Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-07-21

proprietor hires the Indians to give
an exhibition of handling their boats
each day in the surf, going out often
mile in the toughest weather.
From Grays Harbor we took an au-
tomobile and went out to a logging
camp in the heavy timber. | was
somewhat surprised to not find a
horse or an OK in the woods. Every
thing is done by steam power and the
size or length of the log makes but
little difference in the matter Of
handling. A hundred men will cut,
skid and take to the mill about 200
900 feet a day. The ground is very
rough and rolling in this heavy u-ln-
Der and the soil heavy clay. There
is but little of western Washington
that is settled by the home builder,
just a few narrow valleys is all. The
lumbermen seem to hO1 full sway
On returning to Portland, | was
sent to the Indian Reservation east
of the mountains to get out a book
let, descriptive of the. 1,201,000 acres
that was to be opened for settle-
ment. There lis about $50, 900 acres
of good land in this Reservation This
has already been allotted to the In
dians, the balance is poor,-very poor
and will never appeal to the inteMi-
gent home-builder, not even the
stock man. The white man is gradu-
ally encroaching on the red mans
preserve, done under the form of law
it cannot be prevented. Already the
trolley reaches to the reservat.o on gate
and the time is not far off when the
clang of the motorman'S warning WLi
echo through the WigWam Of the red
man. A spirit CT restlessness pre-
Vai.s on the Reservation today. Mean
while the Yakima Indians, with his
tory full of pathOs, cannot hut be an
object o. interest and sympathy.
Mrs. Decker and | spent some time
at the home of the Reservation agent
He and his wife have secured a col
lection of Indian baskets valued at
$4,000. They furnished LIS many In
dian pictures for publication. There
are about 1 800 Indians on the Reser-
vation, and much of their allotted
land is under irrigation. 1t would
valuable to the white man hut ii
coInts for but little as it is.
North Yakima is am interesting
little city. The many fruit ranches
surrounding it in many directio q
are among the best We have seen any
where outside. of California.
From the, Indian Reservation l was
sent here to EGlensburgh to get out
a book on this county. This is a
thrifty little city and the surrounding
country holds much of interest. The
Northern Pacific Railroad from one
of their coal mines are taking out Z,
600 tons of coal per day, and claim
that there lis enough coal at this rate
to last 100 years. This county sells
100000 tons of hay each year, but
the large ranches are gradually being
divided up into five and ten acre
fruit farms. Everything is growing
by irrigation and the weather is muc.
-unou 9ql 20 lseM ugql 9I9q IomLBM
tams
The transformation of the arid de-
sert is really an interesting sight.
Along the railroad right of way the
ground is parched and brown but
just beyond the barbwire fence that
little stream of life-giving fluid has
caused the seeming miracle, and the
green carpet of the meadow stretches
over the floor of the desert.
We leave here tomorrow for the
southwestern corner of the state
Everywhere we go the fruit trees
and vines are loaded with fruit, es-
pecially lis this true with apples and
pears.
A. DECKER.