The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-10-15
NEED MORE CHEAP
LAND
THOMSON POINTS
OUT SOME OF THE NECES.
SITES OF THE VALLEY IN THE
WAY OF INDUCEMENTS.

Editor Daily World: 1t would be
hard to find better bunch of boost
ers than here in the Wenatchee val
ley. Every man is loyal and true to
the Home of the Big Red Apple an
it is in this spirit that has done much
for the valley. But there is one thing
we are weak on, and that is in do
ing things. What I mean is this:
There are lying around us vast acre
ages of unreclaimed land that is just
as good as this we are asking three
to five thousand dollars per acre for
There is flowing down the Wenat-
chez and Columbia rivers more than
enough water, which is going 10
waste, to make those arid acres as
productive as the best in our valley.
If Wenatchee is to be a city of
twenty-five thousand it must have
a country population around it. 1t is
true that within the next seven Or
eight years the fruit trees that are
now growing within a radius of fiji
teen miles of Wenatchee will be
producing ten times as much fruit as
they are today That means that
we will be shipping about twenty
thousand cars pei season instead of
OF two thousand, which means that
we will have to have another rail-
rail, and the river opened up to
handle it. 1t is estimated now, that
within the above mentioned radius,
there are about one and a quarter
million fruit trees, about seventy per
cent of which are apple trees. IF
these average only ten dollars to the
tree there is over ten million dollars.
That means big things for Wenar-
chez, but not big enough There is
lying on the east side of the river,
which can never be taken away from
Wenatchee, land enough to support
another town the same size as this.
That means that we can have a town
twice as large as this will be in ten
years If no more land were developed.
But what we need is a lot of cheap
comparatively speaking, land open
ed up to supply the average poor
man with home. We don't want to
advertise for people to come here and
then when one comes sell out one Of
our best citizens to him and thus
gain nothing-just an exchange.
We want to keep all we have got and
city of twenty-five thousand. We
don't care SO much about getting
men here that are able to buy a VAL
liable ranch and then sit around and
loan out money, what we want is men
that will work. develop the country
and build up homes, raise and edu-
cate fami1ies-these are the assets
of town.
The ten or fifteen thousand acres
across the river that is not under
water, the Quincy flat ami some up
river valleys will supply this need.
The main thing is to get capital in
terested in this and capture the wat
ers that are going to waste and put
1t on that land. Our energetic COM
mercial club could do nothing better
than to spend few thousand dollars
in interesting capital in the posi-
bilities of a vast irrigation scheme
here. Schemes more difficult and
less feasible and more costly have
been successfully put through in Cal
ifornia and Arizona. Water less &C
cessible and more remote has been
placed ON the land and is now pay
ing big returns on the investment.
We have good enough people here
and we don't want to be exchanging
them for others and getting no boot
but paper. We want an increase of
population. a big increase and we
have the room for it If we can get
capital interested in the wonderful
opportunities offered here, for it is
fact that this country is not more
than just commenced to be developed
and will not be doing itself justice
until every gallon Of water that goes
to waste from the rivers and can
yons be pent up, saved and put on
every foot of idle land in this section.
It's well to have the preachers and
undertakers visit us, but it would be
better to have men of means enough
to help us develop our great coun-
try. We could afford to pay their
expenses to get them to come.
o. M. THOMSON.