Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-06-02

road company owned a vast quantity
Of it, consisting Of alternate sections
for 20 miles along It's track Il haQ
the lands examined by scientific eX.
perts. and on the basis OF their repre-
sentation a great deal Of the conces.
sion went for a song The same land.
arc now worth $50 and upward per
acre They arr producing wheat. and
II Is believed they viii continue 10 yioil
for generation without fertilization.
The lands along the Great Northern
railway are equally good, and the whole
region VIII rapidly settle.
Take the bleak and bare hills iust
opposite this town of WeuatchCe. The
are being cut up into farms and VIII
soon be covered with wheat A shou
time ago you could not have given them
away. and now they are worth q good
price as farming lands. They are cut
tivatcd without irrigation and To- the
surprise ~ the scientific WiseaCrcs are
producing wonderful crops
GRAIN FROM THE DESERT.
find that grain is now being grown
all along the Columbia, and here and
there almost everywhere throughout
the inland empire. The land is handler
on mighty scale. The finest Of agri-
cultural machinery being used. There
are steam pl0Ws now turning the soil
which VII cut nine burrows at a tim-.
and steam haryestcrs one OF which viii
reap and thrash 20 acres OF wheat in a
day. Such machines cut a swath IA
feet wide ana deliver the grain an
bags. Tho expenses NJ cultivation are
hr al o.
az cost OF - cents a bushcl. which
means a net 100 per cent profit. ] hear
IN sorts OF fairy stories as 90 big
crops. Farmers say single acres have
proucel 20 bushels OF wheat, and one
quarter section Is cited a. turning out
1000 bushels ~ oats In one year.
Speaking OF the wheat along the Co.
lumbia. ! had a chat the other night
with Mr. 7. a. Davies. general manager
Of the Columbia and Okanogan Steam
ship company. whose boats run about
$50 miles Up the Columbia and Okano-
gan rivers. through country not
reached by the railroads, He says that
his vessels brought more than mill
lion bushels Of wheat down 20 the Great
Northern at Wenatchee last year and
that great part OF the country Is be-
ing put under wheat.
The farmers haul the grain 20 the
river landings and pile 81 there j..
bags IN mounds. Al one station last
fan 3s.00O sacks. containing 9looe BUSH
els ~ grain. were brought ir Tor ship
meni. and there we're stacks NJ BAGS
an along the river I'm many places the
river runs two thousand feet below The
level OF tho wheat fields. and the bags
are carried down % the boats on aerial
trans. the wheat carrying the empty
cars back.
Mr. Davies has now seven boats %
This river carrying wheat. fruit aud
passengers he tells me that The coUH-
.ry is rapidly settling. and that from
the shore Of the river eastward Is a
vast evnanse Of wheat Fields Their
are also dairy fauuf and farther up
mining settlements. The cattle county,
begins az The mouth ~ The Ok1uog1p
ana beyond u Is a rich mining region.
An along the way are little valleys
devoted 10 fruit. somewhat similar %
the Wcnatchee valley. where This letter
is written. These are being oroned ur
90 settlers. who are planting orchards
and thus developing hat promises 90
81 the unltod sta,es
IN THE WENATCHEE VALLEY
can give you the best idea 81 th's
section by describing what Is going ON
here IN the Wenaichec valley. This is
situated IN almost the center Of wash.
ington state. az the junction of the
Great Northern railroad With Tho 60.
lumbia river. II IL about % hundred
miles from the Paclnc ocean and tive
hundred mihcs south Of our internntion-
al boundary. on The west u Il arc The
casside mountains. and on the cast
iio~r the vide Columbia. into Nhich
the Nenaichee smpiles Al this point
Tho valley IL narrow. but II Is cut up
into irrigated orchards which are va
tered ciIiefy by the wenaichee river
The most Of II was sage brush four or