The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1911-11-17
AS It WAS, AND IS NOW
Continued From Page one. ,

bility, as it's geographical location in
relation to vast tributary country,
containing no dangerous rival so near
as to divide up the support of the ter
ritory of which it is the present cen
ter, insures the place a continuous
growth with no limit to probable eX
pansion. The civic pride of the peo-
pie is made evident in the character
of the public buildings, and the extent
and nature of municipal improve
ments. These improvements have cost
money, big money, but they are worth
all they cost. The school buildings
are large, handsome structures, equip
ped with every modern convenience
necessary for the health and comfort
of the pupils, the architecture pleas
ing to the eye and the surroundings
attractive to those whom they We're
constructed to accommodate. The
streets are wide, those north and
south extending in stright lines for
miles. Some of the boulevardS are
paved for long distances, paralleled
with cement sidewalks. Many of the
home builders wisely put our shade
trees in front of their premises, which
have gained sufficient growth to furn-
ish pleasant shade in summer, add
ing very materially to the general APP
pearance of the city, and a delightful
Improvement to the scraWny sage
brush that once covered the fiat. 1t
might be remarked in passing that
this is an example that could be fol-
lowed by the people of Oroville with
great advantage to the place. A view
of Wenatchee, either approaching it
coming down the river on boat, or
from some point of vantage on the
higher grounds surrounding the am
phitheater in which the city is located
is one of the most inspiring and de-
lightful prospects to be seen in the
entire state.
The growth of the city proper is no
more remarkable than the growth of
the country Immediately surrounding
the city, and which has made the gath
ering together of this large urban pop
ulation possible 1t was the railroad
that made Wenatchee and the We
natchee valley what they are today
Without the railroad the city and the
highly cultivated valley would not be
in existence. 1t was the means Of
reaching market that was the incen-
tive for placing the land in the high
state of cultivation it is today. The
railroad gave the outlet, the people
provided the means by supplying sup
plying the products that have brought
prosperity to that section and a com
potency, aye, even wealth, to many
engaged in production. What made it
possible for such productivenes was
simply an intelligent distribution and
application of that element that con-
stitutes three-fourths of the globe
water. The Millers and Freers had
given an object lesson of what the soil
was capable of under irrigation, and
those who came in with the railroad
speedily proceeded to utilize the
means at hand for conveying water on
the valley lands. The high line ditch
was the result, and it has been fol-
lowed by other projects backed by
combinations of individuals that have
already covered almost every avail
able acre not only in the valley, but
upon benches and hill sides even sew
eral hundred feet above the valley
that would seem to be out of reach OF
water, by the means of fumes and
bitches. The pumping plant in sever
al instances has been utilized to reach
land that to the observer appears to
be almost unreachabe. AS result
of this liberal application of water the
entire Columbia river front at We
natchee is a vast orchard, and these
orchards stretch on up the narrow
valley of the Wenatchee so far as any
available acreage is to be found,
branching off here and there along the
route up the still narrower valleys
that extend down from the mountains
like feeders on both sides of the We
natchee river. Only small percent
age of the orchard lands are held in
large tracts. The land is cut up into
small holdings, with a result that
from Wenatchee to Cashmere, a dis
lance of twelve miles, the houses are
so close together as to have the ap-
pearance of a continuous town. These
orchards are in various stages of
growth, from the first years growth to
old and vigorous bearing trees. There
are hundred of acres of producing
trees, and the crops are not now
measured by boxes, but by trainloads.
Orchards crowd down into the city of
Wenatchee proper, producing envi-
GUS incomes to the owners. This land
is too valuable as orchards to be cut
up into town lots! No one is able to
say just what is the maximum price
that is asked by the owners of apple
orchards. An old friend of the writer
recently sold five acres of apple trees,
without a particle of improvement on
the land except the trees for Sl5O00i