, 1889-09-26
BEATS THE WORLD.
How washington's Extravagantly
Fertile Valleys Produce
Hops.
The Yield Running as High as
1000 Pounds to the
Acre.
walter d. stevens In st. Louis Globe Dem


ions Of soil These extravagantly fertile
valleys of the Puyallup, White, Suoqual-
mic and half dozen other small
streams were once arms of Puget Sound.
The soil washed from the mountains and
filled them above high water. That is
the formation. Well.diggers go down
and down and find no change. Roots of
trees have been discovered fifty feet un-
der ground. In caving spot near a
railroad cut the operation of the hop roots
can be seem They go to a depth of nine
feet and more to draw nourishmont.
There is no such thing AS IA subsoil.
Thus tar there has been no renewal of
vines in these yards. Mr.. Mcekcr has
recently plowed up sixty acres of vines
because the land was wanted for town
lots. Those vines had been producing
hops every season for twenty-five years,
and there was no indication of any fail
ing. They yielded $ll 900 worth of hops
last year.
"I don't think there is any limit to
the time our Washington yards will go
without renewing" Mr. Mceker said.
sin the milder climates of Europe there
are hop vines that have been bearing
over 100 years. In New York it has
becu found necessary to renew vines in
ten or twelve years. Here our Oldest
yards show no signs of falling" These
valleys, which seem to be the
NATURAL HOME OF THE HOP VINE,
are limited The Puyallupextends only
twelve or fifteen miles above the town,
which is near enough 10 Tacoma
to be considered almost sub
urh The White valley Is somewhat
longer. All of the hop valleys are mar
row, with high hills rising on both sides
of them.
The land In its unclcared condition is
an impenetrable mass of brush, fallen
trees, stumps and roots. Yet In the
widest state 1t commands from $50 to
$75 per acre. Cleared and ready for the
plow it is worth 500 AN acre. Set out in
! hops it is held at $500 AN acre. That
is not too high. Mr.. j. j., Stewart, the
Puyallup merchant, has kept AN ucctir-
ate record of his hop yard for seventeen
for that period has been 1000 pounds TO
the acre. The average price has been a
| little over 20 cents pound, and the
average net profit has been above 500
an acre. Such Il record as this makes
$500 an acre low enough tor the estimate
OF tne Nulue oi mop yaru' % seiuo,i
does land set out III hops change hands
that IL is hard to fix q valuation.
Mr.. Meekcr, not wishing to have the
care of all his hop yard, has rented por'
tions from year TO year. The renter
does all of the work and turns over to
Mr.. Meeker a share of the crop. The
owner has found that his land thus
rented nets him
sEvENrY-FGvE DOLLARS AN ACRE
annually without care or trouble.
Hop picking has just begun. IL will
last until the LIST of October. 1t means
steady and profitable employment for
GO00 people during this period. Four
tifths OF the pickers ARE Indians, The
remaining fifth is composed of white
men, women and children from neigh
boring towns and cities. Washington
has Drejudices against Chinese hop pick
ers. Out of consideration for those
prejudicrs John" confines his picking
chiefly to Oregon and California. a year
or two ago there was dearth of pickers
in Washington. The growers took steps
to put Chipamen in the field. Public
sentiment Ievolted. In Tacoma it was
resolved by mass meeting to close the
schools and lei the children go into the
hop yards rather than have the China
men employed.
Mr.. Mceker says that of all kinds Of
pickers he yields preference to the In
dians. Strange US 1t may seem to those
who have formed the popular estimate
of aboriginal Incidence, Mr.. Mcckcr
gives the Indians the credit of being the
MOST RELIABLE PGcKERs.
When hops are \, e enough TO pick, no
time can be fooled away. A frost after
the ripcuiDg means ruin. The Indians
will pick right along through all kinds
of weather. White people want to stop
I Nyhcn IL r1iug Hnrthpr than thig tha
white pckcrs often tire and knock OIL
before the season ends. The Indian
keeps right on until the last hop is
| picked.
During the picking season the hop
country is great camp. The Indians
come from all directions and live in
! tents. British Columbia furnishes II
couple of thousands at least. And some
of these king George" Indians, as they
call themselves in distinction from tile
tribes of the United States, come from Us
far north AS the Alaskan boundary.
Among the pickers in MIR. Meeker's 5 yard
are Indians who travelled 1000 miles to
get here. For II month the pickers have
| been coming in. With those who live
on the Sound the favorite conveyance is
| the canoe. Nearly month ago the first
of the Siwashes arrived in Seattle and
Tacoma, pulled their ''canims" up TO the
wharves and
| cAMPED AMONG THE LUMBER PILES.
As it drew nearer for the time for the
picking to begin, the solitary canoes were
succeeded by fleets. These canoes are
made from trunks of trees followed by
long and patient chipping and then
warped by hot water. To this day the
water for warping is heated by dropping
hot stones into tile boat Six months is
not too much time to give to q first class
Job of canoe making. Each canoe has "a
high beak-shaped prov. In these canoes
the Indian embarks his whole family,
| his camping outfit and his supplies OF
smoked salmon and seaweed bread. All
except the little chaps take turns at the
paddle and the journey of hundreds of
miles is made. Some of the Siwashes
find their way to the yards where they
picked the previous years. Others wait
at Seattle and Tacoma to make con-
tracts for the season. They go into
camp as near their respective hop yards
as they can, pitch their tents and are
ready for work.
lime is no object TO the Siwash. He
| is very willing to take six weeks or a
month in reaching the valley and then
the same length OF time in going back,
in order to get the three or four weeks
of work.
Democratic Fun In Georgia.
| From the Portland Oregonian.J
| Ahout a fnrfni phf auo Mt EaStport