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189 (continued)
CHAPTER VI.
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DESCRIPTIVE.
DESCRIPTIVE.
To write a history of the Big Bend country without the prefatory introduction of Lincoln county would he like the play of "Hamlet" with Hamlet ten thousand miles away. If one will consult a map of the state of Washington he will see that, to the Great Bend of the Columbia, from the southwest corner of the Spokane Indian Reservation to Pasco, near the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers, Lincoln county is the door-way from the east. Within this territory, recognized as the Great Bend, are embraced a close approximation of 10,014 square miles. Practically it includes the counties of Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin. But a writer in the Spokesman-Review has more particularly generalized this limitation as follows:
The purpose of this sketch is to define just what part of the state comprises the Big Bend country, and to call attention more especially to that part of the bend beyond the Grand Coulee and nearest and closest within the embrace of the great Columbia river.
People speak of it as anywhere west of Spokane city to the Columbia, which is rather indefinite. Neither would a line drawn from where the Columbia coming down from Canada veers westward at the mouth of the Spokane river, to a little below the mouth of the Snake river at Wallula, enclose all of the land that belongs to the bend. Such a line, though it would touch both horns of the great crescent formed by the Columbia, would yet leave out vast areas that are part and parcel of the land in question. The line for instance would pass miles west of Davenport. And would you ask a man of Davenport his nationality he would aver he was a Big Bender. And he would be right. In point of fad all of Lincoln county, Adams. Franklin, "Where the Barley Grows," Douglas of course, and parts of Spokane and Whitman counties make up this peculiar country. A Spokane county man living east or north of the city of Spokane will tell you he lives in the Inland Empire; and of course he does. Go west or north of Deep Creek in the same county and he will tell you he lives in the Bend. And though geographically he may not so far as lines and boundaries go. yet according to the character of the country and the nature of the soil he does.
Go south of Spokane city and you are on Moran prairie: which in itself is an enviable distinction as the Moran Prairieites will carefully explain to you, though they will not easily allow you to become one of their chosen number — except at a price — the market price of Moran prairie land. * * * Whitman
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county is given over to the Palouse, and all within range of Steptoe Butte belongs to it, as all within sight or ken of Pilot Rock, on the west wall of the Grand Coulee, belongs of right to the Bend. So should the northwest corner of Whitman, by virtue of the character of the soil, even as the southeast portion of Adams is of the Palouse. But all of Lincoln and all of Douglas is Bend country. Franklin is given over to the powers that be in irrigating ditches, and so is between the Palouse and much water.
So the Big Bend country of Washington comprises all that land lying within the bend of the Columbia river proper, which is west of a line drawn from the mouth of the Spokane river southwest to Wallula, a little below the mouth of the Snake river. And besides this, all that land lying west of Deep Creek and south of Spokane river, from the mouth of the former to the mouth of the latter. It is a high rolling plateau, much diversified by butte and coulee and draw, and two thousand feet above the level of the sea. A land of lost creeks and blind springs, rich in a lava soil that has the knack of growing crops with the aid of a minimum rainfall. A drive straight west from Spokane will bring you through a series of well appointed farms that have long ago passed the homesteading stage and have all the earmarks of prosperity. Davenport, Creston, Wilbur, Govan, Almira and Hartline are towns along the Washington Central railway that thrive under the stimulus of the backing of farms whose soil is as good as any in Washington. You will be struck with the business activity of these towns no less than by their neat appearance. The man fresh from the smoky east is startled, to say the least, at the newness of — say Almira, for instance. She looks as if just from the hand of the workman. Like an Easter bonnet just out of the bandbox. A peculiarity of the climate is that a house looks new for years even though not painted. And whereas, in the smoky cities of the east all houses attain a uniform color in so long a time — which is short — though the colors be ever so varied, here in the Big Bend color is color, and remains blue, green, yellow or red, as the case may be, until the pigment itself has lived the term of its natural life. The effect is one of indescribable neatness, and you can't help but believe but that the artist of the 'spotless town' famous in the trolley cars, came here for inspiration and a model.
North of Almira and extending to the Columbia, and from Creston in the east to the wall of the Grand Coulee, is the Ridge country. This section is claimed to be the best wheat land in the state. Here is the "California settlement," of men who found better lands than those in the Golden State. Working with a threshing outfit there last fall, the writer has seen an output of twelve hundred sacks a day, and an average of one thousand sacks for thirty-six days running, and the machine never got beyond a distance of two and one-half miles from the spot where it threshed the first stand. This was Tipso, and it was not a good year for wheat either. West from Davenport you will drive through a long stretch of rocky land — "scab rock," as it is called. Much of the land here it fit only for grazing. But from Creston on to the Coulee you will be traversing the best wheat lands in the state, and will also be within striking distance of the famed Wilsoncreek country, south of Almira, and Hartline, in Douglas county.
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that this history has to deal and describe, as candidly and fairly as the ability of the writers and facts carefully collated will permit. Naturally, owing to its geographical position, Lincoln county will be first considered. There has been much written so far in this work concerning its impressive history. It becomes the province of this chapter to describe its topography, boundaries, general agricultural and industrial classification and resources.
Lincoln county is reached and penetrated from Spokane by three railway lines, the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and the Washington Central, a branch of the Northern Pacific. What is known as the Spokane & Seattle branch of the latter system, a line fifteen miles and 961 feet in length, was completed out from Davenport, the county seat of Lincoln county, to the southeast, but is not at the present time in operation. The proceedings of the State Board of Equalization for 1903 gives the lengths of the line in operation in the county as follows: Great Northern, 64 miles, 4.964 feet; Washington Central, 66 miles, 375 feet; Northern Pacific, 16 miles, 2,025 feet. The equalized rate of taxation was fixed at $6,600 per mile.
Lincoln is bounded on the north by Ferry county and the Spokane Indian reservation, separated by the Columbia and Spokane rivers; on the west by Douglas; on the south by Adams and a portion of Whitman counties, and on the east by Spokane county. Its area is 2,299 square miles, or about 1,471,360 acres. The mean elevation of the county is about 2,000 feet above sea level. One of the highest points is at Davenport, which is 2.470 feet. Geographically illustrative of the size of Lincoln county General Tyner said:
If a single county in Delaware or Rhode Island should be enlarged to the dimensions of Lincoln county, then the balance of either of these states would not afford room enough on which to hold a world's exposition.East and west across the county the distance is 54 miles; north and south an average miles. Of this area four-fifths is rolling prairie; the remainder timber land lying along the streams in the canyons of the Columbia river. The soil is a decomposed volcanic ash of varying depth, exceedingly fertile, and while it is an ideal soil for wheat culture it is equally adapted to nearly all descriptions of agricultural products indigenous to the temperate zone. Of the entire area of the county about 750,000 acres are agricultural, 400,000 grazing and about 300,000 acres timber lands. A writer in the Northern Pacific Railway Bulletin says:
The agricultural lands are rolling, undulating prairies, and for the most part produce equally well throughout the county. Occasionally, however, in some of the lower altitudes the rainfall is deficient and on this account the agricultural lands are graded, first, second and third class. The first-class lands are quite well settled and under cultivation, and here but little opportunity exists for cattle raising, which is one of the great industries of the county, but in the second and third-class districts there is sufficient "open range" contiguous to enable the farmer to graze his cattle on the range during eight or ten months of the year, and pasture them on his stubble and feed at his straw stacks in the winter. Thus it is that examples of the most thrifty and industrious farmers in the county are found upon these second and third- class lands. The yield of wheat varies from 14 bushels on the third-class lands to 45 bushels per acre on the choicest lands. While the staple crop of the county is wheat, oats, barley and rye yield equally well on the rolling foot lands. The wheat fields of the Big Bend country find no competitors outside of the state of Washington, and here their only rivals are those of the far-famed Palouse country, which is similar in character and soil. The harvesting of the crop is always carried on under the most favorable conditions. No rains prevail to discolor the grain, nor winds to shell it. The threshed wheat lies in piles on the field or on railway platforms, sacked, and ready for ship-The report of the Washington State Bureau of Statistics, Agriculture and Immigration, for 1903, published at Olympia, states that the total number of acres of land in Lincoln county, exclusive of town and city lots, was 1,140,392, and that the total number of acres of improved land was 373,159 at the date of publication of the report. Since then these latter figures have been materially increased. The valuation of real and personal property in the county for 1903 is given as follows:
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ment without danger of injury by the elements.
Fruits of all kinds also thrive here, such as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, plums, prunes, grapes and all sorts of berries. Peaches, apricots and grapes grow only in deep canyons. By diversifying his products, including stock-raising, the farmer of Lincoln county finds himself prosperous.
Valuation of land, including city and town lots, exclusive of improvements, $5,941,325; valuation of improvements on land, town and city lots, $969,589; valuation of land, town and city lots, including improvements, $6,910,914; valuation of personal property, $2,399,981; valuation of railroad tracks, $955,610; total valuation of real and personal property including railroad tracks, $10,266,505.
Assessors' returns for the same year show 18,414 horses, mules and asses of an average value of $25, and a total value of $406,350; 20,310 cattle, of an average value of $16 and a total of $324,960; 1,174 sheep at a valuation, of $2 a head, and totaling $2,348; 6,840 hogs of a total valuation of $19,440. But it should be remembered that all these figures have wonderfully increased since the date of the publication of the report. Yet at the present writing they are the only late authentic reports obtainable.
The claim is made, and authentically sustained, that Lincoln is the largest wheat producing county in the United States, raising in 1900 and 1901 more bushels of this standard cereal than any other one county within the limits of the union. The two principal varieties of wheat grown here are Little Club and Blue Stem, the latter ranging higher in price than the former. The average yield per acre will range in the neighborhood of twenty bushels. Yet in many instances crops have been marketed that gave returns to the producer of from 50 to 60 bushels to the acre. Fall and spring wheat are both sown and do equally well. In size farms range from 80 to 3,000 acres. The bulk of the crop is harvested with headers and threshers and combined harvesters. These latter machines are operated by 32 horses, simultaneously reaping, threshing and sacking the wheat. Harvesting usually begins about the latter part of July, continuing through August and into September. During these months there is but little precipitation, they being the driest of the year.
The government records for a period of ten years show that the annual precipitation of rain and snow in Lincoln county was 13.06 inches, and the mean monthly temperature, as recorded by the government observators at Fort Spokane, Lincoln county, for 1895, shows that January was the coldest month, with a mean of 23.8 degrees above zero, while July was the hottest, with a mean of 67.5 degrees, the mean temperature for August being 67. The county may be said to be as near absolutely free from cyclones and tornadoes, or violent atmospheric disturbances as any other in the world. The air is clear, bracing and invigorating, with an unusual number of sunny days continuing through the summer months, with cool nights. Rarely does the thermometer indicate a temperature below zero or above 80 degrees. The water supply of the county is ample. On its northern boundary flow the Spokane and Columbia rivers. There are many smaller streams flowing through the territory and the county is dotted with lakes. Bituminous coal of the most desirable description is mined east of the Cascades which is laid down here at a fair price, but it is not in great demand owing to the generous quantities of wood in the county.
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The question of grasses is treated by the editor of the Lincoln Times as follows:
One of the domestic grasses grown with most success in Lincoln county is what is known as brome grass. It roots deeply, forms a tough sod, withstands the drought and also thrives under tramping and pasturing. It appears to be the only grass particularly adapted to this soil. Clover and timothy are cultivated with some success on bottoms where there is more moisture, and those who have had experience with these grasses in Minnesota and Wisconsin claim that they were not any more of a success in those states in early days, but that increase in the rainfall, together with the fertilizing of the soil, enabled the farmers to produce both clover and timothy with great success in late years. It is claimed that the same will he true of our upland farm lauds after a few years of fertilization. The native bunch grass indigenous to Lincoln county, while very nutritious, will not endure close pasturing, matures the first of July, and, therefore, does not grow any more that season. Stock like it however, better than other grass and they fatten on it. Even after it bleaches out with rain and snow stock seek after it and thrive on it. But as before stated, it will not stand steady pasturing, so that other grasses are being introduced to take its place on stuck farms.The '"barbed wire telephone"' in Lincoln county is unique, although it has no monopoly in this particular district. It is a net work of telephone lines extending throughout the country districts, the farmers utilizing their barbed wire fences for lines. The only expense incurred is the purchase of instruments which enable them to become connected, not only with the outside world, but what is in reality a superior advantage, with their immediate neighbors, some of whom may reside many miles distant so large are the farms in some localities. Wherever these country telephones have been introduced, and they may appear extremely primitive, they are regarded as an indispensable convenience. The barbed wire telephone has robbed farm and ranch life of its former isolation. The farmers' wives can call up their neighbors at pleasure. The family physician may be summoned by wire at critical moments. It is unnecessary to dispatch a hurried messenger boy on horseback. The farmer who breaks any of his machinery may converse with his dealer in town, or a machine factory hundreds of miles distant. In many other ways he finds this primitive service of the greatest benefit to him.
Orchard Valley, a district entirely devoted to fruit culture, is situated near the mouth of Hawk creek. In this it resembles the farms along the Columbia and Spokane river bottoms. Orchard Valley, in common with these river fruit farms, comprises sandy bottom lands, more than one thousand feet below the upland wheat fields, that can lie irrigated and will produce almost every variety of fruit aside from those of a purely tropical nature. Each recurrent season the Orchard Valley fruit farmers ship car-loads of strawberries, apples, peaches, and pears. The first crop of strawberries is marketable in June and July; in October a second crop matures. These fruit farms are all irrigated, and the land is valuable. A few acres of fruit-bearing orchard are all that one man, or the average-sized family can successfully manage. The Orchard Valley bottom, on which some forty families reside, resembles a large village. There is yet considerable fruit land along the river and canyon bottoms, more elevated and difficult to irrigate than the improved farms lower down, but in time this, too, will be supplied with irrigating ditches, and planted to fruits and berries. These fruit farmers are in comfortable circumstances. Their land has become quite valuable. A large portion of the fruit product is shipped to Spokane and other outside points at a distance. Peaches usually retail on the market from 50 to 60 cents per box, apples from 50 to 95 cents, prunes from 40 to 50 cents per crate, plums from 40 to 75 cents, pears from 50 to 90 cents and for
strawberries the producer generally receives $1.50 per crate.
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The last half dozen years has witnessed the greatest development in the fruit industry of Lincoln county. Mr. Robert Neal was the first to engage in it about fifteen years ago, on the Columbia river. Not many years since the Orchard Valley flat was an open waste on which horses and cattle ranged the year round. It is, and was then, a beautiful spot. It overlooked the river and was sheltered on both sides by timbered hills and grassy glades, over which roamed large bands of horses and cattle. Its beauty has been still further enhanced by elegant homes and fruitful orchards — scenes of thrift and enterprise. In the midst of this Elysian scene is a fine school house building, and though it is situated several miles from a railroad the community is supplied with a telephone system connecting them with the surrounding towns and cities. Altogether it is one of the most prosperous and happy neighborhoods in the county.
Nearly all the rich bottom lands along the Spokane and Columbia rivers and the deep canyons that lead down to them from the upland prairies are devoted, almost exclusively, to the cultivation of apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, etc., and these lands are very valuable. The river channels lie about one thousand feet below the level of the prairie land, the descent in many places being quite steep, and occasionally the slopes are covered with forests and brush. In ether places the hillsides are rocky and rough, and again the descent is formed by a series of plateaus, or terraces, covered with more or less timber or brush, over which stock ranges both summer and winter, the locality once being the retreat of deer and other wild animals.
Concerning the cultivation of fruit the Northern Pacific Bulletin says in 1897, and quite conservatively:
While Lincoln county has never claimed to be a fruit country (which statement would not at present be borne out by the evidence), there is hardly a farm to be found which has been occupied for any length of time, which does not possess its orchard sufficient not only for supplying the wants of its owners, but also to enable him to add to his income by sale of fruit. Certain localities are especially famous for their fruit, the warm, sandy river bottoms where irrigation can be easily applied, being utilized almost exclusively in this direction. * * * As many as 10,000 quarts of strawberries have been taken off a single acre. Lincoln county is especially famous for its apples, which possess keeping qualities of a very high order. It is not unusual to find Ben Davis apples and Newton pippins from Lincoln county on the markets in good condition in June and July. Aside from its grain and fruits the county is noted for its dairy products, the native grass being extremely nutritious, while alfalfa is a very profitable crop. Poultry, also, is raised quite successfully, and the farmers are learning that the poultry yard can be counted upon to furnish a very considerable addition to their revenues. The farmer who knows how to handle bees is also sure of a handsome income from this source.It is interesting to watch the evolution of any new county. Each successive year it presents a new aspect. The editor of the Lincoln County Times thus describes that portion of the county under consideration lying between Sprague and Davenport, as it appeared in 1888:
The road runs up hill and down, the face of the country everywhere being decidedly undulating. On the rounded summits of the hills one can see far off, north, east and west, over vast stretches of the same hilly prairie. On the southern horizon lies the long, pine timber belt. This woody district terminates about ten miles east of Sprague. The highest elevation surmounted during our drive from Sprague to Davenport affords a pleasant view down the valley of Crab creek, and also into Lord's ValleySurprising, indeed, is the change that has taken place in the physical aspect of Lincoln county since the above lines were written. Sixteen years have elapsed and there is no more government land open to homestead entry. The absence of settlers noted has been supplied with a thrifty class of solid, substantial farmers, and the wide waste of rolling prairie — virgin soil — is now dotted with farm houses, cattle and orchards. It is a transformation worthy the enterprise and business sagacity of the inhabitants of Lincoln county, and one upon which it is good for the eye of man to dwell.
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which, it is claimed, is the finest agricultural region in this vicinity. On the far northern horizon, 60 or 70 miles distant, you see the blue summits of the mountains lying north of the Big Bend of the Columbia river, between the mouths of the Spokane and Okanogan rivers. The prospect affords a striking impression of an immense fertile region, rich in possibilities for agricultural development and very sparsely occupied as yet by settlers. All this region belongs to what is known throughout the state of Washington under the general name of the 'Big Bend Country.' It contains more good land still in possession of the United States government, and open to homestead entry, and preemption claims, than can be found in any other region west of the Rocky Mountains.
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