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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



points, including Spokane. The return ticket should 

 read over some other than the line covered by the out- 

 going trip, which will enable the tourist to view a 

 wider and more diversified stretch of country. 



It would be well for prospective visitors at Spo- 

 kane and Seattle to look up the matter of transporta- 

 tion, sleepers, etc., now, rather than to wait until the 

 rush is on. 



There is no finer mountain scenery than may be 

 found on a trip through Colorado, Idaho, Montana. 

 Washington, Oregon and California; all of these state* 

 may be included in the itinerary of a trip such as sug- 

 gested above. 



The Seventeenth National Irrigation Con- 

 National gress, which is to be held in Spokane, 

 Irrigation Washington, August 9th to 14th, prom- 

 Congress, ises to be the largest affair of the kind 

 that has ever taken place. The enter- 

 prising citizens of Spokane have secured sufficient funds, 

 something in the neighborhood of $100,000, to properly 

 exploit and entertain as many delegates as may attend 

 the Congress. It is the impression of those well in- 

 formed that there will be four and possibly five thou- 

 sand accredited delegates at Spokane during the term 

 of the Congress, and that the widespread interest in the 

 subject of irrigation will attract from twenty-five to 

 forty thousands additional visitors. 



Attendance of central and eastern states people will 

 mean much to Washington and the northwest generally. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE is preparing an elaborate edi- 

 tion, which will appear as our May issue, fully describ- 

 ing the objects of the Congress, with one hundred or 

 more illustrations of Washington and the northwest, 

 particularly that territory tributary to Spokane. This 

 issue will contain the official call of the Congress, with 

 portraits of all of the officers, and in this issue will 

 appear articles describing the various important proj- 

 ects throughout the west and northwest. Eighty pages 

 of space will be devoted to illustrated and descriptive 

 matter, and it is the intention of the publishers to 

 make this the most elaborate work ever gotten out in 

 connection with an Irrigation Congress. 



The railways have agreed to make an especially 

 low rate to Spokane at the time of the Congress, and 

 the same rate will carry visitors to the Congress on to 

 Seattle, where they may visit the Alaska- Yukon Expo- 

 sition. The editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE visited the 

 exposition grounds at Seattle recently and was much 

 surprised to learn that the work is nearing completion 

 and that the show will open in full force on the date 

 set. 



It is the impression of the Spokane people that this 

 additional attraction at Seattle will add greatly to the 

 attendance at the Irrigation Congress, as many eastern 

 and central states people who are studying the subject 



of irrigation will be glad to take advantage of an op- 

 portunity to stop off at Spokane and study the matter, 

 listen to addresses on irrigation and colonization, and 

 then go on leisurely to Seattle, stopping here and there 

 on the way, going and coming, to visit specific irriga- 

 tion projects with a view to investment. 



Our readers are especially requested to give the 

 matter of this Congress consideration, and, if possible, 

 plan to visit Spokane and Seattle during the month of 

 August, when all crops are at their best, and where the 

 results of irrigation may be fully explained and illus- 

 trated. 



Any information concerning accommodations, 

 which will be ample, and full data concerning the pro- 

 gram and plan of entertainment, may be obtained by 

 addressing the Board of Control, Seventeenth National 

 Irrigation Congress, Spokane, Washington. 



Statistics compiled by the Spokane 

 Northwestern chamber of commerce show that 75 per 

 Development, cent of the newcomers into the northwest 

 during the fiscal year ended February 28, 

 1909, turned to farming, stock raising and dairying, 

 while of the others more than 50 per cent took up or- 

 charding and chicken growing in districts tributary to 

 the settled communities. 



Of the thousands of visitors to the rooms of the 

 chamber of commerce since January 1, 1908, the ma- 

 jority, including men and women from all walks of 

 city life, came to the northwest to seek homes in the 

 rural districts; not to become general farmers, but to 

 take up some special phase of the work, and in the 

 greater number of instances it is fruit growing. 



The practice of intensive farming, more especially 

 apple culture, has, in a measure, solved the problem of 

 the American trait of the farmer seeking city life and 

 the city man dreaming of rural happiness, and the 

 nearness of the irrigated districts to the towns and cit- 

 ies in the northwest has served to satisfy both. Small 

 tracts, electric railways, telephones, rural mail routes, 

 make a combination of the best of city and country, and 

 thousands are passing useful and busy lives in these 

 districts. 



There has been a tremendous movement to the 

 northwest in the last fourteen months, when, according 

 ' to the best information available, approximately 106,000 

 persons settled in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Mon- 

 tana, and of these about 63,500 located in eastern 

 Washington, northern Idaho, northeastern Oregon, 

 western Montana and southeastern British Columbia. 

 Thirty-five thousand settled in the Yakima, Wenatchee, 

 Spokane, Walla Walla, Okanogan and Colville Valleys, 

 the Palouse and Big Bend districts and in settlements 

 opened by the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound and 

 the Spokane, Portland & Seattle railroads. 



Illinois, Iowa and Missouri furnished the majority 



