Crittenden record-press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1909-191?, 1910-01-27
LID KENTUCKY The BEST
OF ALL.
Farmers Should be Satisfied
Here-Vast Proportions
of West.

Hepner, Oregon, Dec. 23. - Dear
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 raiIroad of any State in the
Union. From the termination Of one
Of our branch lines freight is hauled
by wagon farther than any other place
, ia The United States. think the
| dis'alca /, three hundred miles or
! core. Both the Hill and Hartman
| lines are building roads into the in
terror of the State.
To get some general idea of the
vast sz, Of this State, we will com
pare it with the State Of Kentucky.
Oregon has total area of "a, $50
square miles and Kentucky an area
Of 40, 900 sq1arc miles. Oregon is
more than two and one-third times
the size of Kentucky. The census OF
1860 shows Kentuckys population
to tc 49, ia, and Oregou's at
J that time Alb $50. | think she
claims 900. 900 now. hut 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 arc 10, 900, =
600 people crowded together in some
Of the New England States. on an
area equal to what 900, 600 are living
on hsre. Two hundred and fifty five
thousand of this 600, 900 population
are in the city of Portland.
In this great State most any con-
ditions may be found, ranging from
the ideal climate a 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, 800 an 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 very little east OF the Cas-
cade 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
shcep-often as many as 3, 600 head
in one herd. 10 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 45 miles
long which runs through a great
wheat belt.
Three years ago there were 1000
car loads of wheat shipped off this
short line. The last two years have
been almost failures for the graf
crop in Oregon on account of the
drouth. One man told me he sowed
l, 900 acres last year and reaped only
800 sacks. They SOW in both fall
and spring here and harvest from
July to September. They do not
bind and shock as we do in Kentucky,