The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-01
IN THE COLvILLE COUNTRY.
A Prolific Region of About 5000
Square Miles.
Prodisious Yields Of Hay-value OK the
Mining MISUNDERSTANDING Stone
New Railroads.
CoIxrr1r Wash nee %

NoLffALEt w ASH, OSc 1871.
stevens county comprises an area of
about 5000 square miles of territory lying
on the east side of the Columbia river and
covering the northeast corner of the state
OF Washington. The surface of the coun-
try Is broken by q succession of buttes
which, to the casual observer, present the
appearance of impenetrable mountain
ranges; but they are not. A wagon can
be driven around each of these excrescent
portions of the earth, and the traveller will
all the time continue over fields of virgin
soil of the most prolific nature, watered by
streams and springs of crystal water and
backed up by great forests of timber and
wide wastes of stock ranges. Heis at once
impressed with his surroundings, which,
for grandeur and beauty of scenery, and
possibilities for the production of wealth
under the frugal stroke of industry, GER
tainly are not to be surpassed by any other
country of like dimension on the face of
the globe.
All along the Columbia river from Fort
Spokane on the south to the international
boundary line on the north is slope of
country, reaching from the waters edge of
the great stream eastward to small range
of timbered hills from three to five miles
away. The soil is sandy, and is traversed
by small brooklets of water at intervals of
every mile or so that provide ample facili-
ties for irrigation; thus making it verita-
BILE Eden for the industrious class of West,
ern people who are making homes and
fortunes from the immense crops of gar
den truck raised each year, which finds q
ready market and fair price at the near
est railroad station. The fragment of
Japan current from the Pacific ocean that
follows the Columbia river from its mouth
greatly mobiles the climate along this
parent of inland waters, and it is not i'm
possible, in this region, to grow profitable
crops of tobacco, sweet potatoes, peanuts
and numerous other semi-tropical plants.
Those who have made gardening
speciality say that an experienced gardener
can make money, and enough to spare,
from ten-acre lot, and that the day is not
far distant when twenty acres will con-
stitute large farm in this locality.
CoLvILLE VALLEY.
The Colville valley, one of the most
beautiful and productive valleys in the
state, is located through the center of
Stevens county, and is about sixty-two
miles long with an average width of three
miles. The Colville river is deep narrow
stream that pursues a sluggish course
through a most tortuous channel in
northwesterly direction through the whole
length of the valley to the Columbia river
The banks are low and fringed with a
growth of willow and aspen thickets
which mark the course of the stream
through the wide stretch of level meadow
lands, which reach back to the gentle
rising uplands on either side. The soil of
these meadow lands is rich black loan,
entirely different from that of the interior
regions and under the slightest cultivation.
when once seeded, produces, year after
year, the heaviest growths of timothy hay.
There are not less than 100 900 acres of this
meadow land in the Colville valley and
the many smaller valleys tributary to it.
1t is in fact the most extensive exclusively
meadow region in the state and is of great
value ON that account. The average yield
of timothy hay in this valley,
when properly cared for, is two
and one-half tons per acre. At
this ratio 10000 acres would produce 3OO,-
600 tons. The hay at the present time is
worth $3.50 per ton in the field. The pro-
duct of 10000 acres would therefore be
$4,000. The growing of hay in this re-
gion must always be a profitable industry.
1t is a remarkable fact that while the Big
Bend, the Palouse and other sections of
Eastern Washington are far-famed as
most prolific agricultural regions, none of
them produce tirst-class timothy hay The
product comes from few valleys where
the land is well watered by some stream.
The mining camps of Eastern Washington,
Northern Idaho, Montana, British Column
bia, and even the logging camps on the
great Puget sound are great consumers of
hay, and look to these limited areas for
their supply, and this branch of farming
therefore, must always be one of the most
profitable in Washington. At present
there is certainly no class of agriculture
that Yields so rich and certain return. It
is simple crop, easilyhandled, and at the
time it is moved and cured there is not
the least danger of rain, as there is in the
East. The crop can be cared for in abso-
lutte security. If the thrifty class of far
mers from the Eastern or Middle states
owned the farms in the Colville valley
they would make great fortunes. The
price of good timothy baled and delivered
on board cars in the winter of 1S69L90 was
81 per ton, and even higher prices were
paid as the winter advanced. This is not
exceptional The price rarely falls under
SIS after the LIST of January, and the cost
of cutting, stacking and baling will not
exceed SIS per ton. Good farmers may be
safely advised to go to the Cblville valley.
They can buy land at reasonable prices
and very profitable return for their in
vestment is beyond question.
The above figures are given to show the
possible capacity of valley whose latent
wealth is not yet known, or, if so. not fully
appreciated by those who have pioneered
their way into possession of their lands
without having developed their faculty of
energy which is so necessary in the develop
ment of the country.
But this is not all The above represents
the product of hay alone, and that Of only
q small portion OF large farming country.
From the low fat stretches of meadow
lands already described there sweeps away
over rolling hills, sparsely timbered with
fir. tarnarack and cedar, and interlineated
with streams and pretentious valleys, a
large scope of farming country. One of
sorchards and meadows and deep tangled
Wildwood" such as We all love to talk
about and long to enjoy. We readily see
that hay is not the only product of the
land. The climate is almost perfect.
Although several degrees Of latitude
further north, it is something like that of
Washington, D. c., only dryer, and the
severest cold days Of winter scarcely num-
her more than three or four in succession,
and a week or ten days covers the climax
of winter. There is scarcely any wind at
any time of the year.
While farming is mostly always con-
sidcred the leading feature In any country,