The Hop Bonanza in the Puyallup Valley
An account of the massive agricultural boom in the Puyallup Valley, highlighting the success of local hop farmers and the looming shadow of the volcano.
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.
New Tacoma is well abreast of her northern neighbor through the combined advantages of a commanding commercial position and the certain utilization of her great resources of coal, lumber, iron, and agriculture. The valley of Puyallup, close at hand, is a perfect hop bonanza, producing over $500,000 worth the past season. During my recent travels, I met an old man, nearly seventy years of age, who told me that he cleared about $3,500 this year from his little hop yard in this valley, doing all the work except picking himself. Whatever may be the future of Tacoma's prosperity, nothing can ever rob her of the matchless glory of her mountain view. Looking at the snow-crowned summit of Mount Rainier through a good glass on the bright cold morning of the 3d inst., a cloud of vapor was seen rising from it. It is doubtless caused by the snow falling into its still smouldering crater.
“The valley of Puyallup, close at hand, is a perfect hop bonanza, producing over $500,000 worth the past season.”
The Puyallup Valley's history as a 'hop bonanza' highlights the agricultural roots of the region before the sprawl of modern development. The reference to the 'smouldering' volcanic activity of Mount Rainier remains a perennial, if distant, concern for the region.
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