The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1895-10-05
The Great Wheat Country Of tAe
Pacific Northwest.

lintermountain country are due TO the
condensation of the moisture taken uT
from the Pacific ocean and carried east
ward by the high altitude the air cur
rents have to attain to cross the several
ranges of mountains. The moisture is
condensed aud precipitsted as snow or
rainfall by the Sierra, Cascade and other
high ranges and leaves the vast areas of
lands east of them, though rich in all
the elements which constitute pro-
ductive soil, dependent upon irrigation
to make them productive How vast
an area this "ard region" is can only
be comprehended when we consider
that the entire country is affected by
these meteorological conditions from
the Pacific coast ranges TO far beyond
the eastern foot. hills of the Rocky
Mountains, and from the interior Of
Mexico on the south TO far into British
Columbia on the north.
These conditions are notably modi-
fed in an area lying eastward Of Puget
Sound and the mouth of The Columbia,
where the moisture is not so entirely
intercepted and where the coast ranges,
though containing such lofty snow cap
ped peaks as Mounts Hood, st. Helens
and Tacoma, are more broken and con-
tain many gaps through which the soft,
warm and moist currents find their way
and extend to the Rocky Mountains, on
the eastern line of Idaho. Hence, in
an area extending from Pendleton and
Umatilla, Oregon, eastward and north
ward, covering Eastern Washington and
Northern Idaho, crops of cereals are
grown without irrigation. These cur
rents of atmosphere are thermally af-
fected by the warm japanese current in
the Pacific and make the climate in
these higher latitudes much milder
than in the same ATTITUDES further east
ward.
The rainfall in this area is principally
precipitated during the winter and early
early spring, the summer and falls be-
ing comparatively dry. These condi-
tions make this section particularly adj
apted to the growth of early maturing
crops-wheat, barley, fax, etc, the soil
absorbing sufficient moisture during the
winter and spring to perfectly mature
them and leaving long season ofsplen-
did sunshine for their harvest.
Over a vast portion of this section the
soil is a volcanic ash, rich in all the ell
ements of productiyeness, of immense
depth and absorbing and retaining
moisture and giving it back to the sur
face by capillary attraction when de-
manded. It is so free from stones and
SO easily TILED that gang and disc plows,
wide grain drills and headers are every
where employed. 1t is, however, very
rolling or hilly, and, strange to say, the
higher up on the hills one goes the
more productive he finds the land. The
homes, gardens and orchards occupy
the narrow valleys ana irrigation is
there resorted to, to mature the later
crops of vegetables and fruits.
The NUGGET man recently passed |
through portions OF this interesting
country. ;rayersed by the extensive
system of the Oregon Railway and Nav
igatiou Company, and it wasall, to him,
a revelation of prolific production. At
nearly every little railway station were
long platforms, piled twelve to fifteen
feet high with sacks Of wheat. 1t was
wheat, wheat, wheat, everywhere, and
as far as the eye could see, the rolling
hills are white or still almost golden
with stubble, which does not here, as in
rainy countries, blacken orrot until the
winter storms begin. In some sections
flax is the leading crop grown and, it is
said, has teen more profitable crop
than wheat.
We have seen no authoritative state-
ments, giving the average production
per acre over this large territory, bat
have recently seen stater'ents 10 local
papers of this region telling Of whole
crops going 40 bushels per acre, and we're
told, the other day, by one Of our U. S.
Senators, of three neighbors, each har-
vesiing ten acres, cut with the same
header and threshed by the came ma
chine and carefully measured, one piece
yielding rs, one so and one 81 bushels
per acre. We have heard stories Of
even larger yields than these. When
we compare such figures with the pro-
duction of California or the Dakotas
they are large enough to stsgger one's
credulity.