The Wool Boom in Yakima
New statistics reveal that Yakima County dominates the state's sheep industry, holding nearly half of Washington's total flock.
The Trade Register of Seattle has compiled valuable statistics of the sheep and wool industry of this state. The number of sheep in Washington for the season 1897-8 was 503,324, with a total value of $878,403. Yakima County alone accounted for 202,010 of these sheep, valued at $403,873. Dr. J. W. Cloes, superintendent of forestry reserves, reported that there are now 315,000 sheep feeding on the mountains of the Yakima reserve. If these sheep were turned off the reserve, it would mean the extinction of sheep farming in the region, as the animals have no other place to go. Prices for wool and live sheep have increased since 1896, and the industry is worthy of more note than it has received when considering the growth of the resources of the Evergreen state.
“If turned off, it would mean the extinction of sheep farming, as the sheep have no other place to go.”
Yakima's identity as an agricultural powerhouse was cemented by the sheep industry in the late 19th century. Today, while the scale of sheep ranching has shifted, the tension between public land grazing rights and environmental management remains a central theme in Washington's rural politics.
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