The news=record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon) 1907-1910, 1910-04-23
OPPORTUNITY GROWS
HERE IN WALLOWA

hopes OF eternal opulence.
In Wallowa county, after breaking
u the new ground, rolling it and
first planting to rye, the farmer can
raise from thirty to forty bushels of
wheat to the acre regularly; and out
here he feels more like getting dis
couraged that 1T is not forty-five
bushels, than like growing enthusi-
atsic over big yield. That is the
difference.
Some years ago 1T was held popu-
larly that oats could not be raised
in an adjoining county in the
Grande Ronde valley. People who
had never tried said it was "too
sandy" Like ali new countries
some one with initiative enough and
courage enough had to try it. One
rancher tried, with the result that
he raised 1O1 bushels of oats to the
acre, and ever since then no one has
disputed that oats could be raised
in the Grande Ronde valley.
So it was with Wallowa county
wheat, apples, pears, plums, cherries,
and vegetables When these were
tried and the crops cared for abund-
ant yields came and the agricultural
and horticultural possibilities here
were demonstrated. ''Frosts" was
the great cry. But with cultivation
and continued working of the soil,
loosening it and caring for 1T as 1T
is cared for everywhere, "frosts" be-
gan to disappear.
A Parallel Case.
A parallel case is found i'm the his
sory of Illinois development. Today
Illinois stands at the head of the
corn producing states, having won
over Iowa last year for the first
.ime in history of corn raising. No
one today would dispute Illinois
fright to the claim of being corn
!eroducing stale, unless he, wanted
% be laughed at. But In the de-
velopm emit of Illinois, the time was
when settlers rode across the rich
prairie land, ignoring it with disgust,
to settle along the streams and to
chop down a tree and grub out a
stump for every hill of corn they
planted. Until some one with initi-
ative enough and courage enough,
onceived that possibly he might
raise corn on the Illinois prairie.
Today the prairie land is the great
est corn land of that state.
| There Is another similarity also:
When settlers began turning over
The bottom lands of Illinois for corn,
everybody i'm the locality "took" ma
.arial fever. The river bottoms
,warmed with malaria. People had
he Shakes and malaria enlarged
he settlers livers until practically
he only medicine used by the doc
ors was quinine or bluemass or
both. The writer has met one pio'
leer physician who, In the early day
| Used so much of both that he named
ais team of ponies one "Quinine'
and the other "Bluemass." Settlers
onged to flee such country. Al
intervals everybody nearly, In Civ
en- locality, would be sick. Turn
ing up the damp, poisoned soil lei
loose fevers and discouragements
Ind added hardships. But cultiva
Cion outlasted malaria, thwarted the
fever, eliminated 1t, and brought
corn and riches and comfort ant
happiness within generation.
The similarity exists, i'm that con
sinued cultivation in portions of Wa
owa county where frosts occur, will
IN time eliminate the frosts to th'
extent that cultivation in Illinois
bottoms eliminated the fevers.
But there is In reality no compari
son between early Illinois and preser
Wallowa county. Here there are N
fevers, no unhealthful conditions o
any kind, no epidemics. The ell
mate Is clear, serene and healthful
The pTest aid coldest drinkin
water that can be found anywher
, pours down from the eternal snow
: Of the mountains. Springs bubbl
from the foothills, ami the water
piped to Enterprise. Sunshine
prevalent and the skies practicall
always smile. Nearly every farme
has a spring or several springs o
: his homestead or ranch. And aboy
; all, instead of cultivating fevers OF
Of the soil, all the farmer has to d
I is to stick raow into the groun
! and raise crop of wheat or oai
! or other product.
The wheat belt. like the easter
corn belt, Is becoming more define
every year. The bread consumel
! Of the world are finding out scie,
, tifically Just where wheat can