The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1898-05-17
The Fruit Industry
Of WaScO County.


largest county in the United States and
included that part of the Oregon territory
living east of the summit of the Cascade
Range to the Rocky Mts, and from the
south to the 42d parallel Its area of about
100000 square miles, embraced more
territory than the British Isles, or than
any present state of the union, except
Texas and California, more than twice
the area of New England. During the
passing years since then the county has
been sliced into fraction of Wyoming.
most of Idaho and the counties of Baker,
Umatilla, Union, Grant, Crook, Sher-
man, Morrow Lake, Klamath, Harvey
and Malheur, until its present area is
only 2S44 square miles, of which 324
square miles are in the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation.
This is an age of scientific investiga
ton The geologist tells us from what
source the soil was derived, the chemist
its composition and the chief of the
weather bureau, the temperature, pre-
cipitation and climate. Through Prof.
Condor, our own geologist, we learn
that this northwestern territory, at one
time suffered tremendous overfows of
lava and in consequence the mountain
ranges are composed of basalt and the
plateaus and praries have the same
foundation. Subsequently a vast in
land sea occupied the region between
the Cascade range and the Rocky Mts.
After the sea disappeared, there remain
ed rich sedimentary soil consisting
largely of decomposed basalt rich in
plant foods. The Japan current sweeps
the shores of the Pacific coast giving a
temperature to Oregon equal to that of
New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia
The Cascade range breaks the amount
of precipitation east of that point but
the chemical analysis of the soil is very
encouraging and satisfactory. Prof.
g. w. Shaw, of the State Agricultural
college, furnishes some data of the
component parts of the soil of Oregon,
which show that the soil east of the
Cascade range is superior to that west of
the range and equal in material required
to make it productive and durable as
the soil of any locality in the United
States The difference between the soil
of Eastern and Western Oregon is well
shown by the following table, Soluble
silica, potash, soda, lime, iron and sui
phuric acid being the greatest east of
the range, while magnesia, manganese,
aluminium, phosphoric acid, water and
organic matter is lager west of the range
Of these lime and potash are two essen
tial elements of plant food. Also recent
investigations indicate that the humus
Cor storehouse of nitrogen) of the arid
regions carry nearly three times as much
nitrogen as those of humid areas From
the weather bureau, we learn that the
annual mean temperature is from 49 to
81 degrees and that the rainfall is an
average of 20 inches. The winds carry
a large supply of moisture from the
ocean, and the soil is of such nature as
to allow the subsoil moisture to rise to the
surface On these scientific facts rests
the production of our wonderful crops
and an assurance for the same in the
future. 1t is well worth the time and
labor to gather up all the information
available from every source that touches
the early history of this vast and wonder
Gus county. A few are still in our
midst who were here when the county
was organized. The history of the first
trees planted is a leaf from the annals of
these pioneers.
With the exception of the orchards
planted in the Walla Walla valley, these
trees planted at The Dalles and vicinity
were the forerunners of all the orchards
that would subsequently be planted
from the Cascades to the Mississippi
valley.
The government owned a military
reservation five miles square along the
Columbia at The Dalles, Indians were
hostile and the early comers did not