The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-12-25
Eastern w ashin gton.

Some very excellent letters descrip-
tive of Oregon and Washington, their
resources, etc, have appeared in the San
Francisco Bulletin during The past few
months. These have been furnished by
correspondents who travel with their
eyes open, and are capable of giving un-
prejudiced views Of what they see. The
following is from recent letter in that
journal relative to the Walla Walla re-
gion, the garden of Eastern Washing
ton:
wALLA wALIA COUNTY
Is the wealthiest of the Territory, the
assessors report for the year just ended
showing the value of the taxable prop
erty to be $2,97l, $50. This represents
81, 56O,550 in personal property and
81, ,0l0 in real estate. The same
report gives the population as $500,
representing Walla Walla, 1000; Waits
burg, about 400, (these are the only
towns in the county, Wallula being
mere shipping point of about 20 inhabi-
tants, and the county at large, about
1900. The county has 49, surveyed
townships, nearly its whole area, the
only unsurveyed land being that lying
along the SUBMITS of the Blue noun
tains, and valuable for the timber it
sustains. Of the land under cultivation
the report shows 81, GAG acres, to be ap-
portioned as follows: To wheat, 1861;
to barley, ll,27l; to oats, 1895, to tim
othy, 1926. The figures for live stock
are: Sheep, 20,256; cattle, 1l,260:
horses, 1858; hogs, 1924; mules, pa.
The number of horses and mules has d.
minished very much since five years ago
when the greater portion of this valley
formed pasture for them. All those
now in the country are in use. The
sheep and cattle are along the Columbia
river, upon land which is fertile but too
rough for convenient cultivation. The
hogs are distributed among the farmers.
who use them as cleaners of grain lost
from the header and thresher, which
would otherwise be wholly wasted
SOIL AND CLIMATE.
The surface OF the whole country
bears evidence of volcanic action. 1t is
believed that the greater portion Of the
soil of this valley is formed of ashes.
1t will average eight or ten feet in depth,
is very light and fine, and of a color
between gray and yellow. During
Summer the roals of the valley are
dustier than those of any other part of
the coast. This dust is more penetrat-
ing than -four, and the GREATEST null
tiplicity of garments will not secure the
travellers person against very generous
deposits of it. The farmers claim that
the longer these lands are worked the
more fertile they become. This is prob
ably because each crop eliminates from
the soil certain percentage of some
element which is present in two great
proportions to that of the others. OF
course the time will come when any
further decrease of this great unknown
will be injurious to the land. But as
long as the improvement continues
the land holder will be content to reap
the benefits without inquirins into the
cause and the problem of drawing the
line of progression and retroprogression,
will not disturb his mind. For this
reason the wheat crop of the whole
Walla Walla Valley has averaged 33 Is
bushels to the acre. Barley leads wheat
by from five to ten bushels per acre, and
oats lead barley by the same figures.
Nearly all the cereals and the fruits of
the temperate zone do well here.
The climate of this section is much
more severe than that of California, and
much more moderate than that of the
Eastern States in the same latitude.
Malarial diseases are unknown, the fall
of the valley-averaging 40 feet per
mile-affording perfect drainage