Crittenden record-press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1909-191?, 1910-01-27
I'D KENTUCKY THE BEST
OF ALL.
Farmers Should be Satisfied
Here-vast Proportions
Of West.

htPuci' OitRoui bbC. 80. - DcaI
Gaines have been thinking for
some time that | would write you
something Of the Northwest which
perhaps might be Of interest to some
Of tho farmers readers of The Herald
shall speak mostly of Oregon, as
[ have seen more Of this State than
any Of the Northwest II is said that
Oregon has the largest territory with.
ont railroad 81 any State in the
Union. From the termination Of one
of our branch lines freight is hauled
by wagon farther than any other place
in the United states, think the
dis'atce Is three hundred miles or
core Both the Hill and Hartman
lines are building roads into the in
terror of the State.
To ge, some general idea Of the
vast sine Of this State, we will com
pare it with the State OF Kentucky.
Oregon has a total area OF "a. $50
square miles aud Kentucky an area
Of 40, 900 square miles. Oregon Is
more than two aud one-third times
the size of Kentucky. The census OF
1900 shows kentuckys population
to be 2,147,174, and Oregons at
that time 413 $40. ! think she
claims 500. 900 now, but even at this
figure you can see the vast difference
IN the population. Any one who has
not travelled. through the far West
cannot realize how sparsely settled
this country is. There are 10, 900, e
600 people crowded together in some
Of the New England States. on an
area equal to what 600, 600 are living
on hsre. Two hundred and City FIVE
thousand of this 600, 900 population
are 10 the city Of Portland.
In this great State most any con-
ditions may be found, ranging from
the ideal climate a d rich soil Of
some OF the little villages which have
the appearance of an Eden, to the
sandy deserts where neither animal
or vegetable life exists, which is apt
TO bring to your mind, on a July
day, thoughts of the Internal regions.
All kinds Of land may be found from
the well improved fruit farm which
is valued at 81 500 gu acre, to land
that is hardly worth one dollar per
one thousand acres. The greatest
difficulty in central and eastern Or
egon is the scarcity Of water. for it
rains but ve-y little east OF the Cas-
csde Range during the summer
season. There are some places where
the rainfall is only three or four
inches a year. Most Of the soil is
very rich, all that is lacking is the
rainfall.
Stocs raising and wheat growing
are the chef pursuits in the central
and eastern parts of the State. Here
we find great herds of cattle and
sheep-often as many as 5, 200 head
in one herd. In some Of the valleys
especially in the Willamette we find
diversified farming, but no corn is
produced on account Of light rainfall
and cold nights.
shall now try to give you some
idea of grain growing and farm life
Of eastern Oregon. When the season
is good the grain yield is vast, but
this Is the only crop the farmer has,
so when it fails, he has nothing else
to depend on.
The railroad company am with
here has one feeder here 40 miles
long which runs through great
wheat belt.
Three years ago there we're 1000
car loads of wheat shipped off this
short line. The last two years have
been almost failures Tor the graf !
crop in Oregon on account Of the
drouth. One man told me he sowed
|, 200 acres last year aud reaped only
500 sacks. They SOW in both fall
and spring here and harvest from
July to September. They do moi
bind and shock as we do in Kentucky,
but run either header or a combine