Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-01-28
ALL NOT GOLD, ETC.
J. s. Wolf Regales ssWorld" Read
ers With
A Readable Essay on Washington
Territory.

6eadable Essay on Washington
Territory.
CoIFAx, WASHINGTON IT,, Jan. 10, 1888.
Hon ". 8. Tiltom:
Can You find space in the crowded col
1mns OF the Western Kansas World
Tor few lines from this section of
Uncle Sans Dominion?" You are
aware that we have been here only a
short time, but our experiences would be
worth telling If we only possessed the fac
nlty to clothe them with words SO as to
make others realize them as we do.
We were not pleased with the country
at Tacoma. No one who has any desire to
tell the truth can recommend that place
to persons wanting to engage in agricul-
lure. The soil is very gravelly and most
ly covered with pine, cedar and fir timber.
Tacoma is very good place for mechan-
les and laboring men. Mechanics get
from two and half to three and half
dollars per day. Common laborers get
two dollars per day. There are some
beautiful yards in Tacoma, but the own
ers 60 to a great deal of trouble to make
them nice. They have their gum hose,
and water them when they have their dry
season. People in Wa-Keeney could have
as nice yards if they would take the same
care q them. We found fruit plentiful in
Tacoma, but it was high in price. The
most of it is brought from California.
Apples and plums do well in the Puget
Sound country, but there are not many
orchards. Peaches and pears will not
grow there. We visited the hop fields in
the famous Preyallup valley, but did not
fall in love with hop farming.
We are east of the Cascade mountains,
in what is called the Palouse country.
This is said to be the best agricultural
land in the Territory, and farmers raise
large crops of wheat, barley and oats.
This part has been settled mostly within
the last ten years. A few of the oldest
settlers have bern here about fifteen years,
and they say they never had failure of
crops. Last season wheat yielded from
thirty to forty-fve bushels per acre; bar
ley from fifty to sixty bushels, and oats
from sixty to seventy-five bushels. A few
farmers claim as much as sixty bushels OF
wheat per acre. There are two farmers
in this locality that had over forty thou
sand bushels of grain apiece last season.
The nights are too cold for corn to do
well. This country has it's drawbacks,
too. We do not like it well enough to
make our home here. The land is awful
ly billy to farm. The old settlers say at
first they only farmed around the bottom
of the hills, and kept farming up a
little farther, and now they farm all
over these big hills. Seed wheat and
oats must be washed in vitrol water to
prevent them from shutting. Barley
does not smut. The gophers here are
very destructive to the grain while it is
young and tender. The farmers must
ill them in order to save their crops.
The commissioners tried the plan of pay
ng bounty Of five cents for scalp. It
,ost the county little over seventeen
thousand dollars in one season. They
topped paying bounty. The price
lsked for land ranges from six and half
o twenty dollars per acre. Good work
lorses are worth from seventy-fve to one
hundred and fifty dollars. Indian ponies
re from ten to thirty dollars. Mich |
ows are from thirty to fifty dollars.
Wheat is forty-six cents per bushel, bar
ey forty-ive, and oats twenty-seven.
The millers give thirty pounds of -four
nd no bran or shorts in exchange for
ixty pounds of wheat. A ten-pound
ack of corn meal retails for fifty cents.
III store goods are much higher in price
han in Wa-Keeney. Coal sells for
welve and half dollars per ton.
We have plenty of snow, and sleighing |
las been excellent for the past three
7eeks. It is extremely cold here some
avs. Last Thursday the thermometer
egistered thirty-six degrees below zero,
nd on Sunday the mercury stood at
orty degrees below. We get to see
lenty of Indians. Our little girls are
fraid of them, and we would all prefer
, live in country where there are no
indians living.
If these few lines contain anything of
efficient interest to be favored with space
/ the columns of the paper which you so
bly, edit, you may hear from me again.
Yours respectfully,
j. 8. WOLF.