176
THE WEST SHORE.
THIS BIO BEND COUNTRY.
A
WISCONSIN MAN, Capt B. 0. Hnllin, recently
made a tour of observation through Lincoln,
A in mi! nnd Douglas counties, eowpriniug tint
portion of Eastern Washington lying Bouth and
Mt of the big bend of the Columbia and stretching
from that stream to the linn of tho Northern Pacific
railroad. From a letter to the ItitzviUe Hmtrd doscrib
ing hiit impressions of that region and what it offers to
immigrant, the following paragraphs are taken: Our
flmt camp for dinner was made at Crab crock, where
there was an abundance of willow wood and good water.
Following down Crab creek from this point we passed
several slump ranches, for which tho region seems so
cially adapted, though cattlo and horses aro by no means
scaroe. I think all tho horses, cattle and sheep in the
lata of Wisconsin could graao on tho ground we passed
over on our first day's trip. We camped in the evening
on the open prairin, using sago brush for cooking sup
per, and picked up a good supply for keeping fire all
night Aftor stiper wo paid a visit to tho noxt ranch
whore we mot the owner. Among his horses wo no
tioed splendid iuiortd Clydesdalo stallion, nearly a
perfect piooe of horse flush, lie has nino thousand
head of shocp, in three bands, ranging up and down the
croek and on the adjacent Uble lands. Ho fed his stock
little more thnn three weeks during the past winter,
and that was longer than thero was any necessity for,
which caused us Wisconsin men to make a mental com
pariaon of the difference in climate of homo and here.
Think of it I In Wisconsin wo feod seven months, com,
oaU and timothy, with a free run to wheat and oat
tacks and corn fodder, with good shelter, and wo man
age to bring our stock through by the skin of their
teeth, and nearly everything, Mil man and lieast, is ex
hauatml and jwrtially frown, and with an Arctio look
Umped on everything that has life. Everything I
have aeon up to this time in the shaie of sheep, horses
and cattlo are iu equally as good condition as ours in
Wisconsin at any time of tho year, excepting, 0f course,
stalled for tho market block. I mean to say that every
kind of stock hero has made it own living the past win
tor, without Wing f,d r sheltered, and is now in good
order, and do not havo to be lifted up by tho tail every
morning. Truly, this is tho heaven on earth for horses,
cows and shoo. Yet they will ask as much for a single
heap, cow or horse as we would in Wisconsin. For in
sUnoe, sheep are worth UM apiece; a good cow and
calf are worth from Uo.OO to MUX), and a siwn of me
dium horsea, fJOO.OO to tZAOO.
We continued our travel down to the sink of Crab
creek. I mean by Uie sink, where the water entirely
dwapeara and risee no more to Uie surface, but finds iu
way through aoino subterranean channel to mingle with
the great Columbia. We noticed aoine of the finest
grating land man ever aaw. Aa far as Uie eye could
reach it was one unlnvkeu, immense plain, covered with
bttMb grM ft thick m timothy, ud Ur more nutrw
tious. In my estimation if ever a stock man wanta to
Bee elysium fields or his earthly paradise, he has but to
come here and cry " Eureka 1 " The country here, too,
is perfectly treeleBB. Nothing that can be called timber
is to be found this side of the Cascade mountain range,
although along moat of the streams willow, Cottonwood
alid alder are found in sufficient quantities for fences
and firewood. In talking to some of the settlers about
the scarcity of timber, they poo-poohed at us; they don't
need one-half the timber we woodsmen are expected to
have on one well-regulated farm in Wisconsin. As soon
as the tunnel is completed coal can be shipped here for
from 13.50 to $-1.00 per ton. We next entered Moses
Coulee, and to the lovor of the grand in nature I will say
that he will be amply recompensed for any hardship he
may undergo in coming here. Stupendous walls of ba
saltic rock on either side for twenty-two miles; some
times standing on end, sometimes lying horizontally, so
regular at times that it is difficult not to believe some
Titan architect was out here on a jamboree, fitted octa
gon and jMillegon, scptagon and square in one harmo
nious whole. It is grand, sublime and beautiful beyond
anything I ever saw. In going down this coulee we met
several bauds of sheep and cattle which were in splen
did condition. We also saw several bands of Cayuse
ponies, with Indians herding them, all looking fit for
market It snowed some that night, and the mountains
could bo seen in the distance for several days partially
covered, so we concludod to return to Ritzville by an
other route, as we learned from an Indian that the snow
was too deep to allow us to cross the mountains with a
team.
Our aim in starting was to see the stock come out of
winter quarters; see for ourselves how they were fed
and looked, and compare them with our own in Wiscon
sin. Well, I must say that I am ashamed to make the
comparison; it is all a jug-handle concern, and we of
Wisconsin withdraw any and all pretension to rivalry.
Tho impression upon a stranger on first viewing the soil
is not very favorable, reminding one of worn-out brick
yards in the states. But upon inquiry and observation
this impression vanishes, and you are apt to become en
thusiastic whoro at first you were cynical and fault-finding
Tho stranger coming from the state of Wisconsin, or
from any other of the northwestern states, must not
think ho will find things here as he did in his pioneer
days of the settlement of those old states, where the set
tlers could fiud wood mostly within the drive of a day,
and wbU was by no means scaroe. Often the writer of
this article, while going for firewood to the woods, would
kill a deer or some other game that helped to bridge
over the time that must elapse before raising his own
lork; Nothing of thnt kind here. Game is scarce and
consist only of a few sage hens and jack-rabbita. You
can uot build oven a chicken house here unless out of
lumber that has to be hauled from the nearest station.
Your firewood, also, is an itom that will strike you as
almost insurmountable; but in few yeare that item will