Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-06-19
SEEING WESTERN SIGHTS.
dEo. r.. SMITH WRITES OF HIS TRAVELS
AND OBSERVATIONS.
Railroad Flyers That Make One S Hair stand Ex-
pensive Fruit Farms and Land That Yield Ten
Tons Of Hay 10 the Acre Saw mis- Tsat Cut
Good Forest in One Day Meets VNrnon,ieS.
BRIDAL vEIr. OREGON, June !.

/ bfNipAt& v Fila NtatAsNlNs sfUHf q.
| EDITOR CENSOR: - Being requested
hv MANY ot my Vernon county friends
20 write them viii drop Won few
bnes. 50 evervhodv reads the CENSOR
| left viraoua March 3nth in auest of
hetter health and am pleasni to say that
| have hean benefited When | left
home only weighed IA bounds: now I
| weigh 1fG no q with mach legs cl III
| ing on. came through from Duluth.
| Minnesota TO Portland, Oregon, on the
| Great Northern FLYER, and part of the
way 0na would think he was fiving In
North Dakota and through mart Of Mon.
! tana we made Atin miles in twelve hours
or rs miles per honr | ALWAYS imagined
| that Montana would be fine Mace to
| hive, hut the part that the G. N. Rv
| traversas is y desolate looking piaee 70
| me, Ibid not see nuch except the car
cases of horses and cattle that had died
| during the winter They appeared al
most numberless, thought Owing to
| last season being drv the ranges were
poor and loss heavy to ranchman My
| first lay off was at Spokane Washing
| ton, staving there three DAYS Spokane
il beautiful citv with many large and
substantial buildings 1t Ia well kept
| M and neat and clean Business is
principally mining, lumberiag and some
| manufacturing. The land does not
seem first-class for agricultural purposes
| but there are some fine orchards con
tanning fruits of almost all the varieties
raised in the state. From Spokane |
went west TO Wilson Creek. where they
told me- there was farming country.
The soil is rot like that of old Vernon;
it ia y Volcanic ash covered with sage
brush rs large as NV arm. Some large
herds of sheep and horses are found in
this locality. II there is anyone / feel
| sorry FOR ii Is the shepherd ] ven felt
sorry fer his dog, for he seer ea to ap.
| preciate company more than his master.
Our next move WAS TO Wenatchee a
| beautiful little city on the Columbia
river, surrounded by the Badger lHount-
| aims. There they raise fine fruit and
alfalfa hay by means of irrigation. II
will surprise some of our Vernon coulr sy
folks when / say that they can raise zen
| tons of hay per acre a year that is ti1ey
| cut from 5 TO 4 times and get from Sd to
| 4 tons each time. IL surprised me Just
| a little when ] asked man what he
would take for 40 acres. He said he
had refused S15 900 for it, rs he thought
! 1T was worth 300 per acre and ought to
| bring $4,000. / did not buy IL but
moved on. took the boat and went 20
miles northeast up the Columbia river
| to landing, Oronda, and wher we got
| there the hack or mail man was there
| with an old government buggy" ne
| they called it. ! thought it was more
like our Wisconsin truck wagons with
| springs and cover on It, He said he
could take fonr passengers and the mail
As there was six OF MS stfne OF the
parties being acquainted with the road
proposed drawing cuts to see who was
going TO walk up the canon, ID being
miles to Waterville, the town TO which
we had started and which was mt an
elevation of 2, 400 ft in seven miles So 1t
fell upon me and party by the name
of r. p Schelp from North Dakota
The other fellows gave us the laugh and
told how sorry they felt for us, but we
| informed them that we did not need
their sympathy rs we would save ST. so
So we got weighed and started up the
mountain. 1t took us three hours and
| lost 81 pounds in weight. The day
was warm with not breath Of air even
the mules painted like lizards, and to
| say that was tired does not express it
at all / promised myself several times
while on tnis short walk that if ever
| got back TO some good level country.
| even though it were the Kickapoo.
would remain as long as / lived, But
| at last we reached Waterville We
rested that day and the next morning
four of our party hired livery team
| and drove for two days looking over
the country. To our surprise we found
several townships Of good agricultural
land, adapted principally to wheat rails
| nx,1 4,x14 Il. e.,
the acre was not an uncommon yield
Some way the people in this particular
locality seemed 10 be negligent; but we
were able TO account for that all right
as we thought they aust have exhausted
all their energy in climbing the mount
ain and never regained it. Not be ing
satisfied with what we had already seen
we all returned to Wenatehee hungry
and tired, determined 10 see the Pacific
coast.
At seven o'clock next morning we
boarded the coast flyer and after about
one hours run we be gan TO climb the
rugged Cascade mountains In few
hours | hal forgotten all about my hard
ships, the scenery being something
grand. ! will not attempt TO tell about
it rs do not think / could do IL Justice,
At place called Cascade we were sup
piled with two low down locomotives,
built for power and not for speed. They
were to pull us through the tunnel. a
distance of three miles, wh ich is said TO
be the longest in the United States. The
conductor told us that freight train
had started into the tunnel few days
before aud all but the engineer and fl O.
man had been suifocated by the smoke
and gas After about ten or fifteen min.
utes of weary waiting among the pas
seDgers we reached the shining light
once more and started down the west
side At six o'clock in the morning we
reached the beautiful little city of Ev.
erett, which has about ID, 900 inhabitants
which IL years ago was IA dense forest
of fir and cedar. Some of the stumps
still remain in the streets Here they
build large steamers. Several large saw
mills are in operation the year around.
One mill employees 800 men and cuts
$50. 600 feet of lumber in "a hours From
ES erett went TO Arlington and met Ed
Dickson, an old Vernon county boy, son
of James Dickson Of BIoomingdsle. He
has been in the cuontry for 10 years and
is interested in two mines with good
prospects of becoming wealthy after
July first, when they get railroad
= saopped at Seattle Tacoma and Port
land, Oregon all booming western cities.
Near Portland ! met several old friends,
all well satisfied with the country. My
present location at Bridal Veil IL % miles
east of Portland on the Columbia river,
II il meta place of much Importance, but
y 4