, 1881-11-12

T. +. Finnerty, the graphic CORES
Pondsat Of that live, go-ahsad, vide
awake and sasrgstic newspaper the Chi
c.go f;.<s, daring his visit " this
country, wrote ~ up with sharp pen.
Hs ~ taken out riding and this d what
- - 70 aay. fSsre ID nothing small
about Ton fisr.ay:
/" We had for our driver Tom Tsrnay,
uho has inhabited the country ever s,ncs
the year Of grace, 1863, when, in fact the
country around here 6rst hegaa to settle
up. Tom drove lively, team, shich he
found some difficulty in managing, while,
vith Asad twisted around, hs strove TO
give inc the history Of everything 10 nv,
Our courss lay southwsrd from ths
town across several ANAL brooks al trib-
asary " the little Walla WAliA The
country Is nearly aas to the north, east
and west, with occaAiona ghmpses Of
distant spurs of the Ceur d'Alene sys-
tenn" Ts the south, however, it rises
rather gently, forming . long ins Of
pretty uplands that it requires . great
strain Of the imaginaticr. after what l
bad seen, to call mountains. Well, near
y Ill between walh Walla sad tic ersst
Of the ridge is under wheat erups, soos
nou in stubble, but most Of 1t standing,
ready for the reaper. It was . pretty
l cannot call it perfectly splendid-sight
to see al those yellow fields Of grain after
the dark wilderness through which had
travelled so many hundred miles The
wheat valley Of which speak is about
IL miles vide, including the slope Of the
ridge, and perhaps 100 miles in extent,
pri.eipaily tending eastward, but not Of
even width all through. In some places
the gain grows thick and healthy, While
in others the product is comparatively
light should think fair average for |
the whole-an average that would wrong
no man would be from % 10 30 bushels |
an acre, which is very credi:abis yield
The principal wheat farm around Walla |
Wslla Is that known rs tho Bsksr
which claims 80 bushels an acre for some |
Of its crops This think, after some
investigation, very exceptional. 1t may
psduce 10 bushels in spots, but very ILL
tie ov-r that amount. And it is quite |
enough. The characteristic tendency |
tnWard exaggsration which is 8, preva-
lent among new settlers ought to be dis |
couraged. 1t was AS hot as blazes" and |
such dust | have ni'ver experienced ex-
cspt in Texas. But the wheat lands, as |
the eye became accustomed to them, look |
glorious under that blazing sun The |
crops grew without irrigation, there being
REASONABLE rainfall in this section dur
ing the early summer months. l pltied
the laborers out under that racing sun |
and copper sky, piling up the straw on |
the great wains drawn by painting. reek- |
ing horses, who kicked up dense volumes
of dust and made the sweating harvest |
hands look like 30 many gentlemen from
Congo The thrasLing machines were
working like magic, and the whole scene
was As animated as the extreme heat
would permit it to be.
"Nobody ever dies here Of sunstroke."
proudly said Tom Tierncy.
| have heard this pleasant fiction in
othsr countries, even after | had seen the
:u,'s victims lying dead at the morgue,
with the blue-Aies planting thei: eggs in
the swollen eyelids and lips OF the black
enrd corpse. 1t is just like the yellow
fever at Now Orleans.
When Was down there last November
man died under suspicious circumstance
Everything indicated yellow jack The
health authorities said it Was no such
thing. 1, was only bilious fever.
| said to one If them "What differ
ence what you call it the man is dead
it's all the same, whether the fever that
killed the man was white, black, red.
blue or yellow"
Yes" said the doctor, cunningly,
- but the name of the thing, you know.
1t is the same thing with sunstroke in
WaIls Walla- If q man dies there of
heat they call it spoplexy or heart disease
or consestion-anything but sunstroke
and vet the latter is far less awe-inspiring
Than the disease by which II Is popularity
substituted to please, a. it were, the pub
lie mind.
After having inspected wheat farms
until | felt like IN underdone beefstake.
re drove back TO tcsn- At every spot
where the wheat was particularly heavy,
Tom Tierney would say: "This was all
sage brush and sand twenty years ago.
hauled lumber from that hill over to the
old mill YOU see y0nder. The country
here looked then exactly rs the country
between here and Waliuia Junction looks
now"