Industrial freedom. [volume] (Edison, Wash.) 1898-1???, 1898-10-22
Il

| L Hc uTSJ Tdl1lS VI Winter are mere
and the old settler tells us that we
must not expect much good weather
during the rest of the season, but we dc
have some glorious days between
showers.
Most of the busy times of the ranchel
are past for this year, and we would
advise those who are intending to come
to Washington with the expectation oil
getting work, to be sure of a job before
coming. The rainy season is the dull
time on this coast, and they cannot ex-
pect to make much more than their
board as bad weather and short days
cut into the time, while the board bills
90 right on.
There is good demand for workers
in the cities yet, but soon the work on
the ranches and in the woods will slack
| and the workers will crowd into the
cities, making it harder to get employ
ment there.
The ranchers of the Samish flats are
happy, their threshing is done, and
such a threshing it was. The writer
helped during a part of the season, and
having spent the first % years of his
life on IL farm in northern Ohio, thinks
he knows grain when he sees it. But
oats yielding from IS to 10 bushels
to the acre was new experience, and
this was not from selected patches, but
whole farms of from 40 to 100 acres:
and then the ranchers said it was an
off year at that.
And straw, We have heard of the
''shOcks of wheat standing SO thickly
on the ground that the wagons had to
be backed into the field and loaded to
make room to turn around in" We
always thought this little overdrawn,
but are now prepared to swallow in
silence almost any kind of a Washing
ton Oat story.
About miles north of the village of
Edison where the National Headquar-
tiers of the B G. G have been located
during the past summer, the Chuck-a-
nut hills turn abruptly to the East
away from the shore of the bay, leaving
stretch of low lying land the greater
part of which was a salt marsh in the
time when the noble Siwash roamed
the forests of the Northwest free and
untamed, but now all this is changed.
The white man looked on the land and it
was fair to look upon. Dykes were
thrown up and the waters of old Ocean
saw that sign which follows our glori-
Gus civilization everywhere and they
obeyed. They now keep off the grass. "
And it is on this aforetime salt marsh
that some of the finest oats are raised.
This low lying land is called the Sam
ish fat. Some 5 miles south of the
Chuck-a-nut hills another ridge of low
hills come down to the Sound. dividing
the Samish from the Swinomish flats. Il
much larger body of tide and marsh
lands now under a fine state of cult
walton.
The soil of these flats is peat with Il
blue clay sub-soil, and it seems of in
exhaustibe fertility. Oats and hay
are the principal crops, but root crops
of all kinds yield enormously.
The tide lands lying along the shore
of the bay and protected from the tides
by dykes were originally prairie land,
but back toward the hills where the
ground rises few feet, immense cedars
and alders formerly covered the ground.
The logger has long since taken the
best leaving little but stumps and
undeY-brush where once the mOuarchs
of the forest held sway.
Much of this land is still waiting for
the settler, but many fine farms
have been carved out of this seeming
Wilderness Such is the land that the
pioneers of Equality are preparing for
the future homes of the reserves. and
much more as good can be had nearby.
Under the Arid Land Act the United
| oliANo SpNNl ave " VIZ oAaAN vi
Washington 1000, 900 acres of land in
what is called the Arid and Sub-humid
regions of the state, provided that the
state would reclaim this land before il
passed to it. The state has provided
by law for the reclaiming of this land
in such way that it is possible for a
body of co-operators to get homes at a
very small outlay of money.
Under this law the labor of building
the irrigation bitches and other works
is paid for by the state in Certificates
that are good only for land and water
rights. When all the land is sold the
ditch goes to the land owners. The
land is sold to the holders of the Certi
ficates at 20 per cent. above the cost o.
the ditch. All of the selling price
above the cost of the ditch goes into s
permanent fund to be used for like pur
poses by the state. This makes it pos
sible for body of co-operators to builC
the ditch with their own labor, with