White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1924-05-23

Spokesman would be interested in
reading what the reporters, John M
Stoddard and Fielding Lennon of the
| Seattle Post -Intelligencer and Seattle
Star, respectfully, had to say about the
excursion party last week, their articles
are here reproduced. Mr.. Stoddard's
story appeared in last Sundays P.
prefaced by picture showing Mrs
Shaun Kelly, wife of one Of the sol.
dier settlers, picking strawberries and
one of Archie Brown standing in his
40 inch high alfalfa field, was as
follows:
The miracle of water and indom-
table grit is rapidly turning the form
erly arid acres of the White Bluffs
Hanford soldier settlement project in
the Priest Rapids Valley into garden
spot of tidy, hourishing ranches, in
which colony of ffty-rine former
service men are building an empire
which may yet become the richest OF
the state.
MORE LAND AVAILABLE
| Clustered around the villages OF
White Bluffs and Hanford, the tracts
show green against the drab flats of
the unimproved land which needs only
the magic touch of irrigation to bring
it into the same bountifully fertile state
as the tracts improved for the last
three years.
Under the states Cow bill' the set
tiers have been furnished with four
mich cows each and many have their
own draft animals for plowing. Hogs
are seemingly an indispensable part OF
every ranch, and chickens and turkeys
strut through each farm yard.
To date, $342,297.32 has been ex-
pended on the entire project of 102
tracts and approximately 100000 re-
mains for development from appro-
priations administered by Dan A.
Scott, director of conservation and de-
velopment.
Contact between veterans and the
state is maintained by ]. c. Scott, ex-
perienced agriculturist and project
manager. After the veterans have ar
ranged for their tracts with Capt. Fred
M. We'll, colonization agent here, they
are received by Scott and permitted
to select their own tract.
The land once under cultivation, is
producing alfalfa yielding nine tons
per acre, cotton declared the finest in
the nation by the department of agri-
culture, soy beans, asparagus, rhubarb,
corn, rye, onions and countless other
crops. Pears, peaches, apples, plums
and forty-two varieties of grapes are
being sold yearly from the old and
| new ranches.
Approximately $1,000 is needed by
the veteran who intends settling on the
project. The first payment is $3.50 and
his total initial payment by the time
he takes possession is $612.50, payable
within six months. For the first three
years the settler pays 81 principal an6
! per cent interest on the total cost o.
/ $3.50 for twenty acres, and at the enc
Of that period he pays off the remain.
ing sum in twenty equal annual install.
ments.
ROOM FOR MORE MEN
Veterans alone during the past three
years have been permitted to take up
the tracts but civilian farmers may be
admitted if the remaining tracts are
not settled shortly, Director Scott has
announced. The American Legion
land committee will confer with him in
Olympia on June to determine what
measures will influence veterans to
avail themselves of the states land
offer.
Mr.. Lennon headed his article on
the front page of Mondays Star with
picture of Ed. Ponsat, one of the
soldier settlers north of White
Bluffs, standing beside one of his
-~e>~~~-~~N~~-N~o>~~~~ ~~~~~~~o>~~~~o~e~o>
S. S. Schuler, who had the con-
tract from the state for construct
ing most of the buildings on the
first unit of the land settlement
project here, dropped dead in Ritz.
vile Wednesday afternoon, of heart
failure. His son, L. S. Schuler,
left here with his family Wednes-
lo., o,,o1soor kn o%konI %h1