The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1875-11-05
AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS
WASOO COUNTY.



We re-pubHshs by special request the
following concerning the agricultural
prospects of Wasco county. This mag
nifcent portion of our State, although
much better known and appreciated
than when the subjoiued was written,
four years since, still offers Inducements
TO settlers that are as yet family under
stood. To those of our readers who con-
template change of residence, or who
are in search of new homes, the follow
ing is especially submitted:
Hon. James Fulton, "member from
Waseo.p whom our readers wiILremem-
her as connected somewhat conspicu-
ously with the last Oregon Legislative
Assembly, came into The Dalles, called
Iupon us and invited us to visit his fam
lily. AS he was going home in his car
riage, ourseh and Mrs. Pentland ac-
eepted the proffered hospitality, and
visited our old friend and his wife at
Ten Mile Greek, where their home,
snug farmhouse nestled in the side of
the hill, is surrounded by shrubbery and
| fruit trees of luxuriant growth which
| flourish on the hill-sides without irriga-
ftion, giving undisputed evidence that
! the arid hills and plains of Wasco are
Exceedingly fertile, in spite of drouth
and alkali. -a..5sc
Our course from the town. was south
by east over a broken, undulating, and,
lin the dry season, dreary succession of
Eehanging yet monotOnous surface,
wherein the different geological forma-
tions of untold ages may be separately
fand distinctly traced. Mr.. Condor
could not have selected a better country
tn pura1n- hia aaiantifiR invaati-
. cations than this wonderful vicinity,
where the secrets of the inner life of
mother earth have been laid bare by
I some protracted yetpowerful throe that
, finally subsidized, leaving evidences in
mammoth remains and numerous other
fossils from which to draw conclusions,
: which it would have been difficult to
] procure elsewhere. Mr.. Fulton pointed
. out to, US as a remarkable phenomenon,
occasional, traces of the old wagon road
E which once led from his farm, through
] a kind of eafion, to the town Of The
Dalles. -ijTI s]
Some. five or six years ago this road
began to break up and slide itself into
D broken gulch, which the running water
from melting SHOWS soon furrowed into
:, deep and rugged gorge, in which is
, now q stream of living water. The road
was of course abandoned, and a. grade
from which the traveller can view the
beginning formations of creeks and riS-
$ ers, which will most likely upset all his
g previously formed theories and send him
n back to the other end of geological spec
: tulation to find solution or this beautiful
= mystery. We were shown places In the
K bottom Of this newly forming creek
) where young and vigorous trees and
A plants are making marvellous growth,
and where, under heinvigOratlng infiu-
& ence, of this wonderful climate, may
soon be seen dense shades of timber,
n where few short years ago was moth
- ing but a barren plain, high up above
'r its present level, with no more apparent
(, prospect of a running stream than is now
A. Visible on the McAdamiZed road from
:, Portland to Milwaukee.
" The opening of this ehasm has re-
Il Vealed the inner strata of the different
Il. formations of rock, gravel, sand, clay,
a. and lastly the fast forming soil, which
: are indeed remarkable. Evidently our
{ growing earth is yet in its infancy.
vs. Leaving this wonderful book of na-
N ture and its never-to- be-forgotten les
re sons, our road wound off to the left past
3 other gorges whose formation was prior
to the advent of our communicative
and, observing friend, but which gave
every evidence thatthey had origin sim
liar to the one in which we had felt so
. much interest.
lp We were shown the exact locality
where some of Mr.. Condon's most re-
rn maFkable mammoth fossils were discov-
b. cred in this mighty ,chasm-Our friend
o seeming to know itituitively of what
at would most deeply interest US. 81. o..
,v The grand arrays of rolling hills are
covered. with marvellous growth OF
4. nutritious bunch grass, which to US is
=, evidence enough of the remarkable fer
al tility of this country, even had there
- been no attempt at hillside cultivation.
ds But let any one who doubts the adapta-
y, bilty OF this soil to the production OF
Ii every necessary edible and the most
mt luxurious growth of timber, visit Mr..
ty FultOn,s arid hillside, where peach
of trees of two years growth from the seed
i- are not only vigorous and green, but
ies loaded with fruit; where locust trees Of
~ one years. growth make welcome shade
ior where apple trees even outgrow the far
~ famed Willamette Valley ,productions
p where melons equal CalifOrnia's best
~ where grape vines are magnificent il
'at growth and prolific beyond expectation
Vi where wheat, oats, rye and barley pro-
duce an average yield with most of ths
5le valley farms, and let him learn that al
lia this grows without Irrigation in a sol
'eo like ashes, and he will, we doubt not
agree with US that 1WascO1 county. hai
ed been pnder-estimated by agriculturists
SIS But stock raising is the principa! oc
" cupAtion of the people here. Sometime
~ n hard winter destroys whole flocks and
ali herds; but the people, as well as ami
j q mails, are. learning to provide agains
on this calamity, and we apprehend bu
~ littIe'I65s from this scourge fn the tu
.sa tnre9r Sage brashJg kind of sefubby
- - resinous evergreen whielRseemed hlth
~ erto to have been created in vain, i
~ browsed upon by cattle in the ,winte
eb months Willow groves are also FIRE
as quented by herds of snow-bound ami
lla mails, while farmers now prepare ant
* store much food from year to year as
resort id case Of protracted snow storms
me Ordinarily, cattle do better during th'
Its winter without food from man, as theY
fit then do not depend upon him. and wan
derfng off to the deep cations, they man
IL age in some incredible way to shift TO
~ themselves. Horses, mules and donkey
sfr paw the snow from the ground and reaci
the grass during the, deepest and heav
lest storms. ...
ooW . Let TIE poor men and women Of the
Isy Wiflanette Valley look well and speed
'o1 lily to the advantages of this almost un-
deyeloDed country Thousands of aCrei