Could Washington Become a Rice Producer?
A Japanese agricultural expert suggests that the soil and climate of Eastern Washington are perfectly suited for rice, tea, and silk production.
Charles Sasaki, who has carefully examined the region out of the mountains along the Columbia River, says that it is better suited for raising rice than much of the rice land of Japan, China, or even the Sandwich Islands. He has had much experience with rice and thoroughly understands the merits of the various kinds. Along large portions of the Columbia Valley there would be little difficulty in getting water and an exceedingly fine quality of rice could be raised. Rice in fact will grow wherever wheat will grow, and it can be harvested in the same way. Speaking of tea and silk, the two other of the three great products of Japan, Mr. Sasaki said that much could be done with both of them there. The valleys there and their soil are little if at all different from those here in Western Washington. The general similarity of the soils and climate of Eastern Washington and Japan have been remarked by all that have been much in the two countries, so that it seems reasonable to say that whatever can be produced in one country can be produced in the other country also.
“The general similarity of the soils and climate of Eastern Washington and Japan have been remarked by all that have been much in the two countries.”
This article reflects the late 19th-century obsession with 'boosterism'—the attempt to find new, profitable industries for the Pacific Northwest. While rice and tea never became staples of Washington agriculture, the comparison of the Columbia River Valley to the fertile regions of Japan highlights the era's global perspective on local land use.
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