The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-08-04
VALE OF NENATCHEE.
Fruitful Region on the East
Side Of Cascades.
GOLD. SILVER AND GARDENS.
Mouth OF the River the Geographical
Center OF the state-Route OF the
Great Northern Perhaps.


promises greater advantages or more varied
resources than the Wenatchee valley. and
only better communication with the outer
world Is needed for it's development The
river rises in the Cascade mountains and
flows winding through canyons, lakes and
fertile fats for 100 miles, and empties into
the Columbia at almost the geographical
center of the state. 1t is 40 yards wide
and so deep as to be forbade only at q few
places and at low water, and the lower
twenty-five miles Of its course has q fall of
from twelve to thirty feet per mile.
At the mouth OF the river aud extending
along the Columbia several miles is beau
tiful fiat of 10, 000 acres on which few
orchards have been planted Tor sixteen
years. Philip Miller has an orchard and
vineyard of twenty acres, and from the
surplus over what he could sell last season
he manufactured 500 gallons of brandy
from peaches ana grapes. dutch John, !"
John Miller. William Gray. Lyman Burrell
and many others have from three
to fifteen acres of orchard begin
ming to bear. Peaches and apricots
have been ripe for three weeks. and
watermelons are too plenty to sell. All
that is needed to make this valley para
disc for fruit growers and gardeners is cul-
tivation and water, and the Wenatchee
can be made to furnish plenty of the latter
With railroad to the Sound there will be
no necessity for More Object Lessons" in
the PosT-IErELLIGEScER.
The mouth of the Wenatch ee is $50 feet
above sea level; the summers are long and
quite warm, and occasionally the wind
blows little too much for comfort. The
snowfall is sometimes three feet in the
winter, and the mercury goes to twenty de-
grees below zero. but there is very little
wind in that season.
Travelling up the river one passes flats on
alternate sides ranging from a quarter to
two miles in width, which are mostly prai-
RE. but sometimes bear scattering pines
and brush. In the canyons and noun
tains are pine and fr timber suffi-
cient for local needs. These fats
are quite well settled for TWEEN :y-fve
miles, and are as well suited for fruit and
garden culture as that at the mouth of the
river. From the appear ance of the mouths
of some of the canyons there would hardly
be room for a crows nest. but they contain
many settlers and others may still lind
homes in them; in one of them we found
six families, besides old bachelors. One
man had thirty acres of corn equal to any
in Iowa, alfalfa meadow, several acres of
young orchard and fine garden.
Seven miles up the river is Catholic
Indian mission church; the old:log building
has been built for many years, and last
spring the Indians erected frame church
22x36. the only church building within
thirty-five miles. Many of the Indians
have good farms quite well cultivated, but
most of their wealth is horses. A great
many OF them work in the hop fields on the
Sound each season.
At seventeen miles the Peshastin river
comes in from the southwest about which
I will speak further along. At this point
the barometer shows OILS feet above sea
level, and that the Wenatchee has risen
twenty-one and half feet per mile.
Six miles further on the Icicle comes in
from the southwest, from wild and
jagged range of snow-capped mountains,
the highest of which is Mount Stuart.
Among them the hunter, who will risk his
neck. and work hard enough, may get q
mountain goat. There is large flat and
a number of settlers at the mouth of the
river, which is about 200 feet wide, and can
be forded at low water. Standing on the
bank the stream appeared about a foot
deep, and the pebbly bottom could be seen
entirely across, but it was fully three feet
deep. The stream is named from the tenn.
perature of the water, which is excellent
for drinking. but its virtues are not GEN.
orally appreciated by bathers. A mile and
a half above the mouth of the Icicle the
Wenatchee comes tumbling and roaring
n1rfrA nnff in.
granite. Near this ''tum water" the In.
dams formerly had their salmon fishery,
but this season they are six miles farther
up stream.
The wagon road. which has followed the
south bank of the Wenatchee, crosses the
Icicle and Wenatchee near the forks, and
for eight miles passes mp the valley of the
Chumstick that comes in from the north.
This valley is a mile wide in places and
has several settlers and room for more.
Mr.. Northup, living near the head of the
valley, has two bear cubs that he captured
last spring, after killing the mother. Near
ly every man in that section of the country
can tell a bear story from real life.
About a mile this side of Northup's the alti.
tude is $50 feet. and the trail leaves the
wagon road and crosses a sharp divide into
Beaver creek valley. The trail comes to
the Wenatchee river at q sharp bend.
crosses the Chewawa and soon reaches
Wenatchee lake, which is six miles long hy
two imiles wide. has an altitude of I,65O
feet. and is forty miles from the mouth of
the Wenatchee river. Two miles east of
the main lake is a smaller one named Fish
lake. Several parties have taken claims at
and near the lakes. Having never been
farther than Beaver creek. the write- will
say no more of that country at present
The route of the Seattle, Lake Shore a
Eastern surveyed by Major Rogers three
years ago follows up the Wenatchee and
Chumstick, thence through a short tunnel
TO Beaver creek, then up the Wenatcbee to
the lake, along the north side OF the lake,
crossing White river. then following up the
WenaIchee TO the divide of the Cascades.
The Great Northern surveyors who passed
up the river 10 the lake two weeks since
have a map drawn by Major Rogers, and
seem to be following the route marked bv
him. Several hunters familiar with the
country claim better route is up Mason
creek. that flows into the south side of the
Nenatchee three miles below the mouth of
the lake.
The Peshastin river is somewhat known
to miners, but not so well as il should be.
IL empties into the south side of the
Wenatchee about seventeen miles from its
mouth, and Is forty feet wide and a foot
deep at low water. The lower six miles of
its course is through q marrow valley or
canyon, along which are a few settlers.
A kau hra s.,t