The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-11-09
WITH OUR NEIGHBORS
ACROSS THE BORDER
(Thesthird and last Of series of ar
ticles BY U. P. Dabney.)

ed, as il were, on an island, surrounded
by many hundreds of acres Of vegeta-
bles consisting of celery. onions, pota.
toes, cabbages. ETC., growing to perfec.
tion in the old lake bed. The soil is
almost black and the stuff produced
can hardly be excelled anywhere in the
world. The land is mostly rented to
Cinnamon, who pay yearly rental Of
$50 per acre. Last year the yield per-
acre was as follows: Carrots, al tons
celery 10 tons; potatoes eight to 10
tons; onions six to eight tons. These
products all have to be shipped away
to the mines and the northern prairie
counties of Canada. to Alaska and Aus
tralia. So far fruit has not been sue
cessfuIly raised for the market in that
part of the valley, but 20 or 80 miles
south the climate is more conducive to
fruit raising.
Directly on the east of the valley
there is an unbroken mountain range
some 1000 feet high which is mostly
covered with forest. On the west side
there are mountain spurs which are
separated from each other by charming
valleys and fertile bench lands with
now and then a lovely lake. In fact,
there are a great many lakes through
that country and the fish-well.l might
tell you big fish story. but like
George of old, | cannot tell lie.
The land in that country which is
susceptible to cultivation is indeed ex
tensivve for mountainous country,
but only small per cent of it has been
cleared and in in cultivation.
Okanagan Landing is 20 miles south
of Armstrong and at the upper end of
the lake, and the railway terminus of
the branch railway. From there all
| freight cars are transported on barges
carrying IL to l6 cars to the lower end
of the lake, distance of about 70
miles, while at Kelowna, Penchland
and Summerlin there are railway spurs,
and when there is a carload of fruit to
ship the barge will drop car and run
it out on the, spur to be loaded and then
pick il up afterward. Passenger
steamers about like the Columbia
steamers ply on the lake.
We took the trip to the lower end of
the lake and in going we zigzaged back
and forth, stopping at many small land
ings to leave mail, etc. also to gather
up what little fruit there might be.
Some places they took on board as
many as 50 crates, and then again not
more than two or three.
! One place our steamer pulled up to
little landing where stood a lone woman
in waiting. She had two small crates
of cherries. strained my vision to see
where the fruit could have been raised.
Then | made use of my glasses, but
without avail, and came to the con-
cusion that she must have plucked
cherries from the scattering bull pines
that grow on the mountain side.
Looking for the cherry trees made
me think of the Englishman who had
heard of the Pine tree shillings and he
came to New England and looked all
over the country to find piece of pine
tree land that would raise shillngs.
Penticton, at the lower end of the
lake, is quite nice town of 1000 popu-
Iation, mostly supported by the fruit
section that borders on the lake. From
this place there are two railroads
branching off, one of which leads out
to the mining districts to the east ard
makes connection with the road run
ming to Spokane. The other one bears
off to the northwest and connects with
the main Canadian Pacific line giving
an outlet to the sea.
All the trunk roads are laid out and
constructed by the government, as
was informed, and with the assistance
of the municipalities are maintained.
They have competent men whose busi-
~ 10 IN fnnA ii
tion and especial attention is paid to
proper drainage and there are good
roads leading out to the different val
leys and scenic lakes, and mountain
roads by the hundreds of miles, and
while there seems to be no noise made
about road building, the work goes on
and the roads throughout that country
are far superior to our country roads in
Oregon and Washington. | motored
over more than a thousand miles of
their roads which afforded an oppor-
tunity to see and observe their condi-
tion. In places where they are con-
structing highways | saw good many
interned prisoners working.
The Indian reservation includes many
thousands of acres of the choicest
lands in the Okanagan valley, but few
of the occupants are successful at
farming. While they have a great
portion under fence. their other i'm
pr0vements are very poor, consisting
mostly of small log or hoard house
and from one to six or seven stables.
In many cases the stables are roohess,
and they are never, or seldom, cleaned
out and when one gets so full of man.
ure they can no longer get their horses
inside they build another.
Vernon is, the prettiest town In all
that valley. 1t is Is miles from Arm
strong, FIVE miles from Okanagan lake
and about three miles from Long lake,
which parallels the Okanagan for near
ly 40 miles. Its population is about
5000 and it is the hub and shipping
point for all the fruit on the upper end
of the lakes, and the extensive orchards
and farm lands in the Gold Creek val
ley. 1t is IN the Gold Creek valley
that Lord Aberdeen has $4,000 acres.
A great portion of it is in orchard At
one time much of that land was used
for raising hops, but now their: r:hopedri-
ers are being used for. evaporating
fruit.
Vernon, since the war. has became
quite a military place, as there are
from four to seven thousand men in
training all the time. fThey are trained
not only to march and handle their
guns. etc., but in building barricades |
and trenches, and 10 everything per-
tanning to modern warfare. But with |
all that, before they are efficient for |
the battle line they are again drilled IN
England for two months and then sent |
to the trenches.