THE WEST SHORE.
133
there is bo much of the fine bottom land that is still
vacant that the stock men will not be crowded from
the excellent pastures for some years. There is no
question bat the stock business of the Yakima conn,
try is very profitable, but it would hardly be safe to
calculate on its future expansion there. As civiliza
tion takes possession of a country the stock ranges
become more and more confined until finally the bus
iness loses its identity and merges with that of
general agriculture, as it has in most of the states of
the Mississippi valley. And the cattle king seeks
new pastures if he can find them where he is at
liberty to roam at will.
The Yakima country is also rich in minerals.
Placer mining on the Yakima river and south fork of
the Tilton is carried on by the Chinese and there are
quartz ledges near the Yakima which will undoubt
edly be worked when transportation facilities are
better. The little prospecting that has been done
there is said to yield promising results in gold. Iron
is mined quite extensively to the northwest and even
in the Tilton valley it is found in paying quantities.
Wherever there is a break in the surface from the
Lewis river to the southwest to the Wenatchee in the
opposite direction, there are out croppings of coal of
various grades of excellence. Coal is everywhere
i found in abundance sufficient to insure a supply for
j all the manufacturing that can possibly crowd into
the Yakima country, of good quality and at very
cheap prices. The only reason why this coal is not
j now extensively mined is that nearly all portions of
! Washington contain so much coal that only that most
easily reached is workod, leaving the remainder for
) local uses entirely. At one place on the Natchea a
! vein of coal six feet thick is found and several town
j ships in that immediate vicinity show numberless
lout croppings of carboniferous measures. Marble,
lime stone, clay, etc, are among the other mineral re
sources of the Yakima country that are of commcr
cial value. There unquestionably are vast stores of
minerals, precious and base, in the eastern slope of
the Cascades and these may justly be considered as
tributary to the growing metropolis North Yakima.
That a country of such extensive area and rich
and varied resources should build up important com
mercial centers and a diversity of manufacturing
interest it is but natural to expect It is also to be
expected that the town situated at the most conyen.
iently accessible point for msssing the various
products of the valleys and ranges is the ono that will
command the patronage of the people f ow
proportion as the industries of the country develop.
3uch a situation has the city of North iskima, and
that it is improving the opportunities that lio at its
ioor ii apparent to the most casual observer. UooJ
wsgon roads lead from every direction to North Yak
ims, and that great transcontinental transportation
line, the Northern Pacific, which passes through tho
city, supplies adequate shipping facilities for the sun
plus produce of that region. This railway follows
the Yakima river more or less closely from its source
to its mouth thus passing through tho very heart of
the Yakima country. There arc, of course, several
shipping points on tho railroad on either side of
North Yakima, but that city is recognized as tho prin
cipal market place and it is there that the great bulk
of produce is collected and shipped In largo qaan.
tities. During 1&H3 tho Northern Pacific reef ipts at
the North Yakima station were $lfS,O0G0Q. That
railroad forwarded from tho city during tho year
twenty-two hundred bales of hope, three hundred and
twenty-five carloads of live stock, two hundred and
sixty carloads of hay, sixty-two cai loads of vegetables,
twenty-seven carloads of potatoes, twenty-ono carloads
of melons, three carloads of wool and four thousand
pounds of leaf tobacco, besides tho shipment of lrss
than carload lots which amounted to nearly ono third
as much as the total of those mentioned above. Theto
figures form a definite basis for judging of tho ini.
portanco of North Yakima as a shipping point Of
course this total does not represent a great volume of
business, but it must bo remembered that though tho
country has unusual natural resources, it is still very
new, sparsely settled and in no place thoroughly de
veloped. Previous to tho building of tho railway,
less than four years sgo, there was no lneutlvo to
production beyond tho homo nevls Ucauao there was
no market for tho produce. Another important fact
to bo considered is that two-thlrds or thrwvfourthsof
tho pooplo now located In tho valley have settled
there within tho last few years, many of thera only
last year and havo hardly bgun to prodece for ship,
ment sbroad. There is always an actlvo local market
for such articles as most farmers gettlcg started In a
new country are likely to raisa.
Ono of tho surest indications of a rich and prora.
ising region is afforded when railroads aim to jne
trate it to secure tho patronigo which shrewd
managers see must flow therefrom. In addition to
the important lino that now traverses the entire
length of tho Ysklma valley, there is now in eours
of construction tho Vancouver, Klickitat k Yakima
railway from Vancouver on tho Columbia river, only
six miles from Portland, op tho Irwls river crossing
tho Cascades at Klickitat pass and thence travertin?
tho Yakima valley to tho city of North Yakloa.
This road Is important to tho Yakim country because
it sfford another outlet for its products to an extn
ho market and the second shipping point oa the
Pacific coast Then th Ndrthern Pacific Ls building