The Beauties of the State of Washington Part 7

The mountains are visible either to the north or the east. They are neither as lofty nor as rugged as the Cascades and Olympics, but they are nevertheless beautiful. The highest peak in eastern Was.h.i.+ngton is Mount Spokane, 5,808 feet, twenty miles northeast of the city. From its summit one may look out into the three northwestern states of Oregon, Idaho and Was.h.i.+ngton, and into the province of British Columbia; and count seventeen different lakes and rivers.

Towards the north are the Okanogan Highlands with the valleys of the Pend Oreille and Colville, while the Bitter Root mountains are approached on the east. The roads westward and southward lead past well cultivated gardens, green meadows and groves, until finally is spread before one a sea of grain--continuous wheat fields--the Big Bend to the west and the Palouse to the south.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WHEAT RANCH

HARVESTING

SEEDING

INLAND EMPIRE WHEAT FIELDS.]

Towards the east the "Apple Way," one of the most remarkable roads in America on account of the high cla.s.s material of which it is constructed, enters the Spokane Valley, crosses the state of Idaho and connects with roads leading to the National Parks in Montana. This valley more than thirty miles in length, with an average width of eight miles, comprises a level irrigated country cut up into intensive garden and orchard tracts. Thousands are supported in affluence by raising apples, pears, cherries, small fruits, garden truck, poultry, and live stock. The advantages of abundant water power, proximity to a great city, rapid transit facilities, and a healthful climate, are quickly transforming the region into one of attractive suburban homes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: METALINE FALLS ON THE PEND OREILLE.]

The Spokane River drops 1,280 feet in a distance of 100 miles, and 130 feet within the city limits, falling precipitously 70 feet in the heart of the business section, over a dam 200 feet wide. On both sides is built the city sloping towards its waters and overlooking the country beyond. Extensive economic developments are taking place, there being seven distinct projects under way which involve expenditures of nearly $35,000,000. These include railroad construction, power plants, manufacturing and business blocks, and hotels for tourists. Historical events are a.s.sociated with Fort George Wright, named for a famous Indian fighter; Indian Canyon, tribal home of Spokane Indians; Mount Spokane, a pow-wow place for Indian tribes; Fort Spokane, one of the first government Indian posts; Old Block House, a protection for the early fur traders; and Steptoe b.u.t.te, the scene of a famous battle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FAMOUS 600 ACRE ORCHARD

PALOUSE FALLS 198 FEET

WHITMAN'S MONUMENT

THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AN HOURS RIDE

126 BOXES A YEAR

SCENES AROUND WALLA WALLA.]

THE WHEAT PLATEAU.

The wheat belt includes princ.i.p.ally the area within the big bend of the Columbia river, the "Big Bend Country," which stretches eastward until it blends with the rolling Palouse, one of the richest farm regions in the northwest, and southeast across the Snake River to the Blue Mountains; although considerable wheat is raised in the country lying between the Columbia and the Cascades, as well as in the four counties to the north. The green carpet is visible, in spring, and the waving heads of yellow grain, in summer, extending away to the horizon. The combined harvester, drawn by thirty-six horses, is a familiar example of the immensity of the machinery needed when gathering the mammoth crop, which for the entire state is in the neighborhood of 50,000,000 bushels annually.

The Big Bend is broken in places by "coulees" or old river courses, sometimes 500 to 600 feet in depth, where irrigation is practiced and where strings of small alkali lakes have been scattered. Two of the most important are Moses Coulee in Douglas county, and Grand Coulee forming the boundary line between Douglas and Grant counties, said to be the old bed of the Columbia. Almost surrounded by the wheat belt lies the Quincy Valley, containing 435,000 acres of level fertile land to be some day irrigated by water conducted under the Columbia river from Wenatchee Lake in Chelan county.

The best known lakes include Soap Lake, a health resort, Moses Lake, near which irrigation from wells is successfully carried on, and Rock Lake, a rock bound sheet of water in the Palouse. The most important river is the Palouse which creates the Palouse Falls just before joining the Snake River. Near this stream are several prosperous cities, including Colfax, Palouse, and Pullman, the home of the State College and Experiment Station.

THE WALLA WALLA COUNTRY.

The Snake river, largest tributary of the Columbia, with a canyon of 1,500 feet, cuts this plateau in two, and forms a natural dividing line between Whitman and Franklin counties on the north, and Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin on the south. Its warm canyon is famous for early fruits and berries which are s.h.i.+pped in carloads to eastern and western points.

Fields of wheat, barley or rye extend southward in all four counties to the Blue Mountains, interrupted occasionally by orchards which a.s.sume their greatest proportions in the beautiful Touchet and Walla Walla valleys. Over this rich country the fair city of Walla Walla reigns supreme, her authority being limited only by the Columbia and Snake rivers, or the Blue Mountains; although Waitsburg, Dayton, Pomeroy and Clarkston are important centers in their own districts.

Steeped in historical a.s.sociations is this valley, from Wallula, the site of the first Hudson's Bay fort, to the city of Walla Walla. When once seen, no words are needed to tell why these lovely plains, all ready for the planting and moistened with sufficient rainfall annually, were so attractive to the early settlers, and inspired the first serious efforts at colonization.

THE COLUMBIA RIVER.

All waters of eastern Was.h.i.+ngton reach the ocean through the Columbia river, uniting the entire region in one spirit of fraternity. The grandest and most reaching scenic feature of the region, it supplies unlimited water for successful irrigation and power purposes, and in places still provides the princ.i.p.al mode of transportation. Between Kettle Falls and the Snake river are a number of important rapids, chief of which is Priest Rapids, just below Saddle Gap, ten miles long with a descent of seventy feet and a possible horse power of half a million.

Just above the mouth of the Snake river are the cities of Kennewick and Pasco, ready to profit by direct navigation to the sea as soon as the Celilo locks are completed. At the lowest elevation in the Inland Empire and surrounded by a large area of irrigable land, they are served by three transcontinental railroads, permitting rapid transit to any part of the northwest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRIEST RAPIDS--SADDLE MOUNTAINS BEYOND

"_The river rolled in cataract through the canon_"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OUR SCENIC HIGHWAYS

"They build and toil, each road a nervous wedge To hew a way where seats of empire wait."]

The state of Was.h.i.+ngton is rapidly developing a system of roads which, finally consummated, will rival in skillful engineering and commercial importance the French highways, and in scenic grandeur the mountain pa.s.ses of Switzerland. Easy approaches are being constructed to every town and hamlet and into every farming community. So vigorously has the work been pushed that Was.h.i.+ngton now outranks every other state, except Colorado, in the facility and directness with which its mountain recesses may be reached. Upwards of 50,000 miles have been already completed, presenting altogether a labyrinth of broad thorofares, boulevards, and country highways. The most important highways built and maintained at state expense are the Pacific, the Sunset, the Inland Empire, the Olympic and the National Park.

THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY.

The Pacific Highway extends from the southern limit of the state of California to Vancouver, British Columbia, twenty-seven miles north of Was.h.i.+ngton's boundary line, a total distance of about two thousand miles. Three hundred and fifty miles is within the state of Was.h.i.+ngton, connecting Vancouver on the Columbia with Blaine at the international line. It traverses nine counties of Was.h.i.+ngton, containing forty-eight per cent of the wealth and fifty-five per cent of the population, and pa.s.ses through nine county seats, including Olympia, the state capital, Vancouver, Kalama. Chehalis, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Mount Vernon and Bellingham.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PACIFIC HIGHWAY

NATIONAL PARK HIGHWAY WILLAPA HARBOR

STATE ROAD ALONG THE METHOW

RAINIER NATIONAL PARK ROAD

SUNSET BOULEVARD NEAR SPOKANE

ALONG THE SCENIC HIGHWAYS.]

From Vancouver, Was.h.i.+ngton, this highway starts northward through the prune and plum orchards of Clarke county, where more of these trees grow than in all other parts of the state combined. Along the banks of the historic Columbia and through the fertile valley of the Cowlitz, it winds toward Kelso, famous for smelt fisheries; and Castle Rock, the gateway to Mount St. Helens. Deviating to the right at Vader, the north fork of the picturesque Chehalis is soon reached, which fertile valley is followed to the cities of Chehalis and Centralia, two rapidly growing railroad centers having a combined population of 15,500 people. Groves, orchards, gardens and prairies line the smooth gravelly road from here to Olympia, where the first view of Puget Sound is obtained. The desire to swerve off toward Grays Harbor or the Olympic Peninsula by the newly completed Olympic Highway, or to try the steamer on the peaceful Sound, is with difficulty overcome; but the Pacific Highway finally wins and draws one on toward Tacoma, thirty-two miles northeast. Rising above the famous Nisqually flats, and descending again to cross the oak moor lands marking the beginning of Tacoma's playgrounds and reminding one of southern England, the road soon enters Tacoma, third city in population in the state.

Along the Puyallup and White river valleys, the course leads, touching at Puyallup and Sumner, famous for berry culture; at Auburn and Kent, centers of a rich dairy section; and at Renton, bristling with manufacturing importance near the southern end of beautiful Lake Was.h.i.+ngton. A dozen miles more and you are on the streets of Seattle, metropolis of the northwest and third city in size west of the Rocky Mountains.

Northward the course continues. A broad paved road winds along by Lake Was.h.i.+ngton to Bothel, pa.s.sing several pretty lakes, entering green woods, intersecting meadows, crossing streamlets, rising to sightly plateaus and descending again to peaceful valleys before it reaches Everett, a city of 32,000, located on an eminence overlooking the waters of the Sound.

The next town reached is Marysville, whence the highway skirts the Tulalip Indian reservation, crosses the Stillaguamish river in the Sylvan Flats and enters Stanwood where a scenic road branches off to Camano Island. At Mount Vernon and Burlington, where it intersects the Skagit county road leading from Anacortes eastward to the mountains, one may appreciate the famous Skagit Valley, the "Holland of the Northwest,"

where 173 bushels of oats to the acre have been yielded on land protected from the sea and river by immense d.y.k.es.

Within ten miles of Bellingham the Water Front Road is reached, said to be the most picturesque on the entire route: for the Sound is plainly seen from the shaded highway which clings to the side of Chuckanut Mountain, while the electric interurban and the Great Northern railway traverse the waterfront below. Bellingham, a city of 30,000, has innumerable attractions to hold the tourist, who still has twenty miles'

journey if he would follow the Pacific Highway to the Was.h.i.+ngton limit at Blaine, the most northwesterly munic.i.p.ality in the United States.

Near by is the Whatcom County Government Farm, the only one in the northwest; where bulb growing rivals the same industry in Holland.