The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1920-04-09
Beginning in 1912 Farmers
have Successfu Watered
10000 Acres-Mines Hold
Forth Golden Promises.

(Recently Frank NJ Dallam- Jr., who
is interested in the Gazette and who at
present has charge of the Northwest
section of the Seattle Post-Intelli-
gencer, one of the largest and most
important daily papers published on
the coast, spent few days visiting
with his parents in Oroville and while
here contributed the following article
to the Post-Intelligencer, which is a
general resume of conditions in and
around Oroville, published under the
head "Loosed by Ditch and Rail
Wealth Springs from Soil for Okano-
gan Dreamers:')
OROVILLE, April 3.-OkanOgan
county. covering an area of 100 miles
square; long a sort of outland or last
frontier in this state, Is pulsing to
new life today and enjoying a rapid
and substantial development that JUS
titles the hopes and dreams of the
early settlers who first sensed the pos
sibilities latent in its many resources.
Irrigation and rail transportation
are the factors that have united to
work a revolution in conditions here.
A comparatively few years ago this
country was practically cut off from
the rest Of the state. The only means
OF travel was the painful and discour.
aging stage coach route, first operated
from Spokane, a distance of over 200
miles to the old county seat at Concon-
ully, and later, when the railroad was
extended into the Big Bend country,
from Coulee City, 1870 miles. Later still
steamboat was operated on the CO.
lumbia river from Wenatchee to Brew
ster, and stage from that place up
the Okanogan valley, with another
outlet by stage across the mountains
to the mining camp of Republic, when
the Marcus branch of the Great Nor
thern was built to that place.
Now, the Great Northern has two
lines operating into this territory, one
an extension Of the Marcus branch to
Oroville, and the other a spur from
Wenatchee up the Columbia river to
Oroville. These lines have brought the
Okanogan into touch with the markets
OF the country and given an outlet to
the products Of the farm, the range
and the mines. Coincident with the
building OF the railroads came the de-
velopment of irrigation in the Okla
hogan and Methow valleys and the
Transformation that such development
always brings in productivity where
the combination of fertile soil and
a long growing season obtains.
The first big irrigation enterprise
was the government project in the
Okanogan valley with the town of
Omak in its center The success of this
undertaking encouraged Other efforts
Of the kind, as did the result of orch
arding in the Wenatchee valley by the
use of irrigation, under conditions
practically identical with those Of this
valley.
In 1912 The farmers IF the valley
from the International boundary line
for twenty piles south along the Okla
hogan river united in forming an irri-
cation d:str;r. niiGer the stare laws
embracing about 10000 a. 'es of c,l-
tivable lali. rheir purpose was to
build gravity system with the Simil-
kameen river as source Of supply.
Engineers estimated the cost Of the
project at 100000. The district WAS
bonded, and the bonds placed. Con-
struction was started in 1915, and
water turned on to the land for the
first time in the spring Of the follow
ing year. At that time about 5000
acres of land were under cultivation.
This year, the fourth since the bitches
we're completed, 80 per cent OF the
land under the canals is in crops. The
1000 acres not cultivated are owned
by Indians, and have been neither
leased nor sold The Indian depart
ment has agreed to sell these lands
this year, and by another season the
entire district will be producing crops.
In forming the district the land own
ers agreed to sell off their holdings
down to units of forty acres, and this
has already been accomplished. The
principal crop grown at this time is
alfalfa, though there is strong and
increasing tendency toward the plant
ing of orchards. Last year about one
thousand acres of apple orchards came
into bearing. and the amount of fruit
shipped out this year will show big
increase over the previous season.
The prices for raw land has been
held lower here than under any other
irrigation project in the state ranging
from 800 to $3.50 an acre. This alone
attracted many new settlers, but the
influx has been greatly increased since
the experience in other apple districts
Of the state in the past two years. In
the last six months there have been
more land transfers here than in the
previous two years, and the inquiry 70
greater this spring than ever, with new