The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-07-01
FERTILE FIELDS OF WHEAT.
rotR HUNDRED ACRE FARM IN
WESTERN WARRINGTON.
Good Hard Milling Grain. with m
Average Yield Of Thirty Bnsh~is
Per Aer~-stniks staaa shoulder

-Four hundred acres Of waving. ru5sy
npeuing gTain-hsrd milling wheat a. tast
and averaging - bushels an acre. and
this Ia Western Washington. Marvellous
and even Incredible as IL may appear. there
Is just E9sca a farm not two miles from
Eoy. Pierce county. on which there is now
npsn.ng and almost ready for the head
snysI days 10 see.
Ths fact that good. hard milling wheat
car BE- successfully grown In some parts
81 Western Washington has long been
believed by few weli-posied men. bot
among the average %. farmers the belief
has been positive that there s. little or
no ia I'd fitted :or wheat growing IN this
state on the Western aide OF the Cascade
mountaEax. Many farmers have tried the
% grow wheai In the fertile valleys tnat
nsrk the water courses emptylag Into
,ae Pacific Hut the wheat grown In the
majority os cases under these circuTn-
stances has been soft and unfit Tor the
hes; grades ~ -four.
The conditions which have made whea.
srowsng as = rule IL Western Washing
ton Improbable are those usually presa-
len, Iys 4 country closely bordering the
Inc 3DE& Oz&HsBK tFPs tsIR sBW iftEs<s
from tide water, ard the deep moisture
Of the ground tends To soften the grain
and make ~ low grade.
As Is proven on the wheat farm OF Maj
rE Walker, which Is referred 10 In the
oysning paragraph OF tais article good
lard milling wheat No. / In quality, can
be profitabiy grown on the west side OF
the Cascades in this state. Maj. Walker
Ia The Federal immi "a tton Inspector. He
a Tn eft tY.t zs,-z
iag President cleyeland's last term and
sHl holds the position. Soon after ne
cane TO Washington from Virginia Nal
Walker realized the opportunity for the
prof,anls Investment In choice farming
lands IN Western Washington, the panicky
times of iAss-t forcing prices @: farms In
countless instances Ear below their real
value Mai Walker took advantage OF
the prevailing depression and purchased
AZ FORECLOSURES sale farm OF several
hundred acres. known as the Goodwin
place, one and "a half miles west of Roy,
in Pierce county. and about eighteen
miles directly south OF Tacoma
MAI Walkers early experiences on n
farm IN Virginia made him a qualified
fudge Of farming lands lie saw that his
newly acquired possession lay high enough
above the sea level 10 make IL suitable
for grain crops. There L. a gradual rise
along the Northern Pacific line 90 Port
land after the gravel prairie just south of
Tacoma Is passed. Maj Walkers place
ssaa1s about 80 feet above the sea
IL the fall Of 1856 field of 80 acres
vas planted In grain. The enterprise was
In the nature Of an experiment and many
people predicted failure far as tae
quality Of the grain WAS concerned The
svr.Eg Of ISIS saw the crop growing rap
Idly. After the harvest MAJ Walker
found that b. had 500 bushels OF fine,
heavy biasstem grain. weighing sixty-four
pounds 10 the bushel. which he marketed
al cents per bushel. The crop nettcd
hiE profit enough To more than pay the
cost % his farm. Since then he has pur-
eaases adjoining lands until he now owns
rasyiy La acres
Last fall Mai. Walker directed the
planting ~ ito acres 90 land In wheat Ne
nors Beautiful sight can be imagined than
fhs loas lines Of thickly matted waving
yellow grain, now almost ready TOR the
hsaier. I; stands shoulder high in many
places and the heads arr Well filled with
bard milling wheat. Wheat growers wno
have seen the fields say that IL will aver
age better than thirty bushels TO an acre.
Maj Walker believes that there are
many localities iu Westeren Washing
ton where grain raising can be probably
oeniacted ard where the conditions are
similar to those IN his neighboraood