Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1911-08-19
TO FARMS
HEAVILY TIMBERED LANDS
PROVE PROFITABLE AFTER
CLEARING is DONE,
Pioneers in Northwest Have Proven It
by Sticking to TasK-New Clearing
Methods Are Successful-No Limit
to Variety of Crops-Much Logged
off Land to Be Had in Northwest

When the pioneers in the Pacific
slope and intermountain country I'M
dertook the work of carving homes out
of the forests surrounding them, they
were confronted with problems that
would easily discourage less determined
men. The heavily timbered areas pre-
sented anything but an inviting aspect
from an agricultural viewpoint; there
were no facilities for overland trans
portation, the sources of supplies were
wholly inadequate and communication
with the outer world was out of ques-
ton. But in the fact of these handi-
caps the spirit of the early settlers
remained unbroken and they laid the
foundations upon which prosperous and
progressive cities and thriving towns
and hamlets have been erected in less
than a half century.
The pioneers, who were -blooded
men and women, won out by sticking
to the task. They attacked the forests
with characteristic vigor, they blazed
trails and built wagon roads into the
interior and craft to ply the streams,
they established settlements and erected
saw and grist mills and aided railroad
construction. Rural districts were de-
veloped and timbered lands cleared and
transformed into highly productive
farms. Then came the commercial
loggers and sawmill operators and an
important industry was established,
and, as the choppers moved through the
timbered belts, clearing the lands of
giant pine, fir, cedar and other trees,
they paved the way for the rancher,
the dairyman, the orchardist, the truck
farmer and the poultry grower. Mean
while the rapid and substantial growth
of the cities and towns served to slim
ulate the activities of the farmers and
homeseekers from the central states and
eastern and southern points began pour
ing into the newly opened districts.
Most of the logged Loft land in the
northwest, of which there is about
100000 acres in Washington, Oregon,
Idaho and western Montana, is cheaper
in cost to the homeseeker than the gov
eminent s free homesteads, taking all
things into consideration, and as rule
it is more productive than the remain
ing acres owned by Uncle Sam. Gen
orally from 20 to 40 acres, properly
handled, will provide farmer and his
family with an excellent living and in
sure future competence, while as
berry and truck garden and orchard
from 10 to 20 acres is enough for any
family. Usually there is some stand
ing timber, from the sale of which suf-
icient money may be realized to pro-
vide lumber for house and other
structures needed on the farm. Hun
dreds of settlers in the Spokane dis
trict have earned their homes by clear
ing land in that way.
The clearing of land has been made
comparatively easy task by char
pitting, though some farmers use ex-
plosives to blow out the larger stumps.
The actual uses to which the land, after
being cleared may be placed depends,
of course, more or less on location, but
is more a matter of choice than of ne
cessity. Vegetables of all kinds yield
abundantly and the dates of planting
may be so arranged as to provide fresh
vegetables practically the year around.
Peas, beans, radishes, lettuce, onions,
cabbage, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas,
celery, parsley and kale produce gen
erous and profitable crops. Grains and
grasses also thrive.
Tree and shrub and vine fruits are
grown in constantly increasing quaint
ties, and the commercial orchard is
now well established on these logged
off lands. The commercial fruits most
successfully grown are apples, cherries
plums, pears, peaches, apricots and
ounces. Some of the highest grade
fruit exhibited at the National Apple
show in Spokane last year were grown
on lands once timbered. Experts say
this is due largely to the superior eli
matte and soil conditions.
Blackberries, red raspberries, logan
berries, currants and gooseberries grow
in profustion and find a ready market
Strawberries are a prolific crop, net
ting from 5000 to 5000 an acre. The
dairy and poultry industries also are
gaining a stronghold on these lands
The ease with which the grasses anC
all root crops are grown solves the
problem of feed. The market for milk
butter and cheese in the cities ant
mining, railroad and lumber camps il
practically unlimited and will be foi
many years to come. The poultry
raiser who understands how to maxi
= i
also has a straight road to prosperity.
: With these various activities to en-
gage their attention, the farmers o
, logged-off lands in Washington, Oregon
Idaho and Montana are busy men, AM
most of them, as the accumulation o
, profits permits, are adding to thei
holdings, which in itself is the best evi
r dence of the present and prosperity
value of the acreage.