Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1888 — WALLA WALLA VALLEY. [ARTICLE]

WALLA WALLA VALLEY.

A Region Famous for Wheat, Fruits, and Garden Products. Walla Walla. Wash. Ter., Sept 5, 1888. This city is one ot the oldest and beet known in the Pacific Northwest, but being off the main lines cf the Northern and Union Pacific Railways, with both of whic'i, however, it has branch connections through th 3 Oregon Railway and Navigation system, it is often given the go-by b cause the traveler dislikes to make a change at long as his ticket holds out ana the train goes on. A new road, aue here unier contract by Jan. 1, 1889, howet er, will bting closer traffic arrsn,'ements wici the Northern Pacific to Pu'.et io.nd and the East, a project to which the citizens gave a bonus of #190,090. The outlook. too. is good for the Manitoba Road, walch next year is to Leextended to the coast, coming from Butte, Montana, through lx>lo Pass, in the Rockies, a’ong the Clearwater, in Idaho, thence into the Palouse country, and to the Walla Walla valley. According to the Government monument in the court yard, Walla Walla is in latitude 46 degrees 3 minutes 55 seconds north, and longitude 41 degrees 17 minutes and 7 seconds west from Washington, or 118 degrees west of Greenwich. Th’ city was laid out on a liberal scale, with broad streels, the residence portion I eing embowered in shade trees. There are many pretty hemes and substantial stores and public buildings, and everything botokens charterer, solidity, and wealth. One of the best evidences of the prosperity and importance of a city is shown in public improvements. Judged by this standard, Walla Walla makes a showing worthy of older and larger cities. The Court House is the finest in the Territory, the City Building is a model structure, while the Fire Department is the crack organization of the Northwest. There are two electric-light companies, a gas company, a lelephoae serviee, and other modern comforts and convenicnc s, and free postal delivery has been ordered. Two companies supply the city with wa> er, coming from springs cf temperature varying little from forty-nve degrees the year round. Nearly every house has its hydrant, and cooling streams thread their way along the streets The natural surface drainage is into Mill Creek, a rapid stream of 2,000 inches, having a tall cf sixty-five feet to the miie. which furnishes power to several large roller flouring mills, a thresher factory, a foundry, and several other industries ; but there is room for more; a woolen mill is wanted, a pottery’, an oil mill, a soap factory, a paper mill, fruit canneries, a jute-bng factory, etc., and fair inducements are offered all practical enterprises. The people ara a unit in local matters, a board of trade is on the alert for whatever tends to the public good, and information is promptly given on any subject. The 6,00 u people of the city suppoit three vigorous daily papers, the Union (morning), and.the Statesman and Journal (evening publications). What Eastern city of equal size can boast of,three dai y papers ? The religious and educational facilities, too, are on a par with larger Eastern places. The Whitman College, three public schools, two business colleges, a Sisters’ school, and several private institutions combine to give the city the title of the Athens of the Inland Empire.

Frontier roughness and rowdyism long ago disappeared. On the 4th of July, with 10,000 people in the city, no drunkenness nor arrests marred the pleasures of the day. No boom prevails, ror is any effort made to create one, simply substantial Condition of business exists ; the ’people pin t eir faith On the permanent value of a sound natural growth. Nothing less than a personal inspection can convey to the reader the varying beauty of the valley of Walla Walla—“land of many waters.” The mean annual temperature is fifty-three degrees, that of Santa Fe, St. Louis, and Washington. The winter rarely exceeds a month or six weeks., with an occasional low fall of temperature, and dealers are lucky to get ice five inches thick. Pansies have been picked in the open air at Christmas time. The rainfall throughout this valley is ample and seasonable,! averaging about twenty-two inches unnually. The spring rains preclude any danger of drought, the dry season coming on after'the cereal crops have quite reached maturity. The harvest from July to October is usually uninteirupted by winds or rains, at?d crops are generally gath'-red and marketed from the fields. Grain is sacked for shipment, and there are no expensive elevator anjj storage charges. Wheat'and wool stand as the chief staples of export, more or less, from all parts of the Pacific Northwest. The wheat of the Walla Walla Valley is noted for its superior quality and large yield. The absence of any failure of crops since the earliest settlement of the country, and the successful returns in large yields, have not in the past called for that diversity found necessary in more uncertain sections. The farmer has sown to the limit of his seei lime without thought of fat ure. Bpsides, where there is more or less growth of oats, rye, I arl y, flax, hay, and vegetables, with ample yields] producers govern the supply by the demand. Corn does well, while tobacco, melons, and sweet potatoes mature like indigenous crops. The unfolding of the timber and mining regions and connection with the vast country through to the great lakes has added an important factor to the agricultural prosperity of the Walla Walla region. This relates to orchard and garden products, to green and dried fruits, and vegetables. Nowhere else east of the Cascade Mountains is it possible to produce so great a variety of fruits. Apples, pears, prunes, and cherries grow to an unusual size, of the finest flavor, and yield prolifically. An acre of prune trees, 160 in number and seven years old, last year produced an average of 400 pounds of fruit to the tree, and selling at 5 cents a pound, brought the owner a total of $3,200. These same trees have been bearing since the second year, nearly all varieties of trees bearing the second year after planting. An acre will hold 1,000 grape vines, each producing from twenty to forty pounds. Hot-house grapes of the East grow out of doors here, and t ome of the winemaking varieties equal those of California. Peaches, apricots, quinces and plums grow in abundance and excellence. All the small fruits, berries and currants flourish world without end. Strawberries have been gathered every month from April to November. Berries usually produce a flair crop the same year they are planted, and strawberries have yielded as high as two tons to the acre, and single specimens have measured eight inches around. Buds, blossoms, and ripe apples can be seen on the tree at the same time, and often so large that twentyfive to thirty will fill a bushel packingbox. Cherries grow as large as the average Eastern plum. It is not uncommon for a tree to yield from S3O to SSO worth of fruit, and when an acre will contain 160 trees it is not hard to approximate the profits. Peas, beans, and many score staples and delicacies are found on the tables of Walla Walla before the snow has disappeared from the fields of New Eng and. Potatoes yield from 300 to 600 bushels to the acre, onions fifty tons to the acres, and so on. Isolated until racentljjjrom easy access to the great markets, the people have not been able to profit by the gen?rous gifts of nature, and amiliarity with abundance has bred indifference and wastefulness.

The wheat output of the valley last year was over 400,000 tons, the average being thirty-five bushels to the acre. Instances of large yields, the records varying from sixty to seventy-five bushels, are common in every locality. The s il seems adapted to the perfecting of cereals, and such is the fecundity that a single grain of wheat has been known to send out a stool of fifty or more stalks, with heads etch holding a hundred or more grains, or 5,000 for 1. In no i art of the United States, perhaps, can so much physical and mental labor be performed with so little fatigue er discomfort. The air is invigorating, ti e days never too hot or too cold to prevent laoor, the nights offer profound hours of rest, the w ater is goed and pure, and health is insured to reasonably caret 1 people. The dryness of the air renders this section comparatively free from lung and throat complaints, rheumatism and f s'ver, and there has never been an epidemic. The death rate at Fort Walla Walla for a period of thirty years has been only 6 to 1,000, making it the healthiest military post in the country. The fine climate of the Northwest is due to the winds coming from the Japan current in the Pacific Ocean." Three great railway systems are already in the valley and another line is coming. There is river transportation, too, and the ocean is not far away. Telegraph and telephone lines run in all directions; roads are mad’, bridges built, and postal and express facilities reach every point. Manufacturing is developing, and flocks and herds cover the hills. and ’ mountains. Notwithstanding all that has been accomplished by the people of this fine region there is a great undeveloped future. This valley itself is a domain capable of sustaining hundreds of thousands more people, and of unfolding an industrial system second to no part of the Republic. Moses Folsom. The annual expenditure of the Sultan of Turkey’s household is over $41,000,000.