The New Eldorado: A Summer Journey to AlaskaBallou, Maturin M. (Maturin Murray)
History
The New Eldorado: A Summer Journey to Alaska
Ballou, Maturin M. (Maturin Murray)
Alaska -- Description and travel; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
We soon cross into the State of Washington, its northern boundary being
British Columbia and its southern boundary Oregon, from which it is
separated for more than a hundred miles of its length by the Columbia
River. Its form is that of a parallelogram, fronting upon the Pacific
Ocean for about two hundred and fifty miles, and having a length from
east to west of over three hundred and sixty miles. This State has
immense agricultural areas, as well as being rich in coal, iron, and
timber. We pause at Spokane Falls for a day and night of rest. It is on
the direct line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and is the principal
city of eastern Washington, having the largest and best water-power on
the Pacific slope. Government engineers report the water fall here to
exceed two hundred thousand horse-power, a small portion only of which
is yet improved, and that as a motor for large grain and flouring mills.
Here we find a thrifty business community numbering over twelve
thousand, the streets traversed by a horse railroad, and the place
having electric lights, gas and public water works, with a Methodist and
a Catholic college. It commands the trade of what is termed the Big Bend
country and the Palouse district, and is the fitting-out place for the
thousands of miners engaged in Cœur d’Alene County. In spite of the late
disastrous fire which she has experienced, Spokane, like Seattle, will
rapidly rise from her ashes. Official reports show that over nine
million acres of this State are particularly adapted to the raising of
wheat. Our route, after a brief rest at Spokane Falls, lies through
Palouse County, where this cereal is raised in quantities
proportionately larger than even in Dakota, and at a considerably less
cost. Thirty-five to forty bushels of wheat to the acre is considered a
royal yield in Dakota and the best localities elsewhere, but here fifty
bushels to the acre are pretty sure to reward the cultivator, and even
this large amount is sometimes exceeded. One enthusiastic observer and
writer declares that Palouse County is destined to destroy wheat-growing
in India by virtue of its immense crops, its favorable seasons, its
economy of production, and its proximity to the seaboard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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