Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-06-26

Somnolent Lewiston is looking up
however. II will soon be the terminus
Of a railroad from Spokane Falls, and
those avant couriers of prosperity, the
real estate agents, have already hung
out their signs. Everybody is dream
ing of wealth to be made by selling
lots and acres that could scarcely he
given away few months ago. The
semi-weekly steamboat from down
Snake River is to be supplanted by the
daily train from the busy young me-
tropolis of Eastern Washington. New
life will soon flow into the old town
and this haunt Of ancient peace, as
drowsy as All oasis In the deserts of
Arabia Felix, will become busting,
modern, prosperous and commonplace.
People will make money raising fruits
and early vegetables and shipping
them to the markets of Spokane Falls,
Helena and Butte and their good for.
tune will give the town a great inn
petus. Probably its fifteen hundred
inhabitants will be five thousand' in
three or four years. To reach the
plateau north Of the Snake and Clear
water valleys zig-zag road must be
climbed for an hour. 1t clings to the
brown slopes ola precipitous mountain.
When you are at the top, instead of a
mountain summit, as you might we'll
expect to And, verdant, rolling prai-
RE stretches out before you, spangled
with flowers and dotted with orchards
and farmsteads. The general level of
this prairie Is 1000 feet higher than
that Of the valleys below. It temper.
allure In winter Is from twenty to
thirty degrees colder. The dweller on
this high plain has only to go down to
Lewiston in winter to experience az
great change Of climate as st. Paul
man would find In the same season by
travelling from this city to st. Louis.
In summer the difference Is almost as
great. From the California-like
warmth Of the valleys one mounts to a
region Ut cool stimulating air and fresh
breezes blowing from the mountains.
In early spring one can stand in the
snow on the bank Of the plateau and
look down on the peach trees and the
cherry trees in bloom in the orchards
Of Lewiston. We drove to Genesee
through a persistent rain, passing for
six or seven miles across beautiful.
blossothing prairies, entirely vacant,
because belonging to the Indians, but
soon to be turned into wheat fields by
the opening Of the Nez Perez Reserva-
ton. The Potlatch country is high
table land where the streams all run in
deep, narrow gorges from l 500 to 1000
feet below the general level. These
streams are the Potlatch River and its
tributaries, the Little Potlatch, the
Middle Potlatch, Bear Creek, Pine
Creek, Cedar creek and others. The
plateaus between the gorges are called
rfdges-Fox Ridge, American Ridge,
Bear Ridge, Texas Ridge, Big Potlatch
Ridge, etc. The soil is highly fel tile
and the climate Is excellent for fruit
! culture. Apples do ~ well a. I'M Mich
igan and peaches escape the frost about
as often In a series Of years as in New
Jersey. l have nowhere seen thriftier
voting orchards than those 10th on the
ridges and In the narrow valleys. As q
grain-growing region, for wheat, barley,
oats and fax, this Potlatch country
cannot be surpassed. No wonder,
then, that the land Is all claimed in adj
vance Of the building Of railroad to
take tho farmers products to market.