The Pend d'Oreille Valley Sells Itself as the Next Fruit Country

Thursday's Spokane Chronicle gave farming interests in this section the following boost:

The fertility of the Pend d'Oreille valley is just becoming known to the residents of Eastern Washington, says a Newport report. The valley, extending from Newport north to the British Columbia line, has been undeveloped until the past few years. While a small portion of the bottom lands have been farmed in a desultory fashion since the settlement, about 20 years ago, still the value of the cut-over timber land was not developed until about four years ago.

The section seems especially adapted to fruit culture. The altitude, although heretofore considered a little high for the successful production of apples, has proved a benefit. The fruit display at the Spokane Interstate fair from Stevens County received the second prize. This was in competition with displays from several of the fruit-producing counties where lands sell for $1,000 or more an acre. The crops are raised without irrigation.

All sorts of small fruits and vegetables do exceedingly well. One patch of strawberries just below Newport paid the owner at the rate of $600 an acre during the past season. The berries found a ready market in the town and at the mining and lumber camps in the vicinity.

One of the peculiar features of navigation on the Pend d'Oreille is that, while the steamboats annually carry thousands of tons of merchandise and supplies down the river, only 25 tons of ranch produce was brought up the river during the past year. Everything that the rancher produces is consumed by the mining and logging companies. This makes the best kind of home market, and the prices at the ranch are frequently higher than could be obtained by shipping the produce to Spokane or other markets.

The price of farm lands that can be turned into valuable fruit and small grain ranches varies from $10 to $25 an acre for unimproved land.

The valley is to be developed this year by the construction of the Idaho Washington Northern Railroad, which will extend its line from Newport to the Metaline mining district, 60 miles north, and the residents expect a great boom in the value of land.