The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-10-19
MI. H. s. Lyman Hasa Very Favor,
able Opinion of the Garden City
of the Great Northwest
EVIDENCES OF PROSPERITY
Culture and Wealth Abide in the Civ
that JealOuSly HOnOrS The Mem
DRY of Dr.. Whitman.
BY H. S. Lyman.

Walla Walla is well named tn,
Garden City, and is a good illustration
Of what may be made OF the uppel
country. Where once there were n,
trees, except along the water course
ali kinds are hourishlng now. and II
some parts Of the place, the streets ne,
semble forest aisles. Locusts seem tC
be the old favorites. and now are almost
as large and massive as oaks. LON.
hardy poplars rise here and there, n.
minding one Of spires. and giving tht
stranger many an unconscious sugges-
tton OF lefty buildings. but the
other sorts Of trees, planted later
around the newer and more expensive
residences, flourish as well as the old
stand-bys, and would in themselves
make an interesting chapter for study
However. IL is not the ornamental
trees simply. but the orchards and gar
dens-real vegetable gardens, not sim
ply the numerous flower and landscape
gardens. as in no place are there bigger
lots and wider lawns-that make tha
name weH deserved. Walla Walla
ships fruits and vegetables to large
part of the interior towns, especially
the mining places. and dispatches them
by the car loads almost the entire year.
Wicter onions and greens start of ear
" in the spring; asparagus and rhu-
barb follow; strawberries, by the car
load; blackberries and raspberries, in
their order; then by summer, cherries
and early apples; and by autum, the
melons. peaches, pears, late apples and
grapes.
Kalla Walla is said to ship over
100000 worth year OF fruits and veg
etables; though this year fruit has been
nothing to boast of-the same as else
where.
TIE fruit raising is done by the farm
ers or ranchers on their own lahds,
and almost every one hasa orchard.
There are some large fruit places, that
Of DR.. Blalock, on the west side Of town,
Of nearly square mile in area, being
one of the largest single orchards west
OF the Rocky Mountains. The gar
dening is done very largely by Chinese.
who rent land and carry on their own
places. and are regarded in Walla
Walla as the finest and most capable
Chinese on the coast. One hears them
praised and fisttered in public places,
and by the newspapers. One is graft
fed by this, and yet wonders consider
ably until he finds that they are old
residents, and besides contributing 10
the production and prosperity of the
place a number are voters, who more
over exercise their political rights.
Now they are white men, and good as
anybody Thus is seen how our polit-
ical institutions make for friendliness,
esteem and good feeling among all
classes.
Gardening and fruit growing i'm
presses one as the most Of any Of the
industries carried on up here, as they
seem TO promise most for the future,
and are the farthest removed from the
primitive conditions, when the country
Was regarded as arid. and it was a
q+iestiSn whether it could be occupied
bss other than nomadic people. It illus
teates the wide extent OF fruit and
garden country, as Walla Walla is
oyer thirty miles from the Columbia
river, and has an elevation Of 900 feet
above the sea level. 1t is the oldest
city Of the up country, and the model
toward which other places will move
as.they grow.
The main source Of income is still
agriculture and stock growing. Walla
Walla county which has population Of
nearly twenty thousand, raises nom
inally four to five million bushels of
wheat annually. The production this
year owing to the large area Of summer
fallow following large crops Of last
year, was only about three and. a half
million bushels. Wheat is now worth
at Walla Walla fOrty-seven cents. The
original business OF the country be-
longing to the pastoral days, that Of
stock raising, is by no means passed by.
Relatively to that growing it is far off
however. At present there are estimat-
ed in the county about 5000 horses,
II, 900 cattle and $1,000 sheep, whose an
nual returns must bring over a quarter
of a million. The new system of rails
ing live stock must soon however
greatly increase the business. Alfalfa,
the great staple for hay, produces large
crops on the irrigated meadow lands,
and already the focks are brought
from the mountains to winter in the
valleys. Alfalfa and corn, which can
be grown so abundantly here, should
do Just as well in the Walla Walla or
Umaulla as corn in Nebraska, to fat
ten Oregon sheep.
Dairyirg. too, is profitable Walla
county now nearly producing it's own
butter supply, and supporting cream
cry at Walla Walla.
Industrlally considered the eighteen
to twenty thousand people Of Walla
Walla county produce annually about
four or FIVE million dollars worth of