Prisoners to Raise Game Birds for Benton County
In a state-run program at the Walla Walla penitentiary, inmates are building a game farm to repopulate Chinese pheasants across Washington.
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 initial shipment of Chinese pheasants from the new state game farm now in course of construction at Walla Walla is to be sent to Benton county within a short time according to announcement made by State Game Warden L. F. Darwin. The birds are said to be a splendid looking lot and will be liberated by the county game warden in those places insuring them the largest amount of protection for the ensuing few months. The 1917 session of the legislature made an appropriation of $20,000 for the establishment of a game farm at the state penitentiary at Walla Walla under the direction of L. H. Darwin, state fish commissioner and state game warden. Work was commenced in the early part of April and is going forward steadily at this time. All of the work, with the exception of that performed by the superintendent and one carpenter foreman, who engaged for a short time, is being done by inmate labor. The state board of control has turned over a forty-acre plot of ground belonging to the state penitentiary for the use of the game farm, and the farm will be beautified and ornamented and the front portion will be converted into a kind of park, where the band, composed of inmates of the penitentiary, can give concerts on occasions. Superintendent Drum of the penitentiary is actively assisting in the establishment of the farm. Already a great number of pens have been constructed, where various kinds of pheasants, principally Chinese, are being propagated. It is the intention in time to propagate not only game birds, but show birds for the various parks of the state and game animals as well.
“All of the work, with the exception of that performed by the superintendent and one carpenter foreman... is being done by inmate labor.”
This program highlights the era's reliance on prison labor for public works, a practice that evolved significantly over the century. Today, the state's wildlife management focuses on habitat restoration rather than the large-scale propagation of non-native species like the Chinese pheasant, which has become a staple of Washington's upland hunting scene.
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