Evening star., 1922-09-24

, portion Of Crook. an area Of more
than 10000 square miles-greater
than the combined area Of the states
Of Rhode Island, Delaware and Con-
necticut, with the District Of Colum.
bia added; greater than either New
Jersey. Massachusetts,. New Hamp-
shire or Vermont-will be directly
tributary to a railway from Crane
to the Bear valley through Burns.
This region has been occupied by
cattle. sheep and horsemen for the
last fifty years, and has been nick-
named "the Meat Platter" Of Oregon.
1t would have been opened up nine or
ten years ago had not the merger OF
the Southern and Central Pacific rail-
ways been broken up. The Hartman
lines planned to build two railways.
one from Bend and the other from
Crane to open up the central Oregon
plateau, but the dissolution OF the
merger stopped the proposed exten-
sions.
Since then the railway interests
have told the settlers that they must
develop freight tonnage before exten-
sions could be made, and the settlers
have said: What is the~use of grow
ing sixty bushels Of wheat or twenty
five tons Of sugar beets to the acre
until there is a railway to take 1t
over?" So development has rested on
dead center.
In Grant county the John Day valley,
for distance Of sixty miles. will be a
heavy contributor Of traffic to the ter
minus OF the line in Bear valley. In
Harney county proper such a railway
line would traverse Harney valley, con-
tanning 100000 acres. and would tap
the products Of the valley of the Donder
and Bitten. comprising 100000 acres.
and Silver Creek valley with 10000
acres. In addition, there are many
smaller valleys and settlements that IN
the aggregate would bring many
thousands Of acres into cultivation II
transportation were available. AS a
general rule. however. irrigation will be
necessary for the development Of large
scale agriculture. Already in the Harney
valley irrigation district, which covers
$4,000 acres. about $4,000 are now par
TALLY irrigated. Fully developed. this
district will bring total of 10000
acres under complete irrigation.
South of Malheur lake and the Bit
zen River valley $4,000 acres have al
ready been reclaimed from swamp by
drainage. and some further work would
complete the drainage reclamation and
provide irrigation. Thirty miles from
Burns lies the Silver Creek valley,
which has an irrigation district con-
tanning $1,000 acres.
The John Day valley above mentioned
is described as one of the scenic and
agricultural gems Of the west Pro-
tected by the gently nodded Blue
mountains. it has an elevation Of about
5000 feet. knows no great extremes of
cold or heat. enjoys tonic atmosphere
and most fertile soil Of volcanic ash.
1t is at present a paradise of sheep and
cattle, but with transportation could be
converted into one of the richest agri-
cultural regions in America
THE soils Of all those valleys are
i very rich and have comparatively
little waste or alkaline lands At pres
ent they produce, except experimentally,
little but hay and some other crops
for local consumption. Extensive tests
have been made by the Harvey branch
of the Oregon experimental station, six
miles east Of Burns. which prove that
under irrigation these valleys will
produce from fifty to eighty bushels of