The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-07-28
BUILDING A COMMUNITY.


states there is little town of about
1000 inhabitants which during the
early 70s was prosperous city of
perhaps 1000 people. Its main indus
try was numbering and the pioneers
Tade money When the timber was
cleared away the mainstay of the
community was broken and decay set
in. The land was not easily adaptable
to farming, and for years thrifty tillers
of the soil have passed up the locality
because of the almost superhuman
energy necessary to convert it into
productiveness. In the meantime,
those who were left behind by the
onrush of civilization have been con-
tent to contrive schemes of wrestling
the wealth of the pioneers from them
by fair means or foul. Morals have
degenerated dwellings have fallen
into decay and an air of hopelessness
and dilapidation pervades the atmos-
phere to such degree that visitors as
well as residents are oppressed and
discouraged.
The case is typical of many a COM
munity throughout the country. How
different by contrast it is with the at
mosphere that prevails in this COM
munity. What changes have been
wrought in North Yakima during the
last two years. Yet will not the next
two years witness an era of change
that will present a strange contrast to
the progress made during the two
years just passed? Think of the eff
feet that will be produced by the COM
pletion of the buildings that are now
being erected along Yakima avenue
and vicinity. In addition to this, con-
template the wonders that the en-
trance Of new railroad lines to the city
will produce. 1t Is only one step from
this picture Of the Imagination to the
development of the great Teton coun-
try lying Just beyond the city to the
west which Is now all in the native
sagebrush. Truly the community Of
which North Yakima is the center is
just entering the promised land.
And yet this development that is
taking place day after day carries with
It some great responsibilities and in
wolves the solution Of some great prob
lens. Up to this time this community.
like every new community. has been
passing through the speculative stage.
Values have been increasing steadily
in prospect of a greater day to come.
1t has been discovered that this i'm
mense tract of wonderfully fertile soil
Is adapted to fruit culture, one form
Of intensified and specialized agricult-
nre. This enhances its prOductiveness
ten fold over general farming, and
everyone has fastened to take advant-
age Of the wonderful opportunities
that such an attractive field has
opened. Now that the values have
been pushed to the point where this
land must be made to produce the
products of intensified agriculture it
remains for those who make this COM
nunity their home under those con-
ditions to master the problems of this
Is yet little known industry.
1t is no childs play to raise fruit
successfully, and many is the man who
will realize this to his own sorrow
after one or two or three years of I'M
profitable effort. The future of the
business man and the property owner
is bound up in the successful career of
the horticulturst, and this develop
ment along the proper lines must be
encouraged by the business men and
the commercial interests of the city.
1t is comparatively an easy matter to
make people see the advantages of this
community and get them to cast their
lot with us. 1t will be much greater
task to develop them into successful
horticulturists And yet that is just
what must be done. We have passed
Beyond the speculative stage, and we
are now face to face with the real
Of a.,
structures that our imagination has
painted. Here is where we will be
put to the test. Failure means delay
and decay