Benton County Bets on Hogs, Corn and a Free Boar
Prosser's first annual Hog and Corn Show drew Kennewick crowds on the morning trains — and a warning that exclusive fruit raising would not carry the county forever.
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The Benton County hog, with four legs, and the Benton County corn cob, with corn attached, will be on display and receive fitting tribute today and tomorrow at Prosser's first annual Hog and Corn Show. Many hog and corn enthusiasts took the morning trains out of Kennewick today for the county seat, and still larger numbers from this end of the county will be in attendance tomorrow.
A special invitation from the Prosser Commercial club to the business men of Kennewick was read at the Commercial club luncheon yesterday. Local speakers urged that the invitation be accepted by as many as possible, saying that Prosser, because of its liberal attendance and expressions of good will toward Kennewick and the Grape Carnival, should be accorded a return of courtesy in this instance. It was recommended that Friday be made Kennewick day at the show, and every business man who could possibly do so was urged to go.
Wm. Guernsey of Prosser was a guest at the luncheon and backed up the invitation with the assurance that Kennewick's patronage would be greatly appreciated by the Prosser business men. He said the object of the show was to arouse more interest in the hog and corn industry and to stimulate the people to grow more and better hogs and to grow more and better corn. It is becoming apparent, he said, that the farmers of this county must turn their attention to agricultural pursuits other than exclusive fruit raising.
During the past week Mr. Guernsey has visited much of the territory around Kennewick. He expressed great surprise at the substantial start which has been made in the hog industry, saying that in this respect the river country was leading the west end of the county.
The show management has planned several amusement features for which there will be no charge, and admission to the grounds is likewise free. Nearly $1,000 will be distributed among the corn and hog exhibitors. Included in the premium list is a registered Duroc-Jersey boar from the herd of Pratt's Pedigreed Pigs and donated by the Kennewick Commercial club. The pig has been offered as first prize for the best Duroc-Jersey sow.
“It is becoming apparent that the farmers of this county must turn their attention to agricultural pursuits other than exclusive fruit raising.”
Benton County built its identity on irrigated fruit, and here a Prosser promoter is already warning that one crop is not an economy — the diversification argument that still dominates Eastern Washington farm country. The Kennewick Commercial Club chipping in a registered boar as a prize is boosterism at its most literal. Today's farm bureaus and county fairs run the same play with the same anxieties.
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