8
THE WEST SHOKE.
ago legitimate business enterprises of all kind?, and
do much to promote their success.
To say that the farming lands of the country trib
utary to Salem are of remarkable richness does not
express their fertility. They were among the first to
be tilled in the state, and though crop after crop of
wheat has been raised for thirty or forty years in some
instances, still the vitality of the soil is such that
good crops are yet produced, and the strength of the
land seems scarcely impaired. But this exclusive
wheat growing has now been broken up, to a large ex
tent, and diversified farming has taken its place.
Fruits, hops, vegetables of all kinds, grasses and va
rious grains are now raised by the farmers, and care
ful estimates, based on the actual knowledge of the
facts in the case, show that twenty acres of land here
will support an ordinary family. When it is consid
ered that ordinary orchards and hop yards yield over
$200.00 an acre per annum, it will be seen that the
above estimate is a very conservative one. Ordinary
cultivation will secure such results. There are near
ly four hundred thousand acres of land in the west
ern part of Marion country that is among the choicest
in the state for agricultural purposes. It is a gently
undulating, well watered, well drained and partially
wooded region. Purchasers, of course, can rarely
get the best farms, because they are so profitable that
their proprietors cling to them. But those which do
not pay so well, generally because of mismanagement,
cau bo obtained in desirable localities for prices rang
ing between $15.00 and $100.00 per acre, improved
land moro nearly approaching the latter figure than
tho former. In tho eastern portion of the county
thero are considerable quantities of unsurveyed gov
ernment land which may be obtained on the usuil
terms; also railroad lands, which aie sold at cheap
rates and on eay terms. This land includes some of
tho finest farming soil, but not' often in bodies suffi
cient for largo farms. For dairying or stock raising
in connection with farming on a small scale, there are
many opportunities for securing fine locations in the
foothills of tho mountains, from the government or
from private holders, at reasonable rates. Settlers
aro gradually pushing back into the mountains, and
in a few years will occupy all the available land.
There is a good deal of valuable timber in the west
ern part of tho county, and good water is easily ob
tained everywhere,
Tho yield of the various farm products is not sur
passed anywhere for quantity and qualtity. Wheat
yields from twenty.five to forty, and even fifty, bush
els per acre, and a good crop is obtained from sowing
any month in tho year. Oata, barley, buckwheat, etc.
grow proportionally well Carrots and cabbages fre
quently grow through the winter, and fall plantings
of cabbage frequently grow three or four heads suc
cessively on the same stalk. A great variety of grass,
es grow luxuriantly.
There are now two railroads in the county, and as
the land becomes improved sufficiently in the interi
or, other transportation lines will be provided. Good
wagon roads lead from all parts of the county to Sa
lem, where an active local market and favorable trans
portation rates, regulated by an available waterway,
insure to the producer the best prices for his wares.
The climate of the valley is one of its prime ad
vantages. Through last December there was no dif
ficulty in plowing in Marion county, and those who
chose continued their fall work through the month,
and could have worked still later. The grass had not,
up to the beginning of 1889, lost its greenness, and
stock finds as good pasturage as could be desired in
the Willamette valley in the middle of winter. Some
times snow falls before Christmas, and the ground
freezes a little, but at the most there are only two or
three weeks of cold weather when stock can not well
graze and the soil can not be tilled. The summer
season usually includes about two months of rainless
weather during harvest time, but no failure of crops
has ever been caused by the summer dry season. As
in most parts of the valley, the pleasant rains contin
ue in Marion county till about the first of July, when
all growing crops are well along toward maturity, and
then the dry weather permits them to rioen without
damage and allows the farmers to pursue the harvest
uninterruptedly. The immunity from damaging rains
is so ceitain that for weeks after threshint? wain mav
be seen in sacks piled up in the field, and often flat
cars are used to transport it to market. The entire
handling of grain from the thresher to the mill, in
cars or in boats, is in sacks, there beiner no elevators
in this country, as are common in the east The av
erage annual rainfall at Salem is forty-four inches
about the same as at Albanv. N. Y.. Bath. Me., and
Frankfort, Pa.; St Louis, Mo., Charleston, S. 0.,and
Marietta, O., have a considerably greater annual rain
fall than Salem, Oregon. The average annual tern
perature of Western Oregon is fifty-two degrees, the .
average winter temperature being forty-two degrees
and the average summer temperature sixty-one de
grees. The average annual death rate for the whole
United States is about fifteen to the thousand, and
for the state of Oregon it is only about ten and a half
to the thousand, showing that the healthfulness of
the climate of Oregon is exceptional, notwithstanding
the fact that many invalids from the east come to this
state for their health. There are no sudden change
of temperature nor extremes of heat or cold at any
season.
The position which Marion county occupies in the