The west shore., July 01, 1889, Page 387, Image 38

THE WEST SHORE,
387
THE GRANDE RONDE VALLEY.
TRAVELERS from the east over the Oregon Short
Line are much surprised to find in Eastern Ore
gon, whioh most of them have been educated to be
lieve to be a desert waste, a valley of greater beauty
and richness than they had hoped to find in the most
favored portions of the Paoifio slope. Because a por
tion of the route after passing the Rockies is through
a sage brush country in which more or less sand ap
I pears, the eastern immigrant becomes convinced of
the general sterility of the region, and as he does not
pass through any section sufficiently different in char
I aoter to awaken him to a realization of his error be
I fore arriving in the Qrande Ronde valley, a genuine
surprise greets him there. Of course, a gTeat deal of
fertile land is traversed before reaching this favored
spot, but the traveler, unused to many of the charac
teristics of cis Rocky soils, is scarcely qualified to
judge of their relative merits, and if he were quali
fied the window of an express car is hardly a suitable
point of observation from whioh to make a close anal
j ysis. Coming np from the Powder river country, the
' railroad threads its way through the spur of the Blue
mountains that bounds the Qrande Ronde valley on
the south, entering the valley at its southern extrem
ity and extending across its southwestern edge a dis
tance of about twenty miles. Leaving this valley the
railway crosses another spur of the mountains and
then passes through the' Umatilla oountry and on
down the Columbia river to Fottland. It has been
but about four years since railroad communication
was established with the Qrande Ronde oountry, and
those years have been fraught with many important
changes for this particular gem of the mountains.
The Qrande Ronde valley comprises the greater
part of Union county, Oregon. It is eighteen to twen
ty miles wide and about forty miles long and has an
area of over five hundred thousand acres, fully four
fifths of which are exoellent agricultural land, imme
diately available for cultivation, though only two
hundred thousand acres are now tilled. A feature of
apeci&l importance is the large area of grass land.
Thousands of acre of land growing a heavy crop of
grass can be soon from the railroad, and cattlo revel
in the choioest feed during the entire season, flood
grass land is necessarily moist and there is no spot
in Eastern Oregon that will compare with the Grande
Ronde valley and the adjoining oountry down the
Grande Ronde river In the production of nutritious
grasses. Borne of the bunch grass hills make fine
took range, but the long distance to water in many
instances impairs their value for grazing purpusos;
but the natural, moist grsss lands of the Grande
Ronde valley may always be depend! upon, and
they grow the most suooulent wild and tame grasses.
From these the finest hay is harvested for feed in the
short winter season. The area of grain land in the
valley, however, greatly exoeeds any other, though, of
course, these grain lands will grow a great diversity
of products. The valley is well watered at every sea.
son of the year. The sloping hills on its border can
be utilized to any altitude desired, for the mountains
enclosing the valley rise to a hoight of from two to
four thousand feet, and the husbandman can go as
far into the rough lands as he chooses, to suit what
ever branoh of agriculture may be his specialty. The
valley proper has no timber to speak of, but all
around it the hills and mountains are oovorod with a
heavy growth of fir, pine, tamarack and spruce. The
tamarack is a fine timber for finishing purposes, as it
takes a good polish. All this timber is suitable for
manufacturing, and a number of saw mills are now
working it into lumber, which finds a ready market.
There are also minerals in that oountry that will pay
well for the working.
The chiof city and oommoroial metropolis of the
Qrande Ronde valley is LaGrande, a oity exceeding
two thousand inhabitants, in the western part of the
valley. Four yoars ago there wore leas than a thou
sand people in the city. Whon the railroad was
built through that oountry it did not touch LaGrande.
The city as it then existed was fully a mile from the
railway. At onoe it was resolved to remove the oity
to the railroad, and almost the entire business por
tion of the town is now situated convenient to the
railway station. What is known as the old town is
by no moaBS divorced from the city of more rooout
growth, however. The two are in one corporation,
but the original townsite is now occupied shiefly by
residences, their relative positions being woll shown
in the engrsving. With the growth of the city build
ing is being resumed in the old town, and the whole
is experionoing the same improvement in every di
rection. It will not bs long before there will be no
diitioguiihing line between the two portlous of the
city, so rapidly is the building area increasing.
LaGrande has very large business Interest The
tributary oountry is rich and constantly improving,
Kud of course the city reaps an advantage from the
development of the territory upon which it relies for
oppurL Io municipal sffairs LaGrande is progress
ire. The city is not waiting to be pushed into prom
inence merely by the merits of the surrounding conn
try but it is leading in improvements and is an active
ftgput in promoting development in the oountry about
it The city's capital is in the farms and stock and
minerals of the valley and mountains as well as in
the situation which it occupies and the vigor and en
terprise of its citizens. It Is situakd on the Qrande