East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-01-12
DESTIN|ES Of
EAST OREGON
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plow and annually yielding rich har-
vests of barley, rye or wheat. This
progressive movement will assuredly
continue. Special crops will be found
adapted to special conditions Pecul-
lar treatment will be accorded pecul-
lar soils, and future generations will
see homes where now are solitudes
gardens where now are drifting sands
Future Cities.
The outlook for the building of
great cities there is not brilliant, prob
ably fortunately to, because their in
fluence either from a moral or civic
standpoint, is at least debatable, hut
the future will see somewhere upon
the Oregon side of the upper Colum-
bia, probably near the head of its
deeper waters, a distributing center
of magnitude and Importance. This
will be assured by the combination of
three influences, the demands of a
growing population, the water and rail
transportation facilities there meeting,
and the more favorable rates which
the opening of the Isthmian canal
will compel the railroads to accord
interior points.
The magnificent water power on the
Minum. the Wallowa and the Grand
Ronde rivers will some day be turned
upon the wheels Of hundred factor
les, and'Oregon's great industrial COM
munity will be located somewhere
near the confluence of these streams.
There will he the Manchester of the
west. Not only will the abundant
power command this result, but the
wealth of forests and minerals in the
adjacent mountains, the building stone
of Union and the marble of Wallowa.
supplemented by the wonderful agri-
cultural and horticultural possibilities
of these counties, will insure diversity
and permanency 20 city of an hund-
red thousand people, as the state de-
velops.
Safely may be predicted similar CEN
ters of industry. commerce and popu-
lation in the klamath basin in the
southwest upon the Des Chutes in the
central portion of the state, upon the
Snake river in the southwest, and in
the great Harvey valley in the SOUTH
Natural conditions in these several sec
tions, the construction of railroads,
the extending Of systems of irrigation,
will all unite to fulfill in completest
measure a prophecy like this.
Industries.
The dominant industry of eastern
Oregon is vet and for a decade yet
to come will be, the growing of live
stock The facile growth of alfalfa
in The valleys, the fattening bunch
grass of the hills, the extensive pas
turage upon the government domain,
the mild winters, the dry atmosphere,
the hitherto sparsely settled condition
of the country, have made the great
eastern counties of our commonwealth
paradise for the herdsman and the
flockmaster. The pastoral life, how
ever, has in all the history of the race
yielded to the onflow of people, and
with the incoming of transportation
lines and the immigration which will
promptly follow in their train, and
vast land holdings of the livestock
companies will be sub-divlded and
10000 homes will spring into being.
The wilderness of today will be the
grain field of tomorrow.
Second in the list of occupations.
and indeed rapidly advancing to first
rank, must be placed wheat culture
The northern tier of counties east of
the Cascades have already become the
granary of the state, and rapidly the
yellowing field is moving southwark.
borrowing the ranges and enhancing
land values. With added people TO
consume the increased production and
transportation facilities ample to re-
lieVe the congestion of surplus. the
grain area of all the interior will wild
en- by leaps and bounds until its yield
will be astonishing. Inrumerabie
bodies of land yet open to homestead
settlement or If in private hands, COM
manding only a nominal price, will
then, under Intelligent husbandry,
mean to their owners an assured live
lihood. If not comfortable fortune. No
section of the republic today offers
greater attractions to men of courage.
industry and foresight, than the inland
portion of this state, and men and wo-
men who have patience to labor alone
for a season, and the spirit of sacrifice
to forego the social privileges of rail-
road centers, can find there opportu-
mites to make for themselves and
their children homes and modest for
tunes, and to them will be the high
honor of having participated in the
building of state.
The third calling in order of i'm
portance is that of horticulture and,
stimulated by the progress of irriga-
ton, its growth in variety and charac-
ter of its products, in advancing values
OF fruit lands, and in the progressive
spirit of its votaries, is indeed wonder
full. The fame Of Hood River apples
and strawberries is continent wide:
that portion of the Walla Walla val
ley In Oregon can boast OF fame only
degree less wide. Malheur needs
but assured markets and cheaper
transportation to equal both, while
the lower Umatilla reclaimed from
sand and sagebrush under the COM
plete irrigation system now planned
by the federal government presents
Ideal conditions to become a rival of
a FNf In