Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-02
VAST INLAND EMPIRE.
Region of Desert Now Devoted
to Grain and Fruit.
IT WAS ONCE A GREAT SEA
The Big Bend Country Fertilized by
Volcanoes.
HIGH PRICES FOR ORCHARDS
Wenatchee Valley and Its Famous
Apples-Queer Features of Farm
Life and Money Making.
Copyright. 1906. by Frank G. Carpenter,

Copyright 1906 by Frank G.. Carpenter)
WENATCHEE.
For the past week I have been moving
about through different parts of the inland
empire. entered 1t from British Columbia
by the Great Northern railway going first
to Spokane From there / Travelled both
east and west; and 1 am now here on the
Columbia river in the Big Bend country at
Wenatchee in the Wenatchee valley.
l despair of giving you an adequate con-
ception of this part of the United States.
The inland empire was to n large extent a
desert until a few years ago; and now, 1t
is only in the northwest that the people
have begun to appreciate its value. The
formation is so curious that one should see
it for himself to properly know it. In brief,
1t includes the vast region lying between
the Bitter Root and Cascade mountains
which is drained by the Columbia river and
It's tributaries. 1t comprises most of Idaho
and large part of eastern Washington
and Oregon 1t equals In extent all of the
New England states, together with New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Mary
land, and 1t has millions of acres which are
yet to be settled.
This territory was once vast sea, almost
one-fourth the size OF the United States
proper. 1t Is more than seven hundred
miles wide and a thousand miles long. 1t
was penned in by the mountains, and its
waters rose until they finally broke out
through the canyons which now form parts
of the Snake and Columbia river valleys.
1900 feet, and drained the. sea, leaving an
immense plain of alluvial soil 5000 feet
above the level of the ocean.
Lava and Volcanic Ash.
This son of the inland empire is made of
the droppings silt washed down from
the mountains, and In addition a vast
amount of volcanic ash. Ashes are one of
the best fertilizers known. Those made
from Canada hardwood are now selling to
farmers for $50 a ton. They are used
largely for orchards and grain raising, and
last for many years. The inland empire
has the same constituents in its SOIL but
its ashes come from volcanoes.
In crossing the Beg Bend country I saw
lava everywhere. In some places the plains
are covered with 1t, and in others It rises
into bluffs and broken fragments streaked
with sulphur. Along the Columbia river
there are streams Of lava which look as
though the molten mass had hardened as
1t rushed against the wind In other places
1t has turned to gravel, and again 1t has
split up into angular shaped rocks of even
size, looking for all the world as though
1t had been run through a stone crusher
to make paving material.
1t is hard to imagine a more desolate,
thirsty land than this, when unde-
veloped. There are no trees, no green
puSDes ana ali is bieak and bare. 1t Is a
desert, and no one would imagine that It
would raise enough to feed jack rabbit
Still right IN the midst of such territory
vast wheat fields are now to be SEEN There
are patches of green everywhere Farms
have grown up in the midst of the bleak
ness and the desert itself is yielding forty
and more bushels of wheat to the acre
AS / passed through on the railroad l
saw many ragged little stations of wooden
one-story buildings. The only large struc-
lures in them were wheat sheds and ele-
vators, with here and there -four mill.
These sheds are filed with grain at
the time of harvest. They will not hold the
crop, and the overflow is stacked up In
bags outside. This inland empire is now
producing something like 50,000,000 bushels
Of wheat in one year, and still the Big