The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-06-02
HT|ATER WRITES
FRIENDS IN EAST
TELLS OF WONDERFUL PRODUC-
TIVITY IN COLUMBIA RIVER
FRIENDS TO COME WEST.

"A. H. Barker or Ent1at fruit LANDS
contributes the following to the In
diana Farmer, as follows:
II thought that your readers might
be glad to learn about the irrigated
valleys of Washington, the Home of
the Big Red Apple, which are so fine
they command fabulous prices. l
left my home in Bloomington, Ind,
the latter part of last August and
enjoyed the trip over the Great
Northern railway immensely. eW
passed by the waving fields of golden
grain in the Dakotas, and spun
around and between the beautiful
lakes of Minnesota that shone like
mirrors in the sun and over and
through the Rockies we were whirled
on our way with ever changing
scenes, until we reached Wenatchee,
the place made famous by the num-
Der of prizes won in the great Ma
tional Apple show held at Spokane
last December, where over 100000
people passed through the gates to
see the wonderful show. There l took
the boat and went up the noble Co
lumbia to Entiat, my point of des-
tination. | had heard of the won
derful possibilities claimed for these
valleys in fruit culture, through one
of my boys who had found his way
vestigate and / found that, as the
Queen of Sheba told King Solomon,
half had not been told and | am
rather of the opinion it never can be
told in such a way that people back
east will believe it without coming
and seeing.
One of the grandest sights | ever
beheld in all my life met my view as
/ left the boat landing and saw the
apple trees everywhere bending and
breaking with their loads of fruit, by
far the finest | ever saw in all my
life. And just think of it, not a
wormy apple in this valley have |
seen or heard of and only just few
in the vicinity of Wenatchee. The
claim that is made out here that dol
lars grow on trees | found to be true,
sure enough I picked near 1000
boxes last fall-a box it is claimed
holds a bushel and the tree, with the
limbs Topped over to the ground
made it easy picking. In one orchard
| picked "a boxes in one hour, 2 "
see the place in Indiana where you
could do it,
Peach trees bear at two to three
years old and apple trees from three
to five years after setting In the or
chard. I picked from to boxes
from 5-year-old trees and s to II
boxes fromg 6-year-old trees. A tree
again next year One man at Wenat-
chez picked 81 boxes last year from
one Baldwin apple tree IS years old,
that sold for 81 per box, and 40 boxes
the year before. The trees were
planted 90 feet apart each way, as
many of them are around Wenat-
chez. One man last year sold $31,-
600 of apples from 10 acres; another
man year before last from a Spitzen-
berg orchard sold his apples for over
$4,000 per acre There are facts.
This is not a spasmodic crop, but
of yearly occurrence; failure has
never been known. The snow on the
mountains holds the bloom back till
all danger from frost is past. From
a little below Wenatchee along the
Columbia river valley, on northward
with its tributary valleys, is the fin
est apple country in the known
world and so proven in the recent
apple show in Spokane, this Chelan
county taking 81 per cent of the
prizes offered. l am located in a
most beautiful valley, half to three
fourths of mile wide, and about
two miles long; just above the mouth
of the Entiat river, with bluffs about
1000 feet high on either side and the
noted Big Bend wheat country just
across the Columbia river on a high
plateau about 5000 feet above sea
level, while we are only about 700
feet
Our nearest railroad is the Great
Northern at Wenatchee, but we have
steamboat transportation and it is
said there will be a railroad built
along up the river by us this year;
it is being surveyed and located this
winter, so as to be ready for work in
the spring, and when built will save