The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1907-02-20

also on the site Of the old land Office
Of Governor Dunmore. who, in 1774,
found much difficulty in disposing
of 100-acre tracts in the locality at
$50 each.
One of the sights which every
where greets the travellers eye in
this country is thousands of saw
mills, greedily chewing up our for
est wealth. The number of these
is SO great that one can readily be-
lieve we are consuming $4,000, 000,.
900 feet of lumber each year. This
does not take into account the dam
age that is done to timber and un-
dergrowth by forest fires. When
this loss is added to that being CUT
for domestic use, for export, for tele-
graph and telephone poles, for cross
ties and fuel, and for timbers to be
used in mining operations, it is said
that our natural supply Of timber
can hardly last more than 20 years.
One in 100000 Killed.
While the loss of life from rail-
road disasters in the United States
is great, the statistics show that on
ly one person out of every 1000, 900
that are carried is killed by accident.
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas rail-
way is said to hold the record for
safety, it having never killed a pas
senger inside Of one of its coaches
for 80 years. The United States al
ready has nearly half of the railroad
mileage in the world, and during
six months of last year 229S miles
of new track was laid. The fact
that we used 100000 railroad
ties in IL months shows where "a
large part of our timber supply is
going. The first railroad in the
United States Of which there is in
disputable record is that built by
Thomas DEEPER at his stone quarry
in Delaware county, Pennsylvania.
This was in 1909. and it is possible
that Silas Whitney's track on Bea-
con street, Boston, was laid two
years earlier than this.
The highest percentage of rented
houses in the United States is found
in Washington, D. c. Three-fourtha
Of the private families in that city
live in rented homes. Next to the
District of Columbia the state with
the largest percentage of rented
homes is Rhode Island, and after
that South Carolina. The southern
states all rank high as renters be.
cause of the negroes. The smallest
percentage of rented homes is found
in North Dakota, South Dakota and
Oklahoma.
Americas Neglected Peaks.
For years past Americans have
been running over" to Europe to
see mountains which, compared with
the Rockies, are like side show
to circus. In Colorado alone there
are 155 mountain peaks that are over
$4,000 feet high, which is ten times
more than are in all of Europe. High
peaks are so numerous in that state
that there are ~ monsters which
have never been named. For big
mountains, and lots of them, Colo.
RADIO puts Europe in the second di-
vision without a contest.
Irrigation is doing wonders for
the west. The farmer who irrigates
doesn't have to wait or pray for
rain-he simply turns on the mois-
ture whenever he needs it. Those
who have had experience claim that
it is no more difficult to learn to
irrigate than it is to run self-bind-
er or hay press. Any man with
OAOo6h oSASS " AAOW SAaI WoSCA
won't run up hill will get along all
right. Among the little points to
be remembered is not to put too
much water on potatoes and plenty
of it on tomatoes. An authority
who is familiar with the subject es-
Inmates that there is enough unset
tied land in what is known as the
Pacific Coast states, counting from
Colorado west, to make homes fol
as many people as now live in the
whole United States.
Uncle Sans Big Domain.
Although he is constantly dispos.
ing of large tracts of land, Uncle
Sam still has much territory on hi
hands. Last year he disposed Of
nearly 2O.000.eO0 acres at the rate
of 80 cents an acre. Experts say
that in the course of time he will be-
gin to reclaim the swamps. as wei
as desert sands, and when all these