The news=record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon) 1907-1910, 1909-09-15
All of these lakes are uninhabited


eye can see, Is glowing with ripen-
ed grain, as if some magician had
spread a cloth OF gold over all the
earth; and the mo lntain sides, as
far up as the timber line, are a rus
set brown, with a lIster like velvet,
which is caused by the mature bunch
grass, the choice It of fodder for fat-
tening mutton and beef.
There is very little waste land in
the valley. Almost every acre is
| planted to grain and alfalfa, the
most profitable crols, which are
called for in unlimited quantities
! from the mining regions of Montana
and Ilaho Farmers cut three crops
from every meadow and then turn in
the hogs. The ripened alfalfa is
stacked in enormous piles by der
rick to wait for winter prices. The
| land was all taken up a generation
ago, and the way the Indians were
crowded o 1t in 1878 by. the ''ad-
vance of civi i3ation" is one Of the
most shameful cha ter in our history.
Senator Hoar, in a speech at a New
England dinner in New York, once
| said that when the Pilgrim tatners
landed at Plymouth Rock, they fell
upon Their knees, and then fell upon
the indians which very nearly des-
cribes The settle nent of this valley.
But the invaders were a moral and
God-fearing people, and aside from
| robbing the InGians OF their land,
! they have left good example for
their posterity to emulate. Only the
other day Mr.. Nc iurray, general pas
ie' ger agent OF the Oregon Railroad
and Navigation Company, received a
petition signed by almost everybody
in the valley asking him not to per-
NIT Sunday excursions because they
disturbed the qliet of the Sabbath
md interfeied with divine worship.
| In 1888 br inch of the Oregon
Raj read and Navigation Company
was built from La Grande up to
own called Ell. in. In 1898 it was
extended up the Wa Iowa Valley to
Joseph, being opened for traffic last
November. 1t has done good busi-
le1s and has give an impetus to
every form of industry and activity.
The increase o. traffic has been re-
narkable, although it runs through
IN old country, which has been thick
ly settled for nearly thirty years.
Fhe railway Is changing methods of
arm!ng also. People are giving up
oabt.e and are planting wheat, oats
and sugar beets. There are many
@heep in the TO Jtiills. More than a
nill.on and a half pounds of wool
were shipped from the valley last
year. A string of thriving towns
nave sprung up al)ng the line, and
hew settlers a'e coming in rapidly
from the central West-the over
Flow from Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Ne
oraska, but it isn't pioneering. This
'aLey is as wei settled as any part
of Kentucky or Conn ecticut, only the
population is not so dense and there
Is room for more between the noun
ain ranges.
1t is prohibition county. 1t went
dry long be ore there was any
lo.itlcal agitation of the question in
the state, because the people realize
he advantage of temperance and
the evils OF the saloon.
| Wallowa Is an old town, founded
in the 7Os, but 1t has grown slowly
because of its isolation. The farm ers
had to haul their grain and wool
rom sixty to eighty miles to market
before the railway came in last No
'ember; hence they found it more
pro table to raise cattle and sheep
md other produce that would furnish
IT'S own transpori alton. They have
made money and have kept it, and
here is no moe prosperous, intelli-
gent or contented community in the
land.
Joseph is at TIE end of the track,
Viii h Looks ! Ike fishhook on the
nap because 1t follows the trend of
'he val ey. 1t Is a square, evenly
butt town with broad regular streets,
lined with modest but comfortable
cottages. An irrigation ditch hugs
every side walk on either side. through
which which the water rushes with
musical sound, bringing life and
growth and he,lh to everything it
reaches.
Enterprise is another thriving town
ten miles below Joseph, and the big
warehouse that has just been built
along the side of the railway station
shows that its people have plenty of
valuable produce to ship away. The
sound OF the hammer Is heard every
where in the llnd; large piles of
lumber lie along every side track and
almost hide the stltions, and the high
price OF wheat and wool are matters
for mutual congra .ulation among the
settlers.
.