The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1884-12-18
COrreSDODdelCe,
TACOMA, w. r., Dec. Sth, is

u
EDITOR STAR:-Since my arrival ut
this place have received many in
quiries from old acquaintances In Lake
county regarding this country; con-
cluied TO answer them through your
valuable paper, hence this epstlc.
Washington Territory is divided in
to two sections known as Eastern aud
Western Washington, 10y the Cascade
Mountains. Tie whole Territory Is
very much broken by hills and noun
tai,is. The Eastern part Of the Terri
tory contains some very fertile Lands.
and large quantities of al, kinds of
farm produce are raised there. 1t Is
said to I've one of the best wheat pro-
ducing countries la the world. 1t is al
so great stock country.
There is one great difficulty IN farm
ing there however, which in great
measure cOunterlslances the good fea-
lures of that region; that is the dis
tance from market.
This year the crops Of wheat have
been abundant and yet / am informed
that great poverty exists among the
farmers on account of the low price of
wheat. Their wheat crops have aver.
aged from 25 TO 50 bushels per acre, but
Is almost u worthless commodity on
their hands, except that needed for
their own use. They have to haul Il
long distance to the railroad and then
sell for what they can get, generally
not realizing more than tie cost OF
hauling their crop to the market.
Tie fertile lands of that portion of
the Territory are not extensive. con
clude from the best information 1 can
get, that not more tliaii one fourth of
the lands east Of the Cascade Noun
tains are arabic.
The land i'm this the western part OF
the Territory is not as good for agricul-
tural purposes as that in the eastern,
aud the amount Of farming land not as
great in proportion as there. The agri-
cultural lands In this vicinity Is gener-
ally confined to the river valleys and
swsmps. Tie valleys are generally
narrow and the swamps small, 40 the
good farming lands form but very
small part of the entire country. A
large quantity Of the upland or hill
country would produce good crops If
cultivated, but 1t IL heavily timbered
with fir and other large timber which
all ordinary Michigan pine stump Is no
have been cleared to make room for
this, and other towns; and here and
there q few acres have been cleared
aud partially stumped by courageous
farmers Or ''ranchers" as they arc here
called.
am Informed Ivy good authority (a
Michigan man has cleared eight acres)
that il costs one hundred und fifty dol
lars per acre to clear and stump such
land, aud do not doubt IL In the least.
Tie great hop producing land is In the
valleys of the rivers. This Is GENERALLY
very profitable crop, aud ! am told
those valley lands are perfectly adapt
cd to its production. In this vicinity
such lands are all taken up and are
held ut prices higher than improved
farms IN southern Michigan. The 9th
er resources Of the Territory are coal,
iron aud timber, and we have these In
vast quantities. The timber Ii now
being manufactured into lumber full
up to and beyond the demand, ani
do not See any opening for any new
enterprises In that direction until the
demand increases. At present the
lumber market Is confined to this coast
and small foreign demand. When
we consider that tie population OF the
entire coast does not exceed thnt Of
Michigan, we readily see tIiut the de-
msnd for all kinds of production Is
necessarily limited. The coal trade Is
quite extensive aud Is increasing. The
iron trade Is may sny entirely unde-
veloped. have no doubt but that
some time III the future this will he u
wealthy country and when ] came
here thought that time wus'iiesrly at
hand. now think 1t some years Ia
tie future.
I have good reason to believe that
certain parties interested are circulate
ing Throughout the 9fates east OF the
Rocky M0untnlno QeQ,ipg qtivertIse-
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