

THE IRKIGATIOX AGE. 



237 



country life. Our populations came from the country, 

 and their instincts and longings are for country homes. 

 There is something restful and healthful about a coun- 

 try home properly built and conducted, that we cannot 

 get in the struggle in the city. Therefore the hearts of 

 men cry "back to Nature" as surely as the plant reaches 

 for the sunlight or sends its rootlets into the earth in 

 search of food. It is genuine pleasure to the educated 

 mind to see the flowers bloom, the grasses grow, the 

 trees laden with luscious fruits; to hear the bees hum, 

 the birds sing and to listen to the music of the winds; 

 to feel the stimulus of healthful exercise and the con- 

 sciousness that he is producing, actually creating from 

 the soil the equivalent of what he consumes. In the mid- 

 dle and eastern states the soil in places yields so scantily 

 that life is too hard and living too meager to make 

 either pleasant or profitable. But in this irrigated 

 region, where often $1,000 in net profits can be taken 

 from one acre of land, and where five acres make an 

 income greater than 160 acres of the average cultivated 

 lands in the east, is different. Homes are built outside 

 the city limits that rival those of the city itself. Such 

 conditions naturally attract the more intelligent class of 

 citizens and make association with them doubly pleas- 

 ant. 



These homes, and the full bearing orchards, sell for 

 a high price, but they yield a good interest on the in- 

 vestment. No other place is better adapted to the rear- 

 ing of children. Freed from the temptations of the 

 streets, they are at the same time in touch with the 

 best educational systems. 



GENERAL INDUSTRIES. 



Many think that because this is a fruit-growing 

 country other industries do not pay. This is an error 

 which will be apparent upon a moment's reflection. 

 Any one can see that where so many are engaged in fruit 

 raising there will be greater demand for other products 

 and a better market for them at home than if farming 

 were diversified. Alfalfa brings a better price than if 

 the majority of farmers produce it; and there are lands 

 not adapted to fruits, where hay can be most success- 

 fully grown. There are lands also wnere dairying pays 

 better than anything else. In some unirrigated lands 

 wheat is profitably grown and potatoes yield abundant- 

 ly. Poultry, too, and bee culture supplement the orchard 

 industry in many ways. 



A study of the following facts and figures is an 

 object lesson to investors: 



Brief synopsis of what the United States government 

 has done and is doing in Yakima county: 

 Sunnyside Canal. 



Number miles main canal 60 



Number miles laterals (estimated) 100 



Number acres now under irrigation 50,000 



Total expenditure $1,250.000 



Is being still further improved and extended and sev- 

 eral thousand acres additional will soon be brought under 

 cultivation. 



Wapato Project. 



Number miles main canal 25 



Number miles main laterals 55 



Number acres irrigated 40,000 



Total expenditure $250.000 



New Reservation Canal No. 2 (a part of the Wapato 

 project) is soon to be extended about 60 miles and will 

 have three laterals with a combined length of 25 miles. 

 This extension will reclaim more than 100,000 acres. Esti- 

 mated cost, $1,500,000. 



Tieton Canal (Now Under Construction). 



Number miles main canal 12 



Three main laterals, combined length, miles 25 



Number acres to be irrigated 30,000 



Total cost when completed (estimated) $1,800,000 



RECAPITULATION OF GOVERNMENT WORKS. 

 Mileage. 



.Number miles main canals now in operation 85 



Number miles main laterals now in operation 155 



Number miles main canals now under construction 12 



Number miles main laterals now under construction 



(estimated) 25 



Number miles proposed extensions.' upon which work 



will soon begin 85 



Total number miles main canals and laterals 363 



Acreage. 

 Number of acres now under government canal and 



laterals 90 000 



Number acres to be reclaimed by canals now under 



construction 30 000 



r acres to be reclaimed by proposed exten- 

 sions 100,000 



Total acres to come under government canals. .220,000 

 Cost. 



Sunnyside canal $1,250,000 



Wapato project 250 000 



New Reservation Canal No. 2 (estimated) .... l 500 000 

 Tieton canal (extended) 1,800,000 



Total cost of government works $4,800.000 



In addition to the government projects there are sev- 

 eral corporate enterprises at work on canal systems which 

 will add 12,000 to 15,000 acres to the irrigated area. 

 . .T he total mileage of all main canals and main laterals 

 in Yakima county, now in operation and soon to be con- 

 structed, is considerably in excess of 500 miles 



Note. These figures relate to what has been done 

 and is now being done and what will be done in the im- 

 mediate future, and not to what may and probably will 

 be done at some indefinite future time. 

 Total number acres in county (including Indian 



r r e , Ser t j n ) .: 2,100,000 



Classified as follows: 



Orchard Lands. 



Number acres bearing (500,000 trees) . . 8,000 

 Number acres planted 1 to 3-year-old 



trees (2,000,000 trees) 25,000 



Number acres orchard lands under irri- 

 gation, not yet planted 15.000 



Number acres orchard lands not yet 



under irrigation 200,000 



Total number acres orchard lands.. 248,000 

 Farming, Stockraising, Etc. 



Number acres farm lands under irriga- 

 tion 120,000 



Number acres hops, small fruit and gar- 

 dens 5,000 



Number acres lands under cultivation 



not irrigated 20,000 



Number acres grazing lands not irri- 

 gated 400,000 



Number acres government and state 

 lands, timber lands and other wild 

 lands (including reservation) 1,307,000 



248,000 



Total number acres miscell. lands. .1,852,000 1,852,000 



Grand total all lands 2,140,000 



Total lands in county under cultivation (acres) . . . 193.000 



Total lands in county under irrigation (acres).... 173,000 



Statement of the Value of Products of Yakima County 



for the Year 1908. 



Apples and other fruit crops $ 1,350,000 



Potatoes and other vegetables 875,000 



Grain crops 550,000 



Hay crops 2,850,000 



Livestock and wool 1,400,000 



Hops 118,000 



Nursery stocks 250,000 



Cannery products 375,000 



Dairy and poultry products 880,000 



Manufactured products 2,100,000 



Total value of products 



Population of county, 42,000. 

 Per capita production, $241.60. 



.$10,148,000 



