Not only the Yakima valley, where this method of farming had its beginning in the state, but many other places, are now being made productive which were once thought wholly worthless on account of their aridity. Among these are the Wenatchee valley, the Entiat, the Methow, the Chelan, and the Okanogan--all on the slope of the Cascades. The immediate low lands of the Columbia and Snake rivers and considerable of the narrow valleys of the small streams emptying into them have in many instances been irrigated. [Illustration: Plate No. 33.--King County Rural Views.] [Illustration: Plate No. 34.--HOW THE HILLS MAKE WAY FOR THE SKYSCRAPERS IN SEATTLE. 1907--Last of Hotel Washington. 1908--New Hotel Washington.] [Illustration: Plate No. 35.--A Portion of the City of Seattle Overlooking the Harbor.] [Illustration: Plate No. 36.--Torpedo-Boat Destroyer in Government Drydock at Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Kitsap County.] [Illustration: Plate No. 37.--Steamship Dakota in Government Drydock at Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Kitsap County.] [Illustration: Plate No. 38.--A Kittitas County Apple Tree.] WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT. The work of reclaiming the arid lands has been wonderfully accelerated and widened in scope by the national government. The projects of the reclamation service now include practically all of the available waters of the Yakima valley for irrigating the lands therein. In Yakima county alone there are probably [Page 41] 260,000 acres now under ditch, and probably 50,000 more will be reclaimed this season. This is probably not more than half the lands in the county capable of irrigation. The fact that the general government is in control of these projects insures as wide and just a distribution of the available waters as possible. The cost of irrigation, which is from $50 to $60 per acre, is paid by the owners of the land in ten annual payments. There is also an annual charge for maintaining the canals from $1.25 to $1.50 per acre. These projects of the government cover the lands in Benton and Kittitas counties also--both of these counties being in the Yakima valley. The government is also engaged in managing an extensive project in the southern part of Okanogan county, where probably 50,000 acres will be reclaimed. There is a large acreage in Franklin and Walla Walla counties, about the junctions of the Snake and Columbia rivers, to which Pasco is central, which is arid. The government has once turned this project down, but is now reconsidering it, and it is reported that these lands will soon be put under ditch by the joint action of the government and the Northern Pacific railway, which owns a large portion of the lands.