturesque sublimity and varying forms of beauty. In it are found al' the inspiring phenomena that any aspiring lover of nature can desire. He can find broad and rolling i)rairics stretching in all directions, verdure-clad plateaus, bordered by hills ci owned with sturdy pines ; and in the distance lofty and rugged mountains, rising higher and higher, pile on pile, the towering, majestic peaks wrapped in eternal snow. The mountains, fi.xed and inflexible as the granite of the Everlasting Will, - thsy "hurl oppression back; they keep the boon of liberty." Here one may w itness with wondering awe the results of the awful uphea\"als of ])rime\'al days, when the earth was twisted and tossed into a shapeless mass. He can look into the yawning, abysmal canyons and deep gorges worn out by rushing and foaming and ceaseless torrents for ages unknown : or upon the massive glaciers whose origin history fails to record. The lover of nature can revel in the enjoyment of an ever changing landscape, amid scenes which the Almighty alone could design and frame. It is beyond the potentiality of human hands to paint them, and words fail to describe their dazzling beauty. It is a region of plains and prairies, of fertile valleys and of thick forests. The grandeur of the ensemble is accentuated by wide contrasts. There are lakes and streams in great variety. Portions of it have been designated as the "paradise of the sportsman." In the streams and lakes the fish are sufficiently plentiful to gratify the devotee of the rod and line, and the expert shot can scarcely fail to drop a curlew or chicken on the prairie, a grouse in the woods, a duck or goose on the lakes, and a deer or bear in the distant ravines or isolated valleys. This region is not only wonderful on account of its untold stores of the rare and beautiful, where nature has spread her "banquets of health and beauty," but is also one hardly paralleled in diverse resources, which are almost limitless, and sufficient to maintain a population of many millions. There are rich agricultural sections, millions of acres in extent, such as the far famed Walla Walla valley, with the fine foot-hill farms of the Blue mountains, the Palouse country and the Big Bend, - each producing thousands of bushels of wheat and other cereals annually. The prospector has already unearthed hidden mineral wealth and treasures priceless to science and the uses of man. Wonderful discoveries have been made and are being made, and those yet to be made are inconceivable in the human mind. It is not within the province of this work to describe the mining districts of the Ir.land Empire, - they are almost too numerous to mention, and to adequately describe them a volume would be required. But consistency demands that reference be made to this important branch of industrial activity which has had so important a bearing upon the development of all sections of the great Inland Empire, of which Walla Walla county is an integral part and a glowing gem in its diadem.

In an attractive and valuable special edition of the Walla Walla Daily Statesman, issued under date of March 4, 1899, appears the following romantic old-time story of how the county became the most beautiful and fertile section of the state, - incomparalile for the raising of cereals, fruit, grasses and live stock:

"Once, long years ago, when the world was young and Dame Nature still in her 'teens, there was a beautiful lake. Brightly its blue waters gleamed in the sunlight, or moved responsive to the wooing of the winds. Above iU shining surface circled the eagles and from out its wooded shores the swarthy savage pushed his bark canoe. About it, held close by strong encircling arms, stood the mountains, stern, unyielding, eternal.

"Long had the lake been captive here. Vainly had it beat against the rock for liberty, now in anger, now in soft entreaty. The mountain heard in stony silence the pleading at his feet.

"For many years the lake in patience waited. The sun kissed it, the winds caressed it. yet always did it long for freedom. One day the mountain's vigilance rela.xed, a tiny rift appeared within the rock and silently the lake crept through ; all the night so softly did it flee, the mountain did not know, but kept watch in peace until dawn revealed his desolation.

"Great was the lamentation ; seamed and seared with grief, the mountain gazed upon the naked valley upon whose bosom so late the lake had slept. Slowly great rivulets of tears rolled down the rugged face. One by one in pitying silence the \alley gathered them upon its bosom, until the time should be the mountain might forget his grief and find comfort in its beauty.

"As the years went on the valley grew so fair with the shining waters, worn like jewels on its breast, that day by day in the heart of the mountain the memory of the past grew dim, until at last the image of the lake Avas lost. Gladness spread over the face of the mountain, joy reigned in the heart of the valley. Then was the land of many waters fair as the day to look upon.

"The above is a legend of the beautiful \\'alla Walla valley, about whose wealth and resources so much has already been written ; about whose marvelous development so much

"There are many wonderful valleys in the world. - valleys so famous for one thins;- and ariother, the name of them is known the world over. It is not the purpose of this article to invite comparisons with the Old World, but i". is not too much to assert, that no where in these United States will a valley be found which exceeds this \\'alla Walla country in all that goes to make up natural beauty and natural wealth. It is an emjiire in itself. Its possibilities are practically illimitable. ICxery aid which nature cordd gi\e is here bestowed with a hand so generous, so lavish, that one is lost in wonder at so rich an endowment.

"The approach to this valle\- from the west is not prepossessing. Great fields of sand, like those which line the ocean beach, lead the way to it. A desert, the effect of which is to dampen the anlor of even the most enthused traveler. But not for long.

"When the miles of sand stretch away behind, and he sees before him the promise of things more fair, all the enthusiasms come thronging back, and he enters the valley only tc find his spirits mount higher and higher as the beauty and fertility of the country unfold before him.

"Tlie fame of this valley as an agricultural center is abroad in the land, and justly so. Its record of the production of wheat and other cereals is imparalleled anywhere in the I'nited States. Even the great wheat-growing state of Dakota must take second j^lace in a comparison of the yield per acre. Alillions of bushels of grain are raised here yearly of as tine a quality as can be found anywhere in the world. The yield is astonishing. When the average is placed at twenty-five bushels to the acre it is a very modest figure indeed. It might

"The other cereals grow e(|ually well. Barky, oats, rye and buckwheat all yield immense crops of the best grade. In fact there is nothing the soil of this valley will not grow in aliundance, barring, of course, the tropical products and corn. The climate of Washington is not adapted to the successful culture of corn. The nights are too cool. Many of the farmers do raise it, and some of the finest varieties of sweet corn are grown successfully, but among the great pnulucts of this \alley corn really has no place.

"(Irasses of all kinds are raised with admirable success: alfalfa yielding the most per acre, and there are two. three and often four crops each }'ear. Clover grows abundantly and timothv yields anywhere from one to three tons per acre. The native grasses run riot. The farmer who raises stock as well as wheat has m need to worr_\- about feed.

"It is a great country for stock of all kinds, cows, sheep, horses, hogs, and the market is sure. Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, \^ancouver and all the cities of western Washington must get their supplies in large measure from the \allevs across the mountains. The difficulty thus far has been, not in finding a market for stock or their products, InU in filling the orders which flood the market. Thousands of dollars go out of the state aimually for Initter, eggs, cheese, etc., which ought to remain at h.ome. The valley of Walla AValla alone is wide enough and rich enough to supply all these things in abundance. It is not too much to believe that some day it will be so.

"The Walla Walla valley is a great fruit country. It would be a matter of difikulty to find anywhere in this country finer fruit than is grown in this valley. In point of size, color- iiig, flavor and general all-round perfection of development there is no question but the Walla Walla fruits rank among the first. The eastern farmer, especiallj- the man from ^Minnesota or the Dakotas, is familiar with 'grain fields. Ke knows all about the possibilities of wheat culture, the care of stock, the raising of poultry. But when he comes to Washington and takes a good look at the famous orchards of the Walla \\'alla valley it is then that he marvels. He knows nothing like them. There is nothing like them even further east, where famous orchards do exist. This valley leads the world almost in the wealth and (juality of its fruits.

".Apples, surely the best all-round fruit which the Maker of the universe gave to man, are grown here in such abundance and in such perfection as to challenge the world to produce their equal.

"There is just enough of real cold in the climate of this section of Washington to develop and retain the fine flavor, which is noticeably absent in the Sound country apples. Pears also reach the highest possible state of perfection, and prunes of all varieties, and plums. There is no state in the Union which grows finer fruit of this variety than are found in the Walla \\'alla valley.

'"All of the smaller fruits grow in the greatest profusion. Strawberries are an immense crop ; certainly none of finer fla\-or or of greater size are grown anywhere in the world. They are superb, and cherries, they are perfect, large, luscious, finely colored, deliciously flavored. From the time the trees are in bloom until the last cherry is gone they are a source of pleasure, satisfaction and profit.

is too cool to ripen them. But in the \\'alla Walla valley the vines groan with their weight 01 perfect fruit. Grapes from this valley rival the California product in all'the eastern markets.

"This is true of all the fruits except the purely tropical kinds. Whether it is pears or apples, plums or prunes, or any of the smaller berries, the soil fairly abandons itself to the growth of fruit, and the result is a perfection of development rarely excelled.

"\^egetables of all kinds may be said to run riot. They mature early ; lettuce, radishes, asparagus, cauliflower and all of the green grocer's stock of edibles, which charm the eye and tempt the appetite, are marketable very early in the season. They seem to grow all the year round, for the markets are never without this supply of home grown green things. Market gardening pays well. There is always a ready sale for fine vegetables and prices rule generally higher than in eastern markets.

"The climate of this valley is almost ideal. The rainfall is not heavy. There is some snow for a few weeks, perhaps - and sometimes the mercury drops rather low, but never for long. In the valley it is rarely too cold for comfort. Farmers plough until Christmas time and the crops are all sown in the fall of the year. By March usually, often as early as February, work is again resumed and from then on there is mild, delightful weather with occasional rains. During the summer for a month or two, or perhaps three, the weather is warm and there is no rain. This season, owing to the dry weather, is a bit disagreeable on account of dust. This of course is obviated in the city, but out in the farm districts along the country roads it is so disagreeable as to occasion no little discomfort. But where mav be found

"Historically' the valley is interesting. It was once the home of powerful trilies of Indians whose tepees dotted the green slopes, and whose ponies roamed at will over the beautiful undulating ground. Far and near rode the hunters in search of game, while the patient squaws remained in the valley gathering the fruits which grew almost without culture, drying roots and herbs and herding the vast number of ponies which made up a large part of the Indian's wealth. They were happy here and content.

"But the wliite man came, as he always does, bringing with him energy and ambition ard civilization, attributes which the Indian holds in supreme disdain. For years the few trading companies tried to gain a permanent foothold among the tribes, but the Indians were warv until the Hudson's Bay Company's men came on, then for the first time a treaty was effected and a permanent trading post established. This was in 1828. A year or two later the old Fort Walla Walla, whose ruins are yet in evidence, was built.

"Closely following the Hudson's Bay Company came Dr. Whitman, to whom, perhaps, more than to any other single agency belongs the credit of opening up this marvelous valley to civilization. He saw the wonderful natural advantages the valley offered to the homeseeker and it was not long before a tide of immigation set in which has not yet begun to ebb.

"Fremont also visited the Walla Walla country. His published statements regarding this mountain-girt Eden were widely read, interesting thousands and inducing many to find here home and health and wealth.

years have come and gone, the valley has grown fairer and richer and more desirable, and the end is not yet. It already is one of the wealthiest sections of country of the great Pacific northwest. * \\'ith the hands of comn'ierce now reaching out to grasp new fields and to make new gains ; with markets constantly opening, the wealth of Walla Walla valley will one day surpass even the dreams of wealth which dazzle the imagination of men. If the state of Washington fufills its manifest destiny, and takes its rightful place among the most important of these L'nited States, certainly ranking foremost in the Pacific group, a prediction like the alxjve comes quite within the limits of probability. -

"There is no valley in the world which promises more to the home-seeker. Here is beauty, for nothing in nature could be fairer than this valley, stretching away for miles and niilcs. its green slopes reaching the summits of its mountain wall, its rivers making music as they ripple over the undulating ground.

"On a midsummer day when the fields are bright with their wealth of grain, when the trees hang heavy with fruit, then it is that the valley seems fairly to exult in her beauty, and nature smiles at so rich a harvest. Here also is fertility of soil in a degree almost marvelous; there seems a magic in the ground, which year after year yields its bounty so freely : there are no barren lands, e\'ery foot of the millions of acres is productive. So generous has been the hand of nature in this regard that even the slopes of the mountains are available for cultivation. Even here may the farmer sow seed and reap his harvest.

"Here also is a climate than which it were hard to find a better. To the farmer of the east, weary with the heat of many summers, prostrating alike to brain and body, or worn with tl'_e rigors of succeeding winters, whose Ijitter, Ijiting cold seems to nuni!) his very vitals, the chmate i>t this vaUey is the next thing to paradise. It gives him a rarified atmosphere, wiiich keeps Iiim young. It gives him an ef|uable temperature, which permits him to be comfortable at least for nine months of the year. During the other three, which comprise the few weeks of weather too hot and the few weeks of weather too cold, he may have refuge from the one by flight to the mountains, a few miles distant, where blankets arid fire-wood are much in demand. From the other he nia_\' have release liv the light of his own fireside, from whose warmth and comfort lie may view with indifference the snows which briefly fly about its walls, and may listen with complacency to the winds which Ijeat against them.

"It is a significant fact that those who come to the Walla \\'alla valley to build a home remain here, and uKire, they grow rich. This \'alley is noted for its iirnsperous farms, its v,'ell-to-do ]ie()ple. The wlmle vallev has a look of thrift ; prosperity is written all over its broad acres. To the man of money seeking new fields of investment where profit and sure returns are promised, the \\'al]a \\'alla country ofi^ers opportunities unef|ualled. To the man who seeks a home, to the one whose only capital is his brain or his good right hand, it offers a fair chance in the pursuit of all that men find dear. Industry, energy and ambition are all the capital a man need have; tlie vallev will do the rest."

The following tribute to the "beautiful Walla Walla valley" is re])roduced from the edition of the Inland Eni]>ire of .August. 1900: "When the unerring hand of nature made the fertile hills and beautiful valleys which comprise the territory now known as the Walla

Walla \alley, and the All-Seeing eye looked upon them and said they were good, nothing sh.nrt of infinite wisdom could have made an attempt at telling any thing of the greatness and \alue to the world which future generations would Ijring to the seemingly insignificant part of creation. .\nd, even to-day when we look out u])on a well developed country, when we see thousands of happy hi_)mes and prosperous farmers and business men, when we behold about us a rising generation of patriotic and energetic young people, and looking toward the setting sun we note the opening of a new era ()f expansion in commerce and new ax'enues of industry, we ha\-e as little real idea of how future years will develop it as had our ancestors of hundreds of years ago. The past we ha\-e seen and heard of, the future is all hidden in mystery and expectation.

"Centuries passed and man in all his wisdom and enterprising exploration pressed from the banks of Plymouth Rock to the westward across a country peopled by wild men, enduring all the hardships of pioneer experience, before the hand of fortune pointed the way to the section of country of which we speak, and almost discouraged with the wilds of the west, the early ])ioneer could not make up his mind to cast his lot in so lonely a place. But when once he had tested nature and found the fertility of the soil, the abundant supply of i)ure and wholesome water, the balmy climate and litautiful natural surroundings, he changed his mind and remained for a season. Imbueil with the fact that he had made no mistake, at the end of the year the sturdy pioneer found himself more content and the future looked brighter and more promising. Others, of like sturdy natures, came and made friends with him, and - behold the change ! Where but yesterday was a vast expanse of hills and valleys, un-

"The constant and untiring tread of progress was westward and northward. Yet nature had so set apart from the other portion of the country the little \alley tliat it was not found as readily as some other places, and wlien found was more isolated and difficult of approach. Surrountled In' high mountain ranges, traversed by ri\ers which, with the means at hand, could not be crossed, the valley was so set apart that its neighbors were beyond the mountains, and must be ever so. Rugged natural conditions made the construction of highways and railroads a difficult matter, and at first the progress of the new country was slow and made under great tribulation. But the people came, tliey saw, they conquered.

"Fifty years ago a band of sturdy soldiers pitched their tents wh8re to-day is the city of W'alla Walla. They were sent by the government to protect the few white inhabitants from the incursions of the Indians, who abounded in all parts of the valley. The soldiers were good judges of conditions, and when they found an ideal camping spot there tliey stopped and waitLnl. The government ordered erected a garrison, and soon the busy mechanic was placing together the rough timbers which were to constitute the first Fort Walla Walla. The signs of life brought to the place b\- the new order of things induced men of enterprise and foresight to come and establish themselves in the trade they saw in the new territory. Men came and began to build a city. Year after year they worked, and each recurring twelve-month made great improvements in conditions and in business. The little band of' ])ioneers was strengthened and it grew into a community. The community became a village, and the \illage developed into a town. Then the town became the leading trading place in the whole section of country from which it drew its business, and for hundreds of miles the name of Walla Walla meant the hub of commerce to the people as fully as Xew York does to us of this generation.

"Success always brings decadence or lethargy in its wake. And for years after success had come to \^'alla Walla the tinge of lethargy fastened itself upon the community, and it ceased to grow and expand as it had in (lays past. Then a new era of progress and de\elopment came, and of that we of to-day know about all there is to be told. New life was infused into the city and growth took the place of dormant energies. New people came and made new homes, new industries took the places then vacant. After a few years of this energetic development we have the Walla A\'alla of to-day.

"Great-hearted nature has done a great deal for the places which man has tried to build up. In fact, nature always lays the foundation and man comes along and erects the superstructure. New York was given a harbor. New Orleans a great river opening to the gulf, San Francisco was given the Golden Gate to the Pacific, Seattle and Tacoma were presented with a Puget Sound, Spokane, the queen of the northwest, was tendered l)y nature a wonderful cataract, yet \\'alla ^^'alla was not neglected. The gifts were not parcelled out parsimoniously, yet in the distribution Walla Walla was given her share. No sjwt in all the broad land, no city within the Ixtrders of our countrv has received from a kind nature more smiles than has our city. Surrounded by a most fertile section of country, stretchii;g scores of miles in every direction, at the

of sparkling mountain streams affording a bountiful supply of water for domestic, irrigation and ind.ustrial purposes, the location is ideal. The Blue mountains frown down upon the cit\' in grim sturdiness. reminding one of the great sturdy men and women who have taken such an acti\-e pnrr in the progress and development of the \alley. With mountain and stream, the rugged hills and pleasant \-alleys present a landscape which f(Mreal beauty and picturesqueness of effect, is rarely equalled and never excelled.

"In the early development of the valley the live-stock industry was an important factor, as stock fed all the year upon tha luxuriant growth of bunch-grass which covered the hillsides from Snake river to the southward for a hundred miles or more. Great droves of horses, cattle and sheep were raised and from the sales of stock came fortunes easily and quickly. As the settlement became mere general the pasture disappeared and the production of wheat began. The grain grew well and the yields reported in an early day were generally large. When trans])ortatii)n facilities were secured good money was made year in and year out by farmers and the business of the country was very good. The foundations for the successful men and the manv furtunes which are to be found now were laid in the early days of wheat raising in the \-alley of many waters.

"As the years went liy the lack of fruit was imted and men were led to consider the necessity of planting orchards for the pmdurtion of fruits for local consumption. The market was limited and the territory which could be drawn on was necessarily circumscribed. But orchards were planted, and from them has sprung the great horticultural interests of the .section of to-day. The little tract of fruit trees has given way to the large orchards where hundreds of acres of land antl scores of men and boys are employed in the production and packing of fruits for the markets which have now widened ami broadened until the supply is not equal to the demand. Hundreds of carloads of fruits and berries are shipped from the cit\- e\-ery years to points in INIontana, Idaho, British Columbia and Sound cities, where Walla Walla fruits are in demand over the article sent in frnm California.

"The Walla W'alla valley proper is a large l:)elt of agricultural land lying south of Snake ri\er and west of the Blue mountains, extending across the Oregon line on the south. It comprises the valley lands, the Eureka Flat country, a high plateau where wheat grows as naturally as weeds, the upper or foothill lands near the mountains anrl all of the lower bottom lands, used mostly for gardening. .\ great rich belt of land producing millions of bushels of wheat and barley and hundreds of carloads of fruit and vegetables annually, capable of maintaining a population of a million souls, is a brief description of the valley as it is to-dav.

"Fortunate is that communit\' so fa\-ored b\ the gifts of nature that its descriptive story plainly told attracts and interests the wanderer in less fa\-ored climes. Strained efforts Indeft penmen to show conditions which do not exist: elaborate effusions and exaggerations to draw attention to cities and districts possessing no particular adxantages or charms, have long since ceased to attract the home-seeker or investor. .\ simple rehearsal of what a community possesses in natural and acquired wealth, like the sayings of the plain, blunt man. elicits more attention that the grandiloquent effort where boom propensities are all too apparent.

tion. It is a \'ast expanse oi fertile lields, burdened orcliards and prolific nature. To one e\en imrtially ac(|uainicil wit'.i its natural wealth tl'.ere is an inspiration in the subject. Imagination does not have to be called into play, as the varied topics which the subject suggests give the writer a sufficient range upon which tc dwell indefinitely.

"Think ! Orchards of luscious fruit and fields of wa\ing grain ; hills of precious metals arid dales of fertile soil ; rain and sunshine ; running brooks; pleasant nooks in hidden dales, and busy marts of trade; swift rushing trains over transcontinental rail, - all these, and many more topics, are suggested to the mind when Walla \\'alla is mentioned. It is easy to begin but hard to end.

"This growing city is yet in its infancy, - just beginning to assume metropolitan proportions. The view of the city to the stranger, particularly in the summer season, is most inviting. A panorama of wide and beautiful streets, lined with shade trees. The scene is one that never fails to inspire the weary traveler, after his dusty journey across the continent. On e\ery hand he cannot but observe the evidence of thrift and commercialism. He will find that nearly every person he meets is busy or intent on doing something-. When the stranger shall have pursued his in\estigations further he will discover that this bustling little city is built for all time and is the natural trading center for a very ricli and extensive countrv.

"A mistaken idea prevails that society in the northwest is different from what it is in the older commonwealths of the countrv. This ^vas partially true in times gone by, but happily it is no longer the case, only in the particular that it is only those of an enterprising turn of mind who seek homes in a new country; conse(|uently, the general spirit of the new west

The following excerpt from the history of Washington, edited by Julian Hawthorne and Colonel G. Douglas Brewerton, and issued in 1893, is worthy of reproduction in this connection :

"Walla Walla county, still Indian, and, alas, but too suggestive, as we turn the pages of \\'ashington"s blood-stained history, of the war-whoop and the scalping-knife, comes next uniler our re\iew. Its Astoria, Walla Walla and \'ancouver are household words in the story of territorial strife and struggle and indelibly associatsd with the darkest of her early days. They are to the native of Washington "to the luanor horn" what the tower of London is to the Englishman. - the repository of dreadful deeds and by-gone sorrows, - for we make history more rapidly in our daj's than in those vaunted 'good old times.' As we breathe the name, the syllables of Walla Walla trip giidinglv o\-er the tongue with the musical step of many another Indian appellation, as, for instance, ^linnehaha; it is appropriate, withal, for a,- the latter means 'laughing water." so Walla \'\'alla signifies 'valley of waters," which is even better, for we ha\-e seen Minnehaha in the arid season when it laughed not at all. It is derived from 'Walatsa." meaning 'running' - for it carries both the interpretations, - but this is the less mellifluous Xez Perce, the Walla Walla or Wallula meaning the same thing, being taken from the language of the tribe whose name it bears. - the Walla Wallas. This region is, indeed, well naiued the 'valley of waters.' From whence, we \vonder. does the "Siwash" get his p-oeticrd inspiration, for it would ofttimes puzzle tlie paleface to better either the beauty or appropriateness of his nomenclature. It can not be inherent, still less inherited. It is, we fancy.

unconsciously absorbed from tlie surroundings (natural, we mean, not artificial) of his everyday life. However he gets it, it may not be denied that the divine afflatus is held in most repulsive vessels, the filthy, unwashed jar of the red man's human clay. Of a surety poor Pegasus was never prisoned in a filthier stall. "To return to more prosaic themes, Walla \\'alla county was admitted in 1854, the only one of the southeastern Washington counties created with the establishment of the territory. It then embraced all the valley of the Columbia east of tlie Cascades, an area of nearh' two hundred thousand square miles. - an imperial domain, as it has very properly been called. It has. however, suffered successive curtailments till reduced to its present dimensions of thirteen Inuidred square miles. AMiat is left,' says Evans, 'is the oldest, best cultivated, and in every respect the most advanced part of Washington.' Yet this grand expanse of exceedingly desirable country, in all its original fullness and fertility, was shut out from settlement for an extended season, through the foolish or vin-

(hctix'e actions of General ^^'ool, who endorsed the equally sliort-sighted policy of his subordinate. Colonel Wright. - a policy that protected the Lulian, neglected the wliite, and practically relegated to its primitive savagery this mighty and most productive domain. The ijiiginal empire of Walla Walla, we are told, was recognized as a garden spot even long before some other regions, where the soil was equally good, were deemed eminently desirable. It is said to produce more money's worth of grown products than any other county of the slate. Walla Walla derives its wealth from the ground. So enriched is this county by nature that it is not improbable that her recorded population of the last census (1890) - 12,224 - will be doubled within the next decade. It is well watered, being bounded on the north and east by the Snake and Columbia rivers, while its southern boundary is irrigated by the Walla Walla and its tributary streams. * * * * Take it all in all. it is a lively, progressive region, an example to all good counties in the state, prospering and likel_\' to prosper."