The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1906-06-27

tTdVei the WnOle Jay WITHOUT the SlBnt
of a single patch of barren soil. Long
professions of binders and headers In
the dry, bright days Of the harvest cut
and sack the abundant yield that the
mighty Columbia must bear down to the
sea. To the west the Snake river
skirts the walla walla land, where
wheat has had its test for over thirty
years To the east. along the Yaki-
ma river, the fruits are gathered.
Washington Use first among the states
in hardy fruits, and the government re-
ports her average wheat yield likewise
in the lead. That this great output
of the reclaimed United States govern
ment is to construct lock, at the cost
OF $i5O0,oOo, which will link Kenne-
wick with the open sea.
A country which is worth all this ex-
penditure by both state and nation,
when 1t already has a great transcon-
tnental railroad, is certainly a COM
ing country.
OF all the Yakima valley cities, per-
haps none better typifles the spirit and
the character of the growth of these
apple towns than Yakima itself. With
every farm reduced to the dimensions
of from eight to ten acres, the city
seems to extend Indefinitely; in fact,
when the irrigation development is
completed 1t will never end. For the
Intensive farming on this highly per-
fected soil and under the perpetual
sunshine will support a prosperous
home every quarter mile. In this close
contact with his fellow man the Yaki-
"a - ant
shared by the masters of many acres
in the Middle West.
The isolation Of the country is gone.
The farmer in the Yakima land be-
comes metropolitan master of the
soil. A thousand corporations are open
to him which before had been the citys
greatest charm. Church and club life.
fire protection, telephone, and even the
trolley are the experiences and contem-
plations in tn Yakima lands today. The
schools are in the peoples midst and
not, as in Dakota, some several miles
away. Here the rural mail delivery
is but an expansion of the citys serv-
Ice. The high schools, brought within
"tolling" distance of every pupil are
provided with corps Of most efficient
eachers-graduates from the foremost
universities of the land-and at the
head of the towns main thoroughfare
stands the tribute to it's volunteer SOL
diers who died serving their countrys
nag. Here, on the ditch dug by pri-
vate enterprise without a dollar of
government subsidy, has sprung a con-
structive and expansive democracy,
where arts and science, crafts and in
81 h
apples.
A pioneer of 1870 who had heard the
go West" slogan that made Horace
Greeley famous, wrote the sage of the
New York Tribune a glowing story of
all the Yakima waters would do. He
concluded with: "Why, sir, all this
country needs is little more water
and few good people to make 1t the
best country in the world" To this
the conservative party candidate re-
Piled: That's all hell needs. Today
the difference between hell and Yakima
has got them and so far as we know
hell has not
The reclamation act, with its conse-
quent subsidized canal, is relieving Ne
vada of it's greatest humiliation. It Is
making mighty states of Arizona and
New Mexico. 1t is multiplying oppor-
tunity in California, Utah, Idaho and
Wyoming. 1t is putting Western Ore
son in competition with its eastern
half. and it will augment the work Of
the Yakima pioneer.
Where, then, with opportunity never
50 open and abundant as now, are our
departments of the interior and of agri.
culture, and the voice of our obasted
American press, that a hundred thou.
sand of our countrymen have accepted
less desirable lands under foreign
flags? Why should they go to Canada
when they so need the larger privi-
leges at home while our West" is
closing in? The dominion government
by public and private appropriation
heralded their Alberta and Saskatche-
wan lands through paid advertisements
in the newspapers Of every state in
the union. and maintained elaborate
bureaus for the free distribution of
their literature in fifty-eight of our
cities. And even more, one letter of