36 
THROUGH WONDERLAND. 
line to Colfax and Moscow is as uninteresting a railroad journey as could well 
be found, the line following a series of valleys that have the appearance of 
having once formed the rocky bed of some considerable stream. 
Colfax is a busy little city in the Palouse river valley, hemmed in so closely 
on both sides that one of its rivals recently suggested that it might find it an 
advantage to be roofed over. But it does a considerable business for so small 
a place, shipping a large proportion of the agricultural produce of the valley, 
estimated, in 1885, at two million bushels of grain. The agricultural methods 
of Eastern Washington will strike most visitors as somewhat peculiar. It is not 
in every State of the Union, nor in every Territory, that the farmer can plow 
and sow “ just when.he gets ready.” But here plowing and seeding may be seen 
in progress ten months out of every twelve, and instances have even been known 
of winter wheat being sown every month in the year, and all coming to harvest 
in its proper turn. And such crops ! Thirty, forty and fifty bushels to the acre 
are raised so easily, that, had the farmer a nearer market, he would soon get 
rich. The construction of the proposed branch southward from Spokane Falls 
will, however, give him facilities for shipping east over the Northern Pacific 
Railroad that will certainly pay him better than exporting to England by way 
of Portland, as he does at present. The self-binding harvester, so familiar an 
object in many other parts of the country, is here unknown, the grain being cut 
by immense “ headers,” propelled by from four to eight horses each. This 
strange-looking machine, an exemplification of the old saying, “the cart before 
the horse,” is better adapted than any other to the peculiar conditions of the 
country, straw being of no value, and threshing usually going on simultaneously 
with the cutting of the grain, although the wheat may, after cutting, lie in the 
fields for many weeks without detriment. 
The climate of Eastern Washington, to which alone this remarkable state of 
things is due, differs entirely from that of the western half of the Territory, from 
which it is divided by the Cascade range of mountains. It is a mistake to 
suppose that the humidity which characterizes that portion of the Territory 
bordering on the Pacific Ocean, distinguishes it as a whole. On the contrary, 
the eastern half is. remarkably dry, and that, too, without those extremes of 
temperature that usually accompany a dry climate. Should there be a spell of 
severe cold during the brief winter season, it is invariably cut short by the 
“ Kuro-Siwo,” or Japanese current, which, striking the coasts of British Columbia 
and Washington Territory, sends a warm wave over the entire Northwestern 
country, sometimes extending even to the valleys of Montana. 
Continuing westward from Palouse Junction, a run of little more than an 
hour brings us to Pasco, the eastern terminus of the Cascade division of the 
railroad. This important division, intended to establish direct communication 
between the magnificent harbors on Puget Sound and the Eastern States, is 
already operated to the extent of 122 miles, or ninety miles westward from 
Pasco, and thirty-two miles eastward from Tacoma. Its eastern section has 
given a great impetus to the development of the agricultural capabilities of the 
