River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-01-21
FROM "OUT WEST"
Washington : It's Resources, Adj
vantages and Drawbacks.

good quality, in unknown quantity
In its mountains are to be found
iron, lead, copper and the precious
metals. Many mines are being de.
veloped with good returns and better
prospects-gold, silver and copper
Coal is mined near the coast to sup
ply the railways and the numerous
harbor, coast and ocean-going vessels
that sail from the ports on the
sound. The salmon-fishing indus
try along the coast and up the Co.
lumbia river is still very profitable
The capabilities of the state for agri-
culture seem to be very great
West of the Cascades all kinds OF
cereal crops can be raised excepting
corn and the land will produce we'll
all sorts of vegetables, grass and
fruit adapted to the latitude. The
patches of land already cleared prove
this, as do the tide lands reclaimed
from overflow. Central and eastern
Washington is given up to grazing
and grain raising principally, but
considerable attention is paid to the
planting of orchards, Apples espe-
cially do we'll there and some day
great quantities of the very best
quality of winter-keeping apples
will be shipped from Washington.
The southeastern portion of the
state is best adapted for raising
wheat. In Whitman Columbia,
Asotin and Walla Walla counties,
where the soil is Of the very best
and the rainfall is generally sufficient
to mature crops, the yield of wheat
is on the average, the best of any
considerable area in the United
States. The counties of Spokane,
Lincoln and the north half Of Doug
las counties can raise wheat success
fully, one year with another, al
though the want of sufficient mois-
ture some years cuts the crops down
to pretty small dimensions, COM
pared with that raised in the counties
in the southeast. The south part of
central Washington F ran Kiln ,
Adams, Yakima and Klickitat coun-
ties have such small annual rainfall
grain is not sure crop without irri-
cation. In Yakima county, and in
the Wenatchee valley in Chelan
county, some land is under irrigation
ditch and fine crops are grown there
by this method of furnishing mois-
ture. In the north part of central
and east Washington is some excel
lent land, rather rough on the whole,
but most all of it outside of the
thickest forests producing fine grass
in abundance. Here is ample rain
fall. Grain grows we'll here but
tenderer vegetation is liable to get
nipped, as the land is high, from
$500 to 1900 feet above the sea.
But the chief resources Of the state
are found in its magnificent forests.
Here along the Pacific coast is the
finest timber in the United States,
and although wasteful methods have
been in practice and billions Of feet
Of lumber and vast quantities of
piling and telegraph poles have been
exported the forests show but little
depletion. Here is yet more timber
than these great mills now on the
coast can saw in fifty years. The
manufacture of cedar shingles, next
to the production of lumber, is the
leading industry on the coast.
The climate on the Puget Sound
coast is just right and that east of
the Cascades does not present the
extremes experienced east Of the
Rocky mountains. We hear of no
diseases peculiar to the country.
On the coast the temperature is of
such even character that there are
practically no 'scolds." The water
is everywhere good. As a place to
live we doubt if better locality can
be found than on Puget Sound coast.
Everybody here seems charmed
with the climate. AS to business
this is poor time of year to pass
judgment as it is acknowledged that
business is usually poor here in the
winter. The most of the saw and
Single mills are closed, for the pur-
pose, it is said, of restricting the out
put Of lumber and shingles in order
to maintain prices to such point as
to give the mill operators profit on
the product of the mills. The clos
ing of the mills has thrown many
men out of employment. Partly in