, 1875-06-12
THE WALlA WALLE COUNTRY,
The Touchet yaiIey-WaitsbiIrg-D
Vast stock Range-Rich Agricultural
ReSiOn-GeneralA Aspect OF the Country.

|
RegiOn-GeneraI Aspect of the Country,
IFrom the Salem StateSmAn-I
As iutimated in former letter, have tc
take advantage of whatever chance facilitie:
to visit different points Of interest in thi:
eminently territorial country, and therefore
cannot communicate with the Statesman and
its readers every day. Thi i a region OF
vast magnitudes and great distances, and to
give even a tOlerable idea OF the situation
and resources, one must travel. Yesterday
was abroad from ) o'clock III the morning
until 6 in the evening, and in that time ira
versed about fifty miles OF country, all OF
which was new to me, and in all that dis
tance do not recollect of passing over one
acre that did not look like good agricultural
land.
| NORTHWARD, TOWARD LEWISTON
For this rare privilege of observation I
was indebted to Mr.. Matthew Fettis, proprie-
tor of the Walla Walla and Lewiston stage
line, and mail carrier on that route. He
kindly invited me to a seat beside him, which
l gladly occupied for SIXTY miles, visiting
| Waitsburg and Dayton, going one way and
returning another, traversing the marvellous
ly rich valley of the Touchet, and overlook
ing the finest wheat country ever saw. Mr..
Fettis is an old pioneer stage and expressman,
familiar with the country for hundreds of
miles north, and as we talked the whole day
industriously, great deal of interesting in
formation was acquired. He has large es-
tablishment at Dayton, where six or eight
fine stage coaches are housed, and thirty
miles further up-country he owns fine
ranch, where about one hundred stage horses
are pastured, awaiting some emergency of
| utility. When a new mining town starts
up, and a new stage route is required, Mr..
| Fettis Is prepared to stock and have it in
| operation within twenty-iOur hours. This Is
! the enterprise of the border NmpeT payatIg-
| always prepared-seems to be the motto of
everybody. Mr.. Fettis is a bachelor, and,
| as l infer, quite rich !; his horses are shining
fat, luxuriating III rich pasturage sufficient
| for a thousand more. He says the stage
! business is not so good as formerly, and he
can't afford to keep wife-the fashions are
SO expansive!
VALLEY OF TIE TOCCIET-
The Walla Walla is q small river, some
thing like the Calipooia, rising i'll the Blue
Mountains, flowing seventy miles west, and
empties into the Columbia at Wallula- Walla
! Walla Valley commences fifteen miles above
| the mouth of the latter river, extending
thirty mills southeast to the Blue Mountains,
and on each side of the stream, along the
! base of the mountains, there is prOdigious
stretch Of rich farming country. Pine Creek
is the main tributary of the Walla Walla
| from the West, and the -ouchet from the
East. These two streams, rising and flowing
on opposite sides, form the boundaries of the
main valley, and empty into the Walla Walla
river not far apart, The TJuchet is the
stream now under consideration. 1t rises ia
the Blue Mountains some forty miles east Of
Walla Walla city, and in It's course 10 the
river of the same name. forms valley of
agricultural land rs rich and beautiful as
land can be. The stream is thickly fringed
with cottonwood. alders. willow and other
small trees peculiar 10 northern latitudes,
thus afforiing sufficient timber for firewoOd,
fencing, etc, III the settlements, and away
from the stream there is no other timber in
sight. The Touchet Valley is from three
! quarters to a mile wide, in some places narrow
er, perhaps, and for twenty-five miles is
succession of small farms well fenced and
carefully cultivated field after fed of rank
grain, or fresh-planted cora fields, the ground
being literally pulverized, and looking more
| like garden than farm lands. There is
neither stone nor clod to be seen, and the
general appearance of the cultivated fields is
that Of garden enclosure that has been
spaded up and carefully raked The soil is
of rather sandy consistency and does not
form elods in ploughing, which accounts for
| the beautiful eyenneas of the fields. Con-
ceive of a stretch of bottom land of the
richest sort, mile wide, twenty-five miles
long and al under cultivation, and you will
have q correct idea of the Touchet Valley.
Wheat, fax, corn and grass fields alternating
in seemingly endless profusion and incredible
richness, and if | should speak of things as
they actually are, our friends of the William
ette Valley would accuse me of enthusiasm
and oyer-coloring. The chief reason for this
| high state of cultivation consist IN the fact
that the farms are small, SO that every acre
Is utilized. The farm-hOuSeS are generally
handsome frame buildings, of the cottage
order, painted white, and quite as elegant
as the farmers homes around Salem. The
settlement is comparatively new, but l.
advancing rapidly, and now presents none
of the aspects of backwoods country; for
the matter of that, it might have been IN
| y
no primitive log-cabins; civilization appears
TO have commenced at an advanced stage,
and the country looks old, Tell settled and
prosperous. On either side, for miles and
miles away, the hill sides and table lands
are covered with rich bunch-grass, foot
high, and as thick as 1t can grow, and
Je only in punches. 4 hundred thousand
cattle might pasture abundantly on this vast
range, and might hide themselves in the de-
presSions of the praire, stretching away as
far as one can see, as in the buffalo country
on the Plains. From one point, after leav-
ing the TOuchet Valley and ascending the
uplands, we passed over level prairie q
mile wide, six miles long, and rank with the
richest pasturage, without seeing sign of hui
man habitation, sheep, OK, or other animal
feeding ON the vast and ineXhaustable expanse
of verdure. Here and there on the distant
slopes was an occasional herd of sheep or cat
tile, but although Numbering hundreds, they
looked so few and lonely upon that 90 bound
less contiguity OF space. To speak of the
possible number of cattle, sheep and horses
that might feed and grow tat within a circuii
of twenty miles radius from the city OF Walla
Walla, is more than I care to venture, fol
fear OF seeming extravaganza +; and yet that
is only spot, one point, OF Eastern Oregon
} and washington Territory l now realize
the utter inadequacy of words TO eonvey'tc
others even tolerable idea of the vast ex-
! panse of productive country ranging along
the west base OF the Blue Mountains, through
Umatilla, Walla Walla, Whitman and Stey'
ems counties, clear up to the British posses
sions and in which all the inhabitants of tht
; grasshopper regions might find comfOrtable
} and abundant homes-and yet, the country
would not be half peopled. Hall millior
OF people might extract subsistence from The
| ground of WalIa Walla county alone.
wATrsBURG AND DAYTON.
These are thriving VILLAGES in Touehe