A Report on Washington Territory

by William Henry Ruffner

Much of the land has been cultivated for sixteen years without rest or manure, and without diminution of crop; but the best farmers prefer to rest and cultivate in alternate years. By the latter system the ploughing is done in the off-year, and the land left a naked fallow. This is thought to cleanse the land and renew its strength.The soil a natural fertilizer. And in some cases in which lands have an excess of alkali, their productiveness increases with cultivation. Sometimes the land contains as much as eighteen pounds of potash to the cubic yard; which fact, by the way, suggests the possibility of leaching the land to procure potash and other alkalies.

Quality of the wheat.The wheat of the Pacific coast has 4 per cent. less gluten in it than the Eastern wheat, and this practically shuts it out of the Eastern market. Nitrogen in Washington Territory wheat is 22 per cent. to 26 per cent., whilst in the Eastern it is 34 per cent. to 40 per cent., and inferior in quality. The true gluten is too brittle. It is better than the California wheat, however, which has 4 per cent. to 6 per cent. less nitrogenous matter, and the gluten inferior in quality. But the California wheat makes a whiter flour than the Washington Territory wheat, which is an advantage in selling. It should be remarked that the term nitrogen, when applied technically to wheat, includes true gluten, the phosphates, and all albuminoids, and excludes starch, sugar and water, which latter comprise about seventy-two per cent. of the wheat. Still, the Washington Territory wheat-grower has the advantage in quantity per acre, which gives him a better profit than is now made in California or any Eastern State. The price at Spokane Falls varies from 45 cents to 60 cents per bushel, which would give the farmer $10 to $12.50 per acre for his crop, which is more than the average Eastern farmer gets, whilst the cost of production ought to be, and ultimately will be, less.

The market in England, China, and other Asiatic ports.Flour is sent to England, by Cape Horn, at a cost of $1.30 per barrel from Spokane Falls, and in Liverpool brings within 20 cents a barrel as much as the Minneapolis flour, and it is also shipped to China and other Asiatic ports, where it seems destined to supersede rice for bread. China raises wheat, but not nearly enough for home consumption. The Asiatic and Oceanic market will, ultimately, want all the wheat of our Pacific States.

Astonishing growth of vegetables.Besides the cereals, vegetables of nearly all kinds grow to great size on this plateau. Those requiring a more uniformly warm temperature, such as tomatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and peanuts, do best in the region lying south of the Snake River, which is much less elevated than the country north and east. And this is true also of peaches, grapes, and other fruits requiring similar conditions. But as regards most vegetables, especially roots, and also fruits, the plateau generally is very productive. This is almost unaccountable in view of the fact that after the first of JuneCrops without rain. there is little or no rain until late in the fall. Whilst rain seems to be necessary to start the small seeds, large crops of potatoes are sometimes raised without a drop of rain. The moisture must come partly from the soil, which has retained the winter water, and partly from the deposition of moisture by the sea-air which comes through the gap in the Cascade Mountains and penetrates the deep, loose soil. Mr. Paul F. Mohr has measured a parsnip four feet long and eight inches across the top. I saw potatoes in Colfax, thirty of which filled a bushel measure.

As before intimated, I doubt whether the plateau can ever become a good grass and hay country. For long forage, besides straw, the people must depend upon the cereals mowed in the green state.West (not East) Washington is to be the great cattle country.

For this reason the plateau, as will also be the case with the great plains eastward, can never carry the number of cattle that can be grazed in a grass country. A farmer told me it required fifteen acres of bunch grass to support one horse or steer, whilst in a grass country three acres are ample, and on the best sods one acre is sufficient. Still, the bunch grass is, and ought to be, utilized. And the areas of unimproved land are so vast that the herds of cattle, horses and sheep which range upon them altogether constitute a large item of wealth. And on these treeless plains the effort seems to be to train the cattle and horses to live like buffaloes and wild horses in both summer and winter.

Tree-planting.The tree problem will, I think, work out satisfactorily, though, of course, no such trees can ever be produced there as abound in West Washington. Walla Walla is embowered in trees of artificial growth. The Lombardy poplar seems to have been most successful. At various points I saw plantations of box elder, and was told that this tree is easily grown. The cottonwood is said to grow readily. Captain John McGowan reports the successful culture of locust, walnut, maple and catalpa in Lincoln County. He says, also, that the plum, peach, apricot, apple, pear and grape succeed: and so with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. All these fruits are grown about Spokane Falls, but I think that the grape and peach sometimes fail to mature. A good many plantations of trees have been set out under the timber-culture act of Congress, but it is thought that much imposition has been practised on the Government by the failure to take proper care of the trees after they were planted. The truth about the whole matter seems to be that, with proper care, trees of most varieties may be grown on the plateau, but that they will grow slowly and not attain large size. I might add many details concerning the products of this wonderful country, but these will suffice as illustrations.

BRIDGE OVER THE SPOKANE RIVER, SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY.