, 1878-03-22
WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
r.. I>prCEnENr> ro rMuGR.Nrs.
CHAPTER H.

The fact that many Eastern read
e,s are led to overesilmatc the at
,antaces of our climate, the size OF
our towns. schools, etc., Is not more
poarent than that they as greatly
Underestimate our commerce, pro-
ducing facilities and the number and
of our resources AND ma
tnral wealths. Emigrants who come
here expecting to behold statcI Y and
expensive public buildings, such as
yrace many of the older cities and
towns on the other side of the contl-
nent, are doomed to disappointment
as great as that experienced by those
who come with the idea that we are
a commercial dependent upon East
ern States, and that our exports
amount to nothing. The fact that
Washington Territory exports wheat
oats, barley, potatoes, coal, lumber
and ship timbers of all kinds, and
these too in large quantities COM
pared with the size OF her population,
elicits surprise from many only few
hundred miles away whose ideas of
her commercial importance are based
upon the little they have heard and
read about her.
But a new era is dawning. The
impetus which this Territory has al
ready rste we'd, especially within the
past decade, has enabled her to start
pom the second century's national
growth under far more favorable cir
cumstances than those of many Of her
sister States and Territories. The
prominence which her productions
received at the Centennial Exhibi.
ton, and the aole manner in which
her rights were championed upon
that occasion when all America arose
to display evidences of past growth
and present worth, caused the atten.
tion of Eastern writer's to be turned
to her as the rising star Of the great
northwest. This in turn aroused an
interest in the minds of the working
men, who Of all others have been
most solicitous within the past few
years concerning their welfare. The
result has been that the Territory
has received enough new settlers
within the past year to leave no
doubt of its Importance in the near
future.
THE SOIL.
All over the Territory large pro-
portion of the soil is Sufficiently pro.
ductive to set at ease any doubts
respecting our future prominence as
an agricultural and stock-raising
people.
In Eastern Washington the esti-
nation of productiveness, which we
append herewith, will suggest the
most correct idea of the character
and appearance of the soil. Wheat,
for which the soil seems peculiarly
adapted, yields from 80 to So bushels
per acre; barley ranges from so to
rs bushels; oats As to 60; rye 81;
peas and beans yield 80; potatoes
yield from 200 to 500 bushels per
acre. varying greatly with the sea-
sons and other influences which af
feet them; onions are quoted at L.
900 bushels, turnips at 800, carrots
800 and hay 2 to 8 tons per acre.
Cabbages grow 10000 to $4,000
heads per acre, according to the soil.
Hops yield abundantly. CHI
matic influences cause all trees and
shrubs to grow more rapidly than on
the Atlantic coast, and to bear much
earlier. Flowers appear in abund
ance, and folioceous trees are clothed
IN their summer mantle in early
April, yet Eastern Washington does
not produce as heavy forest growth
or as valuable timber as does the
land bordering on Puget Sound.
The land is mainly valuable for agri-
culture and grazing. The general
aspect Of the country is much diver
sihsd and Of great beauty-undulat.
ing, and in some places hilly, chiefly
rolling and level prairies, but we'll
wooded along lakes and streams.
RAILROADS.
This subject which has been agi.
tated so much during the past few
years, is fraught with great interest
to settlers in every valley east of the
Cascades-mors so to them than in
any other part of the Territory, as
the Puget Sound basin has water
communication with the outside
world, The enterprise which has
developed so much energy, recently