272 



THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



IRRIGATION IS A SUCCESS IN SPOKANE 

 COUNTRY. 



BY DAVID B. M GINNIS. 



Enormous profits derived from the sale of fruits 

 grown on its irrigated lands has drawn the attention 

 of the nation upon the state of Washington, and more 

 especially what is known as the Spokane country, em- 

 bracing 150,000 square miles in eastern Washington 

 and Oregon, northern Idaho, western Montana and 

 southeastern British Columbia, declared by experts to 

 be the most resourceful and productive district in this 

 or any other country. 



In the Rogue river and Hood river districts of 

 Oregon, in the Yakima valley of Washington and along 

 the Columbia river, even as far up its valley as Kettle 

 Falls, along the Okanogan valley and up the Snake 

 river in Idaho, and in the Spokane valley, are produced 

 fruits of form, flavor and color which bring from 

 150 to 500 per cent higher prices in the great fruit 

 markets of the world than the best commercial apples 

 produced east of the Rocky mountains. The Spokane, 

 Yakima, Columbia or Snake river orchardist, if he has 

 taken care to plant the proper varieties of fruits and has 

 given them intelligent care, thinks nothing unusual of 

 making a net profit of from $150 to $2,200 an acre 

 in a single year from his fruit. 



When the first projectors in the arid part of Wash- 

 ington struggled year after year to install irrigation 

 upon sagebrush arid lands they little estimated the 

 enormously profitable industry which would follow as a 

 result of their pioneering. 



Washington apples have already acquired such a 

 reputation in the fancy fruit markets of the world that 

 it is nothing rare for a single apple to sell for from 

 10 to 25 cents in New York or London, and upon the 

 tables of high-class hotels the chefs will have these 

 apples and other fruits for their patrons, no matter 

 what the cost. 



It is an instructive lesson in the control of man 

 over nature when we see an acre of arid, dusty, drouth- 

 stricken soil worth, possibly, 50 cents an acre, turned 

 by irrigation into valuable producing land. In an irri- 

 gation district opened 12 years ago in Washington the 

 land was purchased at from $1.25 to $6 or $7 an acre. 

 It was called "starvation flat" because the land was so 

 dry and apparently worthless that nothing would grow 

 upon it. A far-sighted man, of energy and enterprise, 

 interested Eastern capital and placed water upon this 

 land. The result is that today this comparatively small 

 tract is so covered with fruit farms and homes that it 

 is practically a town, and the land has a ready sale at 

 from $800 to $1,200 an acre. 



Another irrigated district on the Columbia river 

 has seen the valuation of fruit lands rise from $160 an 

 acre in 1903 to from $600 to $2,200 an acre in 1907. 

 But, to obtain these results in fruit raising far exceed- 

 ing the most hopeful calculations, where an acre, in 

 bearing fruit during 1906, produced as high as $2,200 

 profit from the fruit sold from a single acre or a 

 profit larger than a whole section of 640 aches of fine 

 land in the East it is necessary not only to have a soil 

 and climate combining the extraordinary fertility and 

 warm sunshine of the Columbia basin, but to plant the 



proper varieties of fruits and give them the cultivation 

 and attention that are absolutely necessary to secure 

 these colossal returns. 



It is no uncommon thing now, in certain irrigated 

 districts of Washington, to see a five or ten-acre farm 

 bring a net income of from $3,000 to $5,000 a year. 



Of course, where such profits are realized, the 

 rise in the price of land is rapid and in the old irrigated 

 districts in the central part of the state land has 

 already attained a valuation of from $350 to $2,000 

 an acre. This has greatly stimulated new irrigation 

 enterprises which are placing their lands upon the mar- 

 ket at from $90 to $300 an acre, thus enabling those 

 who invest in them to in turn realize the profits which 

 are inevitable, as they in turn are settled upon and 

 developed. 



One irrigation enterprise in the south central por- 

 tion of Washington on the Columbia river has added 

 32,000 acres to the irrigating area of the state. This 

 alone will support a population of 15,000, and should 

 have an effect upon the growth of Spokane and the 

 other cities. 



Specific instances of unusual success in fruit 

 raising in the irrigated districts of the state are shown 

 by the experience of one man who realized a net profit 

 of $719 an acre from apples in 1906. The fruit went to 

 London and New York. Another irrigation farmer has 

 28 winesap apple trees, from which he sold 436 boxes 

 of fruit from the crop of 1906 at $2 a box, thus secur- 

 ing an income from these 28 trees, on less than one- 

 fourth of an acre, of $698, or an average of $24.93 per 

 tree. This orchard, at the rate of 160 trees to the acre, 

 would have produced $3,880 worth of fruit per acre. 

 Only a few years ago this same land was purchased 

 for $50 an acre. A farmer bought 25 acres of land for 

 $20 an acre six years ago. Ten acres of this was sold 

 for $7,000 a short time ago. Another grower realized 

 $3,750 from six acres of apples. 



These are but samples of dozens of instances of 

 large returns realized by fruit growers of Washington. 

 Five acres in the proper kinds of apples, pears, cherries, 

 peaches, apricots, grapes or other fruits, can be made 

 to average from $700 to $1,000 an acre every year. 



There need never be fear of over-production of the 

 kind of fruit that is bringing these prices. The fruit 

 is in a class by itself, and, no matter what prices are 

 for ordinary fruit, fancy Washington, Oregon and 

 Idaho products will have a market of their own, un- 

 influenced by the prevailing prices for the ordinary 

 classes of good fruits. So much for intelligent irriga- 

 tion as practiced in the Spokane country. 



A GOOD FARM LEVEL. 



The following letter explains itself : 



Byers, Colo., April 19, 1907. 

 Bostrom-Brady Manufacturing Company, 



Atlanta, Ga. 



Dear Sirs : After seeing one of your levels I have 

 made up my mind that I can't do without one. Please 

 end me one of your $12.50 levels at once. You will 

 find postoffice order enclosed. This level was recom- 

 mended to me by A. M. Russell of Greeley, Colo. 



Respectfully, 



M. F. COOK. 



