The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-08-24
SEATTLE. Wash, Aug. 2f.-IrInl-


dad"
IN. bra KEENAN, on a Great Northern
.,e,bouud passenger train yelled the
word out through the smoking car and
tuubIed out of a deep sleep. covered
with dust and sand that blew in
through the ventilators, at ) o'clock
in the morning. just as the sun was
tingeing the waters of the wide Co
Jumhia with q pale opalescent hue
sail = Seattle Times staff correspond
emf. If there is one spot in the state
of Washington apparently more God
foreakcu than any other. it certainly
is Trinidad. located close to the CO.
mmbia in Douglas county, in the west
,lnmost extremity Of the Big Bend
.ountry.that vast inland empire
which is being rapidly peopled by i'm
migIats from every state in the Union,
ana whose products are already fur
uishing Il heavy traffic to the Great
Northern railway.
1t is related that in the days of his
first ascenGaucy Henry Willard Wno
built a great part of the Northern Pa
clGc, brought a party of German bank
ers To the Pacific coast to see the
country travprsed by that road, in
which they We're heavy holders of
bonds. 1t was a daylight ride down
from Spokane through one long, wind
and saud-sWept couIee after another,
with nothing but desert and slgebrush
visible from the car windows.
Sold Their N. P. Stock.
When the Dutch bankers got to Ia
coma. they wired in a body to their
agents in Berlin, instructing them to
sell their n p. securities at any price.
This, il is related, caused the first
tumble in Northern Pacific securities
in the early SOS. just after Willard
had gained the topmost round Of the
financial and railroad ladder. There
after Mr.. Willard. as history SHOWS,
started on a, toboggan slide which end
ed only when he went fiat broke"
The country Immediately around
Trinidad is not more prepossessing
than the sage and sand lands along
the main line of the Northern Pacific.
But my friend f. F. Benson told me
that if | wanted to see the largest farm
in the state as we'll as one of the larg-
est in the entire Pacific coast country,
l would nave to come to Trinidad and
make Il start.
Extending for miles and miles east
ana west Benson and w. H. Babcock
known as the wheat king of Walla
Walla," purchased six years ago "a
tidy little tract of land of something
like 100000 acres. and they are now en-
gagged in a species Of modern and ex-
tensive farming, the like of which was
unheard of a few years ago III this
state. The ranch" consists now of
approximately 10000 acres of land,
extending from the Columbia river to
the foothills of the Cascades, including
winter feeding grounds for great bands
of sheep and cattle along the Columbia
Hat country, and mountain pastures
for sheep lying just under the perpet-
ual snow line of the Cascades Broad
level plains of bunch grass. admirable
for wheat raising and stock grazing
constitute the eastern end of the ranch
and the tract running west to the
mountains covers great part of town
ships Il and 10 in ranges 20, u. - and
%. On the Columbia hundreds OF
acres of land are being Watered by
means of steam pumps located on the
river bank While on the plain above
perhaps 500 feet higher than the river
begin the wide stretches of level wheat
land. one strip of which, two and a hall
i'4'iN' i'tt6 anu Il ltltie Nlue. was Du1
INTO wheat this year as a kind of 6
small side issue.
Some Big UNDERTAKINGS.
People accustomed to farming in an,
part of the middle west, and especial.
" the agriculturists of western Wash
ington. would be amazed at the enor.
nous size of some of the undertaking.
OF Mr.. Benson and his Walla Wallf
partner. The two men nave a small
army of employees working on this 60.
oVo acre ranch, ranging from ordinar,
farm hands on what is known as tn,
nome ranch" near Trinidad, to shee,
herders, cattlemen and packers in tn,
nigh mountains to the west. They hav,
approximately $1,000 head of sheep ant