Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1921-11-25
FIFTY YEARS OLD

Next Tuesday viii mark the fifth
eth anniversary of the creation by
legislative enactment of Whitman
county. Those fifty years have been
marked by wonderful progress and
development
When the county was established
the land embraced within it's borders
was practically wilderness of
bunch-grass in which rattlesnakes
were far more plentiful than settlers.
There were no railroads. highways
or towns and the cabins of the pio-
neers were few and far between.
Almota was the distributing center
of the new county.
Today Whitman is the greatest
grain producing county in the United
States 1t stands seventh among all
the counties in the value of crops
produced and ninth in the combined
value of crops and livestock prod
ucts 1t has more railway mileage
than any other county in the state.
1t is dotted with prosperous and
progressive towns and villages. 1t
hes some 5000 miles of public roads,
about 220 miles of which are well
improved. 1t is gridironed by net
work of telephone lines and rural
w o6
ever the former isolation of farm
life. Its system of public schools
ranks with the best in the country
and in the State College of Washing
ton it has one of the largest and
strongest institutions of higher
learning in the west. The deposits
in its 33 banks on September 8 to-
tailed $40, 965,614. The value of its
crops in 1919 as shown by the fed
eral census of 1920 aggregated $780,
S24 407 and the value of its live
stock products in the same year was
s1,096,640.
Such a wonderful record of prog
ress proves both the richness of the
soil and the enterprise and energy
of the residents of Whitman county.
The early settlers were endowed
with courage, faith and vision and
their example and achievements in
spired those who came later to carry
on the good work
Much has been accomplished in
the past so years, but much remains
TO be accomplished in the next half
century. The material resources or
he county have reached a compare
lively high stage of development. 1t
remains for the present and coming
generations to promote its aesthetic,
cultural and social possibilities.
Good trees planted along the roads
and highways and around the farm
homes; better planned and more at
tractive residences, school houses,
churches and public buildings would
add much to the beauty of the coun-
ty The development of social CEN
tiers in every rural community each
supplied with a small but we'll select
ed public library and equipped with
facilities for moving picture enter
tainments, dances and gatherings of
all kinds, would go far toward slim
ulating and establishing more
neighborly spirit.
Intelligent work along these lines
for the next fifty years could win
for old Whitman the reputation Of
being not only the greatest grain pro-
ducing county in the United States
but of also being the best one in
which to reside because of the beau
ty of its farms, its homes and its
public buildings, the fine construc-
ton of its roads, the high standard
of its schools and the friendly.
neighborly spirit of its people.
To attain such a reputation would
be we'll worth working for during
the next fifty years. The record of
the past is challenge for the future.
VIM. GOODYEAR.