FARMING LOGGED-OFF UPLANDS IN WEST^^ WASHINGTON. 19 
Progress in the development of this group of farms was arrested 
somewhat for two reasons: (1) In l^ 1 ** most of these farms were 
going concerns, had passed the pioneer stage, and were sufficiently 
developed to provide a living for me family. The tendency is evident 
in many logged-off sections^ stop increasing the size of the business 
as soon as the farm is large enough to require the full time of one 
man. The farmer's sons are then usually grown up and leaving for 
the cities or seeking farms of their own, and the operator is left alone 
with practically all of his time taken up with the chores. (2) The cost 
of clearing during this period was high. Many of the farmers ex- 
pressed a desire to clear more land, but the price of explosives 
during the war period was more than they felt justified in paying. 
Another probable reason for the apparent arrest in the progress of 
these farms is that three-fourths of the operators were over 45 years 
old in 1915. If a large proportion of these farms had been in the 
early pioneer stage in 1915, and the operators considerably younger. 
it is very probable that a cross section of the farm development and 
progress for the group would show a much greater change for the 
six-year period. 
THE FINANCIAL PROGRESS OF SETTLERS. 
While this study applies particularly to an area which has received 
great benefit in increased land values from the growth of large cities 
and towns, the general facts concerning the social and economic fac- 
tors which surrounded the settlers, their financial progress, and the 
changes which took place during six years on a representative group 
of established farms should be significant to anyone interested in the 
settlement of the rapidly increasing cut-over areas in the heavily 
timbered regions of the Pacific Northwest. 
The results of settlers' activities, their success and failures, and 
the many social and economic influences which affect the progress 
form one of the most interesting and important chapters in the 
development of a farming community. 3 
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INFLUENCES WHICH HAVE AFFECTED THE 
SUCCESS OF SETTLERS. 
Several significant relations and tendencies are brought out by a 
study of Table 15. Some of the outstanding ones seem to be the 
proportion of settlers taking up wild land — that is, land which was 
entirely unimproved — has decreased steadily and there has been a 
similar decrease in the proportion of settlers of foreign birth; land 
values have increased greatly, and there has been a tendency for the 
size of the purchase to decrease ; the recent ■ settlers owned more 
capital at the time of taking up the land than did the earlier settlers, 
and there has been a tendency for recent settlers to assume larger 
mortgages with their purchases. 
3 Unless otherwise specified, the term "settler," as used in this discussion, includes all thosewho took 
up land— whether improved or unimproved — for the primary purpose of makiug a living. 
