Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1888 — AN ABUNDANT COUNTRY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AN ABUNDANT COUNTRY.

DIVERSIFIED RESOURCES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. The Valley of the Snake River, One of the Richest and Most Prolific Sections of the Pacific Northwest —A Healthful, Temperate Climate. [SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.] Dayton, Wash. Ter., Sept. 15, 1883. It is a common though i atirely mistaken notion that the farther north we go the colder it becomes. The altitude, the character of the surface, prevailing winds, abundance of water and many other condi ious give us entirely different climates on the same lines of latitude. Without attempting a treatise on weather lore we will content ourselves by reiterating the well-known fact that tha western coast of North America is warmer than the eastern. This is due to the influence of the winds and the thermal currents of the Pacific Oc an in distributing the heat of the tropics to thes > shores. The great Japan current pours the ful; force of its warm breath against the shore line of Washingtoil Territory and Oregon, and inland over plain and mountain top, even to Dakota, performing the same service for this western land that Die Gulf Stream does for Europe and the British Islands. Sitka, Alaska, is on the parallel of Edinburgh,

Scotland, and while very much dampar, it has the average annual temperature of Minnesota. It is not cold enough at Sitka to freeze merchantable ice. The northern boundary of Washington Territory is not so hopelessly near the arctic seas, when it has the same latitude as Paris, France, where the products of the middle temperate zone attain their, finest results. And here on the southern lim of the Territory, from whence we write, we are on the parallel of Rome, Italy. The great climatic feature of the Pacific Northwest is the Chinook wind, so regularly on hand when wanted to regulate the heat of summer and the cold of winter. This w ind come i from the heated currents of the Pacific,and turns win er into summsrat a moment’s notice. There is nothing in the c imate here to deter any intelligent man from making himself more comforta le the year round than is possible anywhere east of the Bocky Mountains. The long, winding Snake coming from Idaho divides with its profound canyon the southeastern part of Washington Territory in twain. South of the river ore four counties of surprising agricultural possibilities, of which region Dayton is the geographical center. It is quite impossible to give Eastern readers a clear idea of the appearance of this country, for the reason that it is unlike any region in the Easi.. It is prairie, but does not correspond to the prairies of the Mississippi Valley. There are no wide stretches of level land; on the contrary the whole surface is a succession of rounded hills with narrow valleys between, and a few broader valleys, sometimes called flats. The eoil on the summits of the hills and on their slopes is even richer than in the bottoms. It is a curious fact that the upland soil often has a depth of from 50 to 100 feet, show-, ing the ancient prodigality of nature in leaving such enormous deposits of soli on this region. Wheat has been known to mature without a drop of rain, moisture coming from below on the principle of capillary attraction. The soil is decomposed basalt, lava, and volcanic ash, a comparative analysis made by the Agricultural Department at Washington showing that it is quite identical with that of the plains of Sicily, which was a granary of old Rome, and has a record for producing wheat extending through thirty centuries. The soil here is easily handled, and the amount of work that can be accomplished by an energetic man without fatigue or extremeweariness is as remarkable as the crops are prolific. It seems like a big story to say that one man can plow and seed from 305 to 450 acres of wheat and each acre yielding from thirty to fifty bushels. The average yield is twice that of Minnesota and three times that of Ohio. A single gra n of wheat has been known to send out a stool of fifty or more stalks, each crowned with heads holding a hundred grains, or five thousand for one.

Dayton, the county seat of Columbia County, is located in the valley of the Touchet (Tu-suy) River, a mountain stream of sufficient fall and volume to furnish power for several mills and factories, with lots of room for other industries. Where potatoes grow from" 300 to CO) bushels to an acre a starch factory would be a paying institution. An oat meal mill is a legitimate want, and a paper mill would prove a paying investment, on account of the abundance of straw and the fine water. A furniture factory is a necessity, so, too, a woolen mill, a soap factory, a beet sugar factory, a cannery, a pork packing house, and, in short, a multiplicity of varied manufactories. Dayton has a population of about 2,000. It is a well-built town, with wide, shady streets, and variety enough in architecture to give interest and attraction. We have read of those who sit under their own vine ' and fig tree, with none to molest or make them afraid. This is literally true of Daytonians, for they generally possess their own homes. The booming process has no foothold on real estate, and there is no city in the Territory where values in property are so truly representative and indicativo of the actual prosperity. The courthouse is one of the finest in the Territory. There are two excellent newspapers, the Chronicle and the Inlander, ten or twelve churches, a public library, a telephone exchange, two banks, all the leading fmternal organizations, and a school system of w.iich the ci.izens are deservedly proud. The city has a fine water-works system, the supply coming from springs of unvarying temperature and purify. The fire department is a crack organization. In short, the town enjoys many comforts and conveniences not found in much larg r Eastern places. Lumber is brought to town in a V flume from the Blue Mountains, twenty-one miles distant, Dayton, in the respect of a timber supply, being more fortunate than most of the towns of the prairie region, there being plenty of timber within five miles of town. There are some ten or twelve saw-mills in the county, and lumber retails at from $8 to sl6 per M. The present railway outlet is over the O. R. and N. Road, 283 miles to Portland and 6 (miles to Wallula, the nearest point on the Northern Pacific, although negotiations are pending with the latter rood to send a branch into the county. Dayton has' an active Board of Trade, and is one of few towns with an office and committee to wait upon newcomers. If an industrious mon - can flourish anywhere “atop ’o ground," he certainly can here. The farmer who can sell his place in the East for SSO or S6O an acre and buy better land here at $lO to sls, ought surely to profit by the change. He can have gardens and orcharas on the hillsides and grain fields on the hilltops. His tables can groan with plenty. In the valleys he can have pastures, without need of expensive barns to shelter stcck through a long winter, as in the East. Trees grow rapidly, and his home can soon be embowered in shade. The harvest season is long, and he can haul his grain from the field ' to the cars or boat. In time he will have a good, heavy bank account. Near Dayton there are no open public lands, but sett ers with means can always find opportunity sto buy improved places. Nothing seems to be lacking here to make ideal country life and living. There is no rowdyism, and the rough work of early settlement is all done, and churches, schools, roads, postal facilities, and intelligent and honest society await the newcomer.