346 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



IATTALIA.WASHINGTON 



On the Walla Walla. 



Proof of Remarkable Fertility Found in Last Year's Crops 

 Fruit, Garden Truck and Alfalfa Are Bumper Yields 

 Lands Selling Rapidly Members of Columbia Canal 

 Company Retain Tracts for Personal Development. 



The Attalia Valley is no longer an agricultural or horti- 

 cultural experiment. It is a certainty. For a number of 

 years products have been raised on a few small tracts watered 

 by private irrigation systems. There are also a few in the 

 valley who came in about the time the Columbia Canal Com- 

 pany completed its ditch, among whom are Mr. J. H. Sharry, 

 Sylvester Linn and W. J. Ingraham. 



Mr. Linn planted his tract to apples, pears, cherries and 

 peaches and an acre and a half to alfalfa, planting two rows 

 of strawberries and one of asparagus between each row of 

 trees in the orchard. During 1908 he cut fifteen ton of 

 alfalfa on the acre and a half, selling his products at an 

 average price of $10 per ton in the field. In the spring of 

 1909 he marketed asparagus in March, the first bringing 30 

 cents a pound. His first strawberries were picked on the 

 first of May. 



Mr. Sharry planted his 20-acre tract to apples, pears, cher- 

 ries and grapes and the entire space between the trees to 

 alfalfa. In 1908, the first year after seeding, he got 98 tons 

 of alfalfa and sold the entire crop to net him $9.50 per ton. 

 The yield was considered a very good average, considering 

 that only about half of the land was used, wide strips along 

 the trees being left for cultivation. 



Mr. J. B. Woodruff, in 1908, cut 6,000 bunches of celery 

 from a patch 20x40, selling at an average of 5 cents a bunch. 



Results such as the above have been produced under the 

 Columbia Canal Company's ditch since the time it was com- 

 pleted. This district gained prominence in fruit growing 

 early in the ninety's, as an exhibit of apples was sent from 

 the Mills ranch, three miles from the town of Attalia, to the 

 Chicago World's Fair, where it took first prize for quality, 

 color and size. 



About five hundred acres have already been planted, and it 



on, it is not a question of sale of the land, as the demand is 

 exceeding the supply. The people who have succeeded in 

 attaining pieces of this land may feel lucky that they had 

 an opportunity to buy before the advance in price which is 

 certain in all irrigated districts as soon as development is well 

 under way. A visit to Attalia will establish this fact beyond 

 a doubt. 



The people already in the valley are erecting nice homes 

 and are well pleased with the outlook. The Columbia Canal 

 Company is showing its faith in the valley. In place of sell- 

 ing the land and retaining the money, they are gradually 

 putting it back in improvements and publicity. Moreover, each 

 member of the company is holding and developing lands for 

 his personal benefit. 



Mr. U. K. Loose, president of the company, has forty 

 acres well on the way toward maturity. J. D. Bassett, treas- 

 urer, has a tract partly improved, and R. C. Dahlhjelm, sales 

 manager, after a year's thorough investigation through his 



Dam and Hcadgate, Columbia Canal, Attalia, Wash, 

 is expected that the spring of 1910 will see the entire valley 

 under cultivation. Fullv two-thirds of the lands have already 

 been sold and with the rapid development that is now going 



A New Home in the Attalia Country. 



position with the company, invested in forty-five acres of the 

 land. The lands which these parties hold individually are not 

 for sale. 



The development of a valley like this 



means a great deal, not only to the immediate 

 vicinity, but to the entire Northwest. The 

 valleys available for irrigation are so few and 

 the demand for fruit is becoming so great 

 that large enterprises are certain to develop. 

 We cite for example the cities of North Yak- 

 ima, Wenatchee and Kennewick. Only a few 

 years ago these places were merely marked on 

 the map and trains rarely stopped, but with 

 the development of irrigated orchards they 

 have grown to cities and are known all over 

 the world for the excellent fruit which they 

 produce. 



In a great many places they were ham- 

 pered by railroad facilities, having only one 

 system and under adverse circumstances they 

 forged ahead. The newer districts will know 

 none of the hardships and disappointments 

 which these places had to overcome. They 

 can profit by the experience of others and need 

 not waste in experimenting. The experimental 

 stations maintained by the state know just 

 what canbe done in each valley. They are con- 

 tinually sending out printed matter and their 

 representatives are giving lectures throughout 

 the country for the benefit of the new comer. 

 It seems that the Attalia Valley has been more 

 fortunate than the others. Nature has pro- 

 vided a great many things for this place. First the soil; 

 second, the climate; third, water, and together with the 

 inventive genius of man, transportation facilities. 



