USA > Washington > Asotin County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 25
USA > Washington > Columbia County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 25
USA > Washington > Garfield County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 25
USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 25
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
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OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY
servable, however, that the young folks on the farms have any backwardness in utilizing the good things of life which are the logical consummation of the fore- sight and industry of parents and grandparents. It is probable that no people in the United States have more reliable and steady incomes and greater sources for all the needs and enjoyments of life than do the farmers of old Walla Walla County.
The experience of other sections was similar to that of the region immediately around Walla Walla. The first thought was of stock ranges, with such small patches of farming land adjacent to the creeks as might supply the family needs. It is stated that Elisha Ping and G. W. Miller raised crops of wheat and oats on the present site of Dayton in 1860. For the oats they received seven cents a pound and for the wheat two dollars a bushel. The location of the subsequent Dayton became a regular station on the stage line from Walla Walla to Lewiston, and that fact led J. M. Pomeroy, a little later the founder of the town named for him, to raise a crop of barley for horse feed. That was in 1863. As time passed on, and especially after the founding of flouring mills by S. M. Wait, there came a general movement to raise grain crops on the hills and plains and it was discovered, as a little earlier around Walla Walla, that the entire region was the very home land for grain. Within a few years it was found that barley of espe- cially fine quality and heavy yield was one of the best crops, and Columbia County has become the center of barley production. Almost the entire county, with the exception of the timbered mountain belt, has become a grain field. Within recent years the region around and particularly east of Dayton has become the leading center of corn production.
Garfield and Asotin counties repeated the experience of Walla Walla and Columbia; first stock ranges, then a few acres along the creeks as an experiment, soon the breaking up of the rich sod on the high plains and flats; and within a few years, a perfect ocean of waving grain over the greater part of the area. The first settlers already named in the section of this chapter on stock raising were the pioneers also in the wheat business, as the Rigsby brothers, J. M. Pom- eroy, James Bowers, Parson Quinn, and others. Garfield and Asotin counties are in general more elevated than Walla Walla and Columbia, and their frontage on Snake River is more abrupt. This has given rise, first to a margin of ideal fruit and garden land between the river and the bluffs, which in case of Asotin is of considerable breadth, and in case of both of them has raised the question of conveying grain from the high plateaus to the river. In some places this has given rise to contrivances which are a great curiosity to strangers, the "grain- chutes" and "bucket lines," as devices to lower the grain from warehouses on the precipitous bank, sometimes eighteen hundred feet above the steamer land- ing. There is not yet a railroad on the south bank of Snake River, and water transportation is the only available means of getting the vast quantities of grain from those high prairies near the river to market.
Items appear in the various issues of the Statesman during the first years of its existence in regard to grain raising which possess great historical interest. An editorial appears in the issue of February 1, 1862, urging farmers to go into grain raising extensively and declaring that all the indications point to a demand from the mines for all kinds of farm products.
An advertisement for supplies at the Fort on July 19 calls for 375 tons of
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oats, 100 tons of oat straw, and 1,200 cords of wood. Mention is also made in the paper of the farm of J. W. Shoemaker a short distance below the garrison, where grain to the value of $3,000, and garden produce to the value of $1,500, was raised.
FLOUR MILLING
One of the most important features of industry allied to grain production was flour milling. The first flour mill was erected in 1859 by A. H. Reynolds in partnership with J. A. Sims and Capt. F. T. Dent, the latter being a brother of Mrs. U. S. Grant. It was located on the land then owned by Jesse Drum- heller, now part of the Whitney place. In the issue of March 29, 1862, is an advertisement of the Pasca Mills by Sims and Mix, which must have been the same mill built by Mr. Reynolds. In 1862 Mr. Reynolds built another mill, known as the Star Mill, on the Yellowhawk, near the present residence of his son, H. A. Reynolds. This was subsequently acquired by W. H. Gilbert. Mention is made in the Statesman of August 2, 1862, of the flour mill of J. C. Isaacs. Apparently this is a confusion in name of the brothers, as the author is credibly informed that the mill opened at that time was the Excelsior mill built by H. P. Isaacs, subsequently the leading mill man of the Walla Walla country and one of the leaders in all forms of enterprise. The name Excelsior was later replaced by North Pacific. It was located on the mill race, whose remains still cross Division Street and was actively employed until about 1895. There is an adver- tisement in the Statesman of March 21, 1863, to the effect that Graham flour and corn meal were being turned out at Mr. Reynolds' mill. In the number of March 31, 1865, is the announcement that Kyger and Reese, who were among the most extensive general merchants in Walla Walla, had leased the water power and site of E. H. Barron just below town on Mill Creek and were making ready to install a first-class mill, having three run of four-foot burrs and a capacity of 150 barrels a day. The firm were also establishing a distillery. It would seem that the latter manufactory was in larger demand than the former, for it was completed sooner. The mill, however, began grinding in October of that year. That mill became the property of Andrew McCalley in 1873, and after his death in 1891 was maintained by his sons until the property was lost by fire in 1897. One of the most important mills of the valley was that built by Messrs. Ritz and Schnebly about a quarter of a mile below the McCalley mill, known first as the Agate and then as the Eureka, conducted for some time by W. C. Painter, then sold to Welch and Schwabacher, and in turn disposed of by them in 1880 to Dement Brothers, and managed up to the present time by F. S. Dement. The mill is now known as Dement Brothers' mill and is one of the most extensive in the Inland Empire, making a specialty of choice breakfast cereals and through them as well as its high-grade flour carrying the name of Walla Walla, Wash., around the globe.
The mills on the Touchet speedily followed those on Mill Creek. S. M. Wait, from whom the beautiful little city at the junction of the Touchet and the Coppei took its name, was the pioneer mill man as well as the founder of the town. The Statesman of June 2, 1865, mentions the fact that Mr. Wait's mill was just open and that it was one of the best equipped in the country and produced a grade
PACIFIC
1
-
NORTH PACIFIC MILLS (ISAAC'S MILL) WALLA WALLA
First rolling mill on the Pacific coast. Erected in 1862. Capacity two hundred and fifty barrels. Many mills were erected before this, but this was the first to introduce rollers instead of the old mill stone.
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of flour equal to the best from Oregon. A town soon began to grow at the location of the mill. Mr. Wait sold the mill to Preston Brothers and the stock to Paine Brothers and Moore of Walla Walla. The latter firm acquired an interest in the mill, but subsequently disposed of all their holdings to Preston Brothers, under whom the mill became one of the largest mill properties in the Northwest, being connected with large mills at Athena, Ore., and elsewhere, and under the more recent management of Messrs. Shaffer, Harper, and Leonard, conducting one of the most extensive milling lines in the country.
Mr. Wait inaugurated also the milling business in what is now Columbia County. Going to that region in 1871 where Jesse N. Day, from whom Dayton was named, had been endeavoring since 1864 to launch a town with but scanty success, Mr. Wait proposed to build a mill, provided inducements were offered. Mr. Day accordingly agreed to give five acres of land as a site, with a block of land for residences, and upon that Mr. Wait and William Metzger proceeded to launch the milling business at Dayton. In building that mill, with a brick building for a store and a planing mill, Messrs. Wait and Metzger laid out about $25,000, a large amount for those days. At the same time the Dayton Woolen Mill was undertaken, A. H. Reynolds being chief owner, F. S. Frary the secretary and manager and Mr. Wait the president of the company. The woolen mill had a land site of seven acres donated by John Mustard and a building was erected at a cost of $40,000. The new town of Dayton was booming in consequence of these investments. The flour mill proved a great success and with various changes of ownership is now one of the great mill properties of the-country, but the woolen mill, from which so much was expected, did not prove a financial; success and was closed in 1880. It is rather a curious fact that no one of the woolen enterprises in the Inland Empire has met with large success, except, that ati Pendleton, Ore., the success of which has been so great that. it is a puzzle that others have mainly failed.
The great development of wheat raising in what is now Garfield County led, as elsewhere in the region, to flouring mills. The pioneer mill at Pomeroy was started in 1877 by W. C. Potter and completed the following year by Mr. Pom- eroy. ยท
Three miles above Pomeroy and for some years a rival to the lower town was Pataha City. It was on land taken up at first by James Bowers in 1861 and acquired in 1868 by A. J. Favor, who undertook a few years later to start a town. In pursuance of his plans he offered land for mill sites, and as a result J. N. Bowman and George Snyder constructed a mill in 1878. Subsequently John Houser became the great mill man of that entire section and his mill became one of the most widely known in the Inland Empire. He made a specialty of shipping flour to San Francisco for the manufacture of macaroni, the large per- centage of gluten in the wheat of that region fitting it especially for that use. The son of Mr. Houser, Max Houser, going to Portland in about 1908, has become known the world over as the most daring and extensive wheat buyer on the Pacific Coast and has acquired a fortune estimated at six millions. The pioneer flouring mill of Asotin was built in 1881 at the town of that name by Frank Curtis and L. A. Stimson. The town itself upon one of the most beautiful of locations on Snake River, with the magnificent wheat fields of the Anatone flats on the high
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lands to the south and west, and a superb belt of fruit land extending down the river and broadening out at Clarkston, was laid out in 1878.
Other mills were established at later dates, of which the most extensive were the mill at Prescott, erected by H. P. Isaacs in 1883, the City mill on Palouse Street in Walla Walla, built in 1898 by Scholl Brothers; Long's mill, a few miles below Dayton ; the Corbett mill at Huntsville.
In summarizing grain raising as the leading industry of old Walla Walla County it may be said that for several years past the total production for the four counties has been about 12,000,000 bushels per year. The value has, of course, varied much according to price. It is conservatively estimated that the value of the grain crops, including flour and feed in various manufactured forms for 1916, was approximately $15,000,000.
GARDENS AND ORCILARDS
As grain raising put a finer point upon industry than its predecessor, stock raising, so in turn the gardens and orchards have yet more refined and differ- entiated the forms of industry and the developments of life in the growing com- munities of our story. As already related these lines of production had been tested by the Hudson's Bay Company and by the missionaries, Whitman and Spalding. It was, therefore, to be expected that even in the first years of settle- ment some attempts would be made to start orchards and gardens. The first nursery in Walla Walla seems to have been laid out in 1859 on the Ransom Clark donation claim on the Yellowhawk. In 1859 trees were set out on the J. W. Foster place. It is said that Mr. Foster brought his trees here on muleback over the Cascade Mountains. We are informed by Charles Clark of Walla Walla that most of Mr. Foster's trees were secured from Ransom Clark. In 1860 A. B. Roberts set out an orchard within the present city limits of Walla Walla on what later became the Ward place. In 1861 a notable step in fruit raising was taken by the coming of one of the most important of all the great pioneers of the Inland Empire. This was Philip Ritz. We find in the Statesman of December 5, 1861, announcement that Mr. Ritz had arrived with a supply of trees from his nursery at Glen Dale near Corvallis, Ore., and that the trees were for sale at the store of John Wright. Subsequent items in the Statesman furnish an interesting ex- position of the progress of both gardens and orchards. The Statesman was wide awake as usual to the needs of the country and did not fail to exhort the citizens of Walla Walla to prepare for the demand which it was sure would come. On March 29, 1862, mention was made of the fact that green fruit, presumably apples, from the Willamette Valley, was selling for from twenty to fifty cents per pound. The paper expresses surprise that farmers are so slow about setting out trees. On June 21, 1862, it was announced with much satisfaction that scarcely had the snow from that extremely cold winter melted before there were radishes, lettuce, onions, and rutabagas brought in from foot hill gardens, and that there were new potatoes in the market by June 14th. The issue of July 26th notes the fact of green corn in abundance and that of August 2d declares that the corn was equal to that of the Middle Western States, and that fine watermelons were in the mar- ket. August 16th is marked by thanks to G. W. Shoemaker for a fine watermelon and the statement that there were others to come that would weigh forty pounds.
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In the number of August 30th it appears that Mr. Shoemaker brought to the office a muskmelon weighing eighteen pounds, and in the same issue is an item about a 103-pound squash raised by S. D. Smith. John Hancock is credited on September 6th with a watermelon of thirty-three pounds. Complaint is made, however, in the same number, of the fact that there is a meager supply of apples, plums and pears from the Willamette, and that the apples sell for twenty-five cents apiece, or fifty cents a pound. The Statesman of September 27th has the story of Walter Davis of Dry Creek sending a squash of a weight of 13472 pounds and twelve potatoes of a weight of twenty-nine pounds to the Oregon State Fair at Salem. Lamentable to narrate it appears later that these specimens of Walla Walla gardening disappeared. The Statesman indulges in some bitter scorn over the kind of people on the other side who would steal such objects. In an October number mention is made that James Fudge of Touchet had brought in three potatoes weighing eight pounds. In the Statesman of December 20th is an item to the effect that Philip Ritz has a large assortment of trees and shrubs at the late residence of J. S. Sparks. It is also stated that Mr. Ritz is going to try sweet potatoes. In the issue of January 17, 1863, is the statement that Mr. Ritz had purchased land of Mr. Roberts for a nursery. In successive numbers, beginning February 28th, is Mr. Ritz's advertisement of the Columbia Valley nursery, the value of the stock of which is stated at $10,000. It seems to have been an extraordinary stock for the times, and the enterprise and industry of Mr. Ritz became a great factor in the development of the fruit business as well as many other things. There are several interesting items later on in 1863, showing that gardening, particularly the raising of onions, was advancing rapidly. In the spring of 1865 A. Frank & Co. shipped 40,000 pounds of onions to Portland. In the Statesman of July 4, 1863, it is stated that John Hancock had corn fifteen feet high. During 1863 and 1864 there was much experimenting with sorghum. T. P. Denny is mentioned as having brought a bottle of fine sorghum syrup, and it is stated that Mr. Ritz was experimenting with Chinese and Imphee sugar cane. Mr. Ritz was succeeding well with sweet potatoes, and a fine quality of tobacco was being produced. The biggest potato story was of a Mechannock potato from Mr. Kimball's garden on Dry Creek, which weighed four and one-half pounds. In several numbers in September, 1863, mention is made of delicious peaches brought in by A. H. Reynolds.
In short, it was well demonstrated that conditions were such that it might be expected that Walla Walla would become, and it has for some years been known as, the "Garden City."
In the '6os and '70s a considerable amount of land south and west of Walla Walla was brought into use for gardening, and in various directions orchards were set out. One of the finest was that of W. S. Gilliam on Dry Creek. Everything looked encouraging for fruit raising at that early day, but in 1883 there came a bitter cold day, twenty-nine degrees below zero, far colder than ever known at any other time in Walla Walla, a most disastrous dispensation of nature, for many orchards, especially peaches and apricots, perished.
FIVE REGIONS
Broadly speaking, it may be said that there are five regions in Old Walla Walla County which have become important centers of fruit raising and intensive
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farming in general, since fruit raising, gardening, dairying, and poultry raising have to varying degrees gone right along together. The first in age and extent is the region immediately around Walla Walla; the second that of Clarkston and down the Snake River to Burbank; the third that on the Touchet from Dayton to Prescott ; the fourth the long narrow valley of the Tucanon; and the fifth that on the lower Walla Walla from Touchet and Gardena to the Columbia and thence through Attalia and Two Rivers to Burbank at the mouth of Snake River. There are, of course, some excellent orchards and gardens in portions not covered in this enumeration, and it is also proper to say that the most productive and compact single body of country is that portion of the Walla Walla Valley south of the state line extending to Milton, Ore.
It is impossible within our limits to describe these different areas in detail. Each has some distinctive features. The youngest and least developed is that of the lower Walla Walla and the Columbia River. By reason of great heat and aridity and long growing season, that region is peculiarly adapted to grape culture and melon raising. Alfalta produces four and five cuttings and the prospect for successful dairying is flattering. The expense of reclaiming the land and maintaining irrigating systems is high, but when fairly established it may be expected to be one of the most attractive and productive sections.
The Walla Walla section has had the advantage of time and population and in the nature of the case has become most highly developed. In garden products Walla Walla asparagus, onions, and rhubarb may be said to be champions in the markets of the country. One of the important features of Walla Walla garden- ing is the Walla Walla hothouse vegetable enterprise on the river, five miles west of the city, conducted by F. E. Mojonnier. This is the largest hothouse in the Inland Empire and, with one exception, in the entire Northwest. It has two and a half acres under glass and does a business of thousands of dollars with the chief markets north and east.
In orchards Walla Walla, while not in general in the same class for quantity with Yakima and Wenatchee, has the distinction of possessing two of the largest and perhaps most scientifically planted and cultivated orchards in the entire state ; the Blalock and the Baker-Langdon orchards. The latter contains 680 acres of apples, is on sub-irrigated land of the best quality, and may be considered the last word in orchard culture. The manager, John Langdon, reports for 1917, 200,000 boxes, or about three hundred car loads, worth on cars at Walla Walla. at present prices, about three hundred thousand dollars. It is anticipated that when in full bearing at the age of twelve to fourteen years, the yield will be 1,000,000 boxes. Doctor Blalock was the great pioneer in fruit raising, as in grain-raising, on a large scale. The story of his carrying on the gigantic enter- prise with inadequate resources to a triumphant conclusion, though not himself being able to retain possession, is one of the greatest stories in the Inland Empire.
The Touchet belt may be said to be distinguished by its special adaptability to high grade apples of the Rome Beauty and Spitzenberg varieties as well as by the extraordinary and profitable production. In that belt are two orchards which while not remarkable for size have had about the most remarkable history of any in the state. These are the Pomona orchard of J. L. Dumas and that of J. D. Taggard between Waitsburg and Dayton. There are a number of other
VIEW OF A WALLA WALLA COUNTY ORCHARD
PICKING FRUIT IN OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY
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orchards of high grade in the Touchet Valley, and it may be anticipated that within a few years that rich and beautiful expanse will be a continuous orchard. Conditions of soil and climate make it ideal for apple-raising.
The valley of the Tucanon, a ribbon of fertile soil deep down in the tim- bered heights of the Blue Mountains and lower down its course surrounded by the wide flats and benches of Garfield and Columbia counties, is the natural home for berries and "truck" of all sorts. The strawberries and melons are of the finest. The sparkling stream-one of the finest fishing streams by the way- affords limitless opportunity for easy and economical irrigating and the soil is of the best, even in a region where good soil is no curiosity.
The Snake River section, extending down the western and southern bank of the river from Asotin, with frequent breaks on account of the bluffy shores, its largest expansion being at Clarkston, with considerable areas at Alpowa, Kelly's Bar, Ilia and other points, is a unique region. We shall speak at greater length of the Clarkston and Asotin regions, but it may be said in general terms that the long narrow belt of land bordering the river, having its counter- part on the opposite side in Whitman County, has long been recognized as the very homeland of the peach, apricot, nectarine, grape, berries of all sorts, and melons. It is of low elevation, from seven hundred and fifty feet at Asotin to about four hundred at Page. It is almost semitropical in climate, its products getting into market nearly as early as those from Central California. Injurious frosts in blossom time are almost unknown. The soil is a soft warm friable volcanic ash with loam surface. Though there is no railroad and not even continuous wagon roads on the river bank, there are numerous points of approach down the valleys and coulees entering the river, and the stream itself affords water navigation for large steamers about half the year, and for small boats at all times. With the system of canalization now 'in contemplation by the Govern- ment the river will become continuously navigable-throughout the year and will possess infinite possibilities both for power and navigation. It should also be stated here that Asotin County has a larger acreage in fruit trees than any other of the four counties.
SUMMARY OF RECENT PRODUCTION
While we shall speak of certain special features of each section in our descriptive chapter covering the present time, we may properly give here a sum- mary of recent production for the four counties.
The reader is asked to recall the earlier figures in order that he may form a proper conception of the change wrought. We present here the figures pre- served in the office of the Commercial Club of Walla Walla for the year 1916. They are given in round numbers, but may be considered reliable and con- servative.
Production, 1916 Value to Growers
Wheat-11,000,000 bushels
$12,100,000
Barley-1,300,000 bushels
910,000
Corn-250,000 bushels
200,000
Alfalfa-140,000 tons
1,800,000
Apples-1.000,000 boxes
1,000,000
(LD WALLA WALLA COUNTY
l'reduction, 19th, Value to Growers
l'runes 5.000 tons
Onions 200,000 sacks 322.50x
Asparagus 500 tons 50.0000
Miscellaneous, including hay other than alfalfa, vege- tables other than omnis and asparagus . . 60,000 Livestock, dairy products, poultry, wool, flour and chop 8,000.000
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