The Unlikely Paradise of the Sagebrush
While cattle ranchers once guarded their grazing ranges, a 1878 report from the Yakima Valley reveals the early, optimistic push to transform 'useless' desert land into a thriving agricultural hub.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Dalles Mountaineer, published in the Nevada mountains of Oregon, publishes the following encouraging facts in regard to the productiveness of a large area of our east-side lands, which have commonly been denominated 'desert' and consequently held in little esteem. In conversation with Mr. G. W. Carey, general agent for the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of California, we obtained some items of interest in regard to the Yakima country. Mr. Carey and family returned from there a few days since, where they spent four weeks at Mr. Tanner’s, Mrs. Carey’s father, on the Atahnum. Mr. Carey thinks the country in that section has never been properly represented to the outside world, either in extent or quality.
Mr. Hughes, on the Atahnum, raised 1,500 bushels of grain this season, being an average of 45 bushels to the acre. Heretofore, or until recently, it has been generally understood that the 'Yakima country' was only adapted for stock raising and it has been intimated that stock-raisers in that section did not wish to encourage immigration, mainly farmers on account of their ploughing up the range, but owing to the low price of cattle, they are now anxious for settlers to come in and develop the resources of the country, thereby inviting capitalists to build railroads—the one thing needful to make that country the paradise of the Pacific Coast. Of the 'brush' land referred to, there is yet about 10,000 acres vacant within ten miles of Yakima City in the Atahnum valley alone. Experiments have proven that what is known as the 'sage brush' land is not excelled by any land on the globe when properly irrigated, which may be done in many places with a plough, so beautifully is the land adapted for irrigation. Any person who is the least skeptical in regard to the wonderful fertility of the 'sage brush' land can have their doubts removed by calling on Mr. Schanno at Yakima City, and examining the products of a small piece fenced and cleared by him a few years ago; here you will find potatoes averaging from two to three pounds, and other vegetables in proportion. His orchards bore fruit this season for the first time, and is not excelled in size or quality in any country, while his grapes have the size and flavor of grapes in the best grape-growing regions of California.
“Heretofore... it has been generally understood that the 'Yakima country' was only adapted for stock raising... but owing to the low price of cattle, they are now anxious for settlers to come in.”
The transition of the Yakima Valley from open cattle range to intensive agriculture is a quintessential story of Western development. Today, the tension between irrigation, corporate farming, and the preservation of arid ecosystems remains as central to the Pacific Northwest as it was in 1878.
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