NORTHERN PACIFIC R. R. BRIDGE ACROSS THE P END D'OREILLE LAKE, NEAR SAND POINT IN The City of Spokane By L. G. MONROE N childhood, before we had learned that the earth is round and that it is a physical impossibility to go to the end of the rainbow even if the mythical pot of gold were there to reward our toil, we thought of the world beyond the horizon-away off somewhere as the jumping-off place-where our young imaginations halted with delicious shudderings of what would happen were we to find ourselves suddenly transported to the brink of earth and sky. From staid old New England, the cradle of American liberty, to Washington, the Evergreen State, is a far cry even in this day of rapid transit, and we fear that the boys of Boston Common are not alone in supposing that the noble red man. still roams untrammeled over the great Northwest wilderness. To say that the first visit of an Eastern man to the Pacific slope is a revelation to him, both as to the sociological conditions and wonderful industrial possibilities of the country, but voices an oft repeated fact. It will be the aim of the writer to give a brief but comprehensive description of that portion of the Pacific Northwest known as the great Columbia River basin, which includes Eastern Washington and the Western portion of Northern Idaho. The topography of this great agricultural, horticultural and stock raising region is rolling, with wide stretches of plateau, or comparatively level prairies. This basin is almost entirely surrounded by mountain chains or high ranges of hills. It lies just North of the Lewis and Clark trail. This region is popularly known here as the Inland Empire, a region, where, less than a quarter of a century ago, "rolled the Oregon and heard no sound save its own dashings." This couplet by Bryant was wonderfully descriptive of the country prior to the advent of civilization. and is yet of the unsettled portions. There were but few varieties of birds or other animal life and even the few native birds and animals are of the silent kind. Save for the chirping of the gopher and chipmunk, the shrill whistle of the pine squirrel or cry of the nighthawk, no sound was heard in all the long summers, while the winters were one unbroken silence save for an occasional yelp or howl of the coyote. Even the whip-poor-will, whose sweet but mournful call comes dropping out of the hush of a summer evening in New England, is voiceless here although numerous. But with the coming of the settler. the establishment of homes and cultivation of the soil, song-birds of many kinds have found their way to this region to nest among the orchards which now dot the country on all sides. A study of the geology of the country has shown that in the early formation of the earth's crust, this great basin, covering a territory almost as large as the New England states combined, was a vast lake surrounded by eruptive volcanoes. The Columbia river by erosion through the ages, aided perhaps by a cataclysm of nature, cut its way through the Cascade Mountains, thus draining the waters of the lake into the sea. into the sea. That this region was covered by water during the carboniferous age is evidenced from the fact that no coal is found except on the higher elevations along the east slope of the Cascades and in the northern portion. Another evidence of the conditions described is found in the soil which has made this region famous for its productiveness. This soil is a volcanic ash which in the form found to-day could have been preserved in no way except under water. Following the volcanic age and the emptying of the lake into the sea came the glacial period. The frozen rivers of the North moved down over the lake bed from the Northeast to the Southwest, leaving gigantic channels in the surface of the earth. These deep channels are known as coulees and are a marked feature of the country. The Grand Coulee, situated one hundred miles west of Spokane in the heart of the great farming section known as "The Big Bend," extends across a gently rolling prairie for over two hundred miles. When first seen, its effect on the beholder is most startling. The chasm is from one to five miles wide and from one thousand to two thousand feet deep with almost perpendicular sides. A small pebble thrown out over the chasm curves and disappears apparently under the thrower's feet. Scattered over the country from east to west and as far south as the Snake river are the remains of terminal moraines. A remarkable example of the titanic forces of nature which broke up great rock masses and moved them many miles to throw them into a heap, each boulder rounded and polished, is found in the valley of the Spokane river within the confines of the present corporate limits of the beautiful city of Spokane. Where this volcanic ash soil has remained undisturbed through the ages, its capacity to produce all kinds of vegetables, fruit and farm. products, under conditions as regards moisture that would be impossible in less favored sections, is marvelous. Consequently on the hill tops and over the surface of the gently rolling plateaus is found the best soil-a soil whose fertility is apparently inexhaustible, and in which all kinds of farm products can be grown without irrigation and with a never failing crop. In the river valleys and along the coulees the original volcanic ash soil which formed the lake bed has since been mixed with sand and gravel, thus forming a mixture which, while productive, requires irrigation to bring about the best results. In other words, this country is almost wholly devoid of the rich alluvial soil known as bottom land throughout. the Eastern states. Irrigation is an important factor in the industrial development of the country. In the Spokane, Wenatchee, Yakima, Columbia and Snake river valleys, thousands of acres have been brought under this intensified method of soil production, and are to-day yielding millions of dollars annually where but a few years ago sage brush, wild flowers and a few native grasses was the only vegetation. The reclamation service of the National government now has under consideration several irrigation projects which when completed will add nearly two million acres to the vast agricultural and horticultural domain of Eastern Washington. These irrigated lands |