IRRIGATION IN OREGON. 



THE PECULIARITIES OF TH^ STATE-ITS DIFFERENT 

 SECTIONS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS. 



BY JOEL SHOMAKER. 



Oregon is a peculiar slate having a diversity of climate, soil and pro- 

 ducts not surpassed by any similar division of the world. The people 

 always insist upon denning the particular section to which reference is 

 made as Western, Eastern or Southern Oregon, each district having dis- 

 tinct characteristics. The state is almost surrounded by navigable wa- 

 ters, including the Pacitic ocean on the west, the Columbia river on the 

 north and Snake river on the east, It contains 95,274 square miles and 

 a little over 60,000,000 acres of land. The average width from east to 

 west is 350 miles and from north to south 275 miles. The Cascade moun- 

 tains divide the state into two parts, the western being a rainy section 

 and the eastern requiring irrigation. Southern Oregon includes all that 

 section lying south of the Rogue River mountains and is generally classed 

 among the sub-humid districts, not so dry as the eastern nor so wet as 

 the wesiern division of the state. 



Western Oregon is a land of natural rivers and springs, where snow 

 seldom falls, with an abundance of rainfall at all seasons, and fruits and 

 vegetables reach the highest degree of perfection. It includes seventeen 

 of the rich county divisions where farming, lumbering, dairyicg, fishing, 

 stockraising and general shipping are engaged in by the remarkably 

 healthful and energetic citizens. The warm Chinook winds temper the 

 winter atmosphere so that green grass and flowers may be seen every 

 month in the year and the choicest deciduous fruits grow with never failing 

 productiveness. It is not a country of perpetual rain as is generally sup- 

 posed, but a land of refreshing showers, without storms or torrents, and 

 hence a place of natural beauty and almost continuous flowery fragrance. 

 The soil is a black sandy loam lying upon clay sub-strata, the depth 

 being greatest in the river bottoms, where a vegetable mold forms a ] < r- 

 tion of the rapid growing elements of fertility. Wheat is the M;I| le 

 product but oats, hops, flax and vegetables with all the fruits of tem\ cr- 

 ate clime are among the profitable crops. 



Eastern Oregon, the land of irrigation, comprises twelve counties, 

 east of the Cascades, containing approximately 35,000,000 acres of semi- 

 arid land, which with irrigation produces large crops of cereals and 

 fruits. The best estimates place the area under irrigation at 250,000 

 acres, much of which is owned by individuals who have current wheels 

 in the rivers and other lifting devices for bringing the water to the sur- 

 face. The soil is chiefly of a volcanic formation, which is excellent for 



