The Highs and Lows of the Tolt Hop Fields
A local farmer details the boom and bust cycles of hop production in the Snoqualmie Valley.
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.
John Curry, a hop grower of Tolt, was at the Diller hotel last night. He said: 'Around our section and all through the Tolt valley, the people are of the opinion that we have the best hop country on Puget Sound. Three years ago I raised 3,000 pounds to the acre; year before last, 1,400; and this year about 1,200 pounds to the acre. This is a good showing, and has so encouraged the growers that preparations are being made by all to put increased acreage in hops next year. We labored under many disadvantages this year. We were promised money with which to build several new kilns, but the parties went back on us, and the result was that a number of tons of hops were allowed to rot. This, we hope, will not occur again. As for price, I think that for good hops a fine price will be paid, and that prices next year will be very high.'
“The result was that a number of tons of hops were allowed to rot.”
The 'Tolt' region, now known as Carnation, remains a significant agricultural hub. This account captures the precarious nature of speculative farming, where promises of credit failed farmers, a theme that resonates with current small-scale agriculture financing struggles.
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