THE MORNING OREGONIAN, MONDAY, ' JANUARY 1, "1900. hre being several fine mills located le line of raiway and In favored ea The flour manufactured dur- J year will reach 50.000 barrels. (jL-s enjoy a good local trade, and Ltcnslvely to China and Japan. Imanufacture of lumber Is not an mt factor. There are millions of good, merchantable timber yet sig end each locality has Its mill. ire but fewinllls, however, "which export more or less. The finished annually amounts to 12,000,000 following statistics fairly represent mty: icres 463,660 acUit'vatlon, acres 81,000 production, annual tmshels.. 6ou,w Lnnual bushels 600,003 and rye, annual bushels..... 20.000 t nay raised eu.ouo Is corn raised 4,000 ; and cheese, lbs. for market.. 600,000 eggs sold 3o0,ouo flour manufactured w.mo of hOD3 raised J.000.000 h potatoes 500.000 onions 1W.W0 anDles . o.000 land plums 13.000 pears s.uiw of grapes 150.000 of strawberries 60.000 lof cured bacon.. 500.000 suds of wool produced 50,000 jnacr manufactured, feet i2.wu.wu lers and breeders generally are ap- fec.atlng the value of raising standard- sd stock, and this county can now- past of excellent dairy herds as compared ilth those of five years ago. The An- goat has become a great factor in c ass, as he provides a high-priced ftp and acts as undprgrowth destroyer as le.l In horses, breeding has lately been 'ned to registered Percherons and pdesdales. The latest assessment gives ie following summary of stock totals: lorses 3.S51 itt.e 6.675 "ep and Angoras 6,555 .Le z.i2 BOwing to the unprecedented demand, i-Ies of stock during the year Just closed ive been large for butchering purposes. freezing for dairy purposes, however. :ceed that for the block. to the count 's surface, there is the Willamette valley formation plain. Uley and hill. Numerous small streams ford plenty of water. Railway facilities j-e good, the Southern Pacific tapping coanty with two lines the Portland- srvallis branch and the Portland-Sheri- m Jne. he population is now about 16,000, but jutle that number could at once find ip.e room for farming and dairying. Iiere are thousands of acres awaiting de- tfopraent. The old high values for farm pnds have disappeared, and the man iith modest means can find a home here Ilthout requiring a fortune. Perhaps 100 families have settled here during the ist year, the purchases being 40 and S0- pre homes in the main, cleared and rt'y cleared. .sboro, the county seat, with a popu- Itlon of about 1400, and Forest Grove, ie seat of Tualatin academy and Pacific diversity, population 1200, are the coun ts chief cities. Each has water works id e1ectrlc lights, and each is connect- with Portland by good wagon roads id by rail. Nearly one-half of the farm- le population can make Portland, with load, and return, In a day, tnus In- krlng a sure market for diversified farm jducts The county school work Is blcndldly organized, and much of this doubtless due to the fact that the Pa- ific university, one of the oldest and seats of learning. Is an institution Bithln the county. raking into consideration its soil, Its iools and Its closeness to the North- lest metropolis, Washington county pre- Ints splendid attractions to homeseek- tS. Jj. -fl- J-UiNl. Jlsboro, Or. I8 WASCO COUNTY. Dalles Receives Shipment of "Wool From Four Pacific States. Tosco county originally comprised a itory considerably larger than all our Iwly-acqulred possessions In the Pacific included all the country lying between Columbia river and California and be- leen the Rocky mountains on the east Id the Cascade mountains on the west. lit of It have been carved almost the en- state of Idaho, several large counties "Wyoming and 13 counties In Eastern regon. Ana yet It may be mentioned, as illustration of the rapid changes that ie works In a relatively short period. sre lives not far from The Dalles, In ! -vigorous and healthy age that can iely be called old, a man who was constable of all this territory when was simply a precinct of Clackamas Runty. The county Is now limited to lout 2S40 square miles In the extreme Srthwestern part of what is known as stern Oregon and of this area about square miles are in the Warm Springs Han reservation. At a rough estimate, Scut one-third of the county proper Is kered with timber, chiefly yellow and -e pine and red and yellow fir, with slcnal patches of tamarack and cedar. le rest of the county Is principally roll- prairie and level plains. Intersected the Deschutes river and its tributar- and the tributaries of the John Day, Mch form numerous valleys of amazing ti ty and beauty. ?he soil on all the higher levels is of Ilcamc origin. It is remarkably rich in the essential elements of plant food, lIJs moisture with remarkable tenacity Id is almost as easily worked as an ash ip. Twenty-five jears ago, the entire country was covered with bunch- liss, and cultivation was attempted only fa-vored spots along the alluvial bot- rs. The few and scattered settlers were :ost exclusively devoted to the raising horses, cattle and sheep, and many rtously doubted that the bunchgrasa 'Cs would ever have any value for the jilact-on of cereals. The experience of ire than a score of years has demon- .ed bojond cavil that these lands r.k high among the richest grain lands on continent. A total failure of crops never been known in Wasco county. id after, in many cases, twenty years of tcssant sowing to wheat, and in spite a short period of unfavorable weather e tire galn was maturing, the wheat itput for the past season was the largest r known. Lands that have never had cunce of artificial stimulant, when ?por y cultivated and sown in the fall 1c C- tly early to get a good start he re "r.e winter frosts, can be safely r.tcd on to yield from 30 to 40 bushels wv.eat to the acre and oftener 40 she.s than 20. The average yield of fall winter wneat lor the past season I am assured, fully 25 bushels to acre". Wheat ranks as the great staple iduct of the county, and the Industry capable of considerable expansion, es- .a y in outlying districts, where better .ties are had for hauling It to market. irley and oats yield abundantly, but dcra do they more than meet the local land The wheat crop of the nast sea- probably exceeded 1,250 000 bushels. le vaLey lands, where irrigation Is pos- ie reward tne husbandman with phe- enai crops of timothy, clover, alfalfa. its and vegetables. "Wasco Krnlt Unexcelled. ilts and berries of all kinds grow pe to a perfection reached In only few ces on the continent. The largest ap- at the world's fair, with the whole t'ted States competing, were raised a ehort distance of the county seat Fsco county, and in every competing It of the fruits of the Pacific North- st Wasco county has nractlcallv carried atl the honors there were to carry. A Ida! and a diploma granted by the rld's fair commissioners, testify that of the apples exhibited at the big fair le were superior In flavor and texture ithose from Wasco county. One of the test and most prosperous fruit belts In l the county is Hood Elver valley. Its re sources are described in another column and need no remarks here. From Hood River eastward, for a distance of 40 miles, the country on both sides of the Columbia, to a distance of three or four miles back from its banks. Is unexcelled for the pro duction of peaches, grapes, apricots and all the more tender fruits and vegetables. Here the night temperature, during the ripening season, is higher than that of any other district north of California. Here berries and garden vegetables mature two weeks earlier than In any other part of the Northwest. The cherries of this sec tion were Justly mistaken at the world's fair for peach plums, and an old and ex prienced German winemaker has often as sured the writer that the grapes raised here are equal to the best he has ever seen in the Rhlneland. No estimate of this year's crop of fruit in The Dalles' dis trict is available. It is only certain that it fell below the average, for the grape and peach crop, in common with that of the whole country, fell much below the aver age. The estimates for last year showed that the shipments from The Dalle3 of apples, pears, prunes, strawberries, black berries, dried fruits and garden vegetables realized to the producers the snug sum of $110,000. Stock Interests HIcMy Prosperous. The sheep and wool industry claims an important place in a record of the re sources of Wasco county, although the business la slowly being restricted by the encroachment of the agriculturist. The number of sheep in the county, accord ing to the report of the county stock in spector, is 166.S5L The wool clip for the past season was rather lighter than usual, on account of an unusually pro tracted and severe preceding winter, hut reached, notwithstanding, the neighbor hood of 1,250,000 pounds. The price, how ever, was more than 25 per cent above that of 1SSS. and It Is doubtful if the sheepmen of Wasco county were ever in a more prosperous condition than they are at this moment. Wool that in the panicky times of 1S93 to 1S97 was hard to market at 5 to 8 cents a pound sold read ily at from 11 to 15 cents. Stock sheep that were a drug in those years at $1 25 a head are now worth more than double that sum. The cattle business has materially di minished since the practical disappear ance of the bunchgrass and the opening of the ranges to cultivation. The total number of cattle in the county can hard ly exceed 10,000. Their value may be Judged from the fact that on December 1 local butchers were paying from $3 60 to 53 75 per hundred for range steers, and contracts for early spring delivery have been made at 55 25 to $5 50. With steers at $40 to $70 a head, mutton sheep at $3 50 to $5, and wool at 15 cents a pound, the stockmen of Wasco county lose little sleep worrying over beef trusts and com binations of buyers. The lumbering business has Just begun to receive the attention It deserves. Wasco county has over 800 square miles, or more than 500,000 acres, of timber lands. But the larger portion is Included in the forest reserve, or is not available by any existing method of transportation. The trees are almost exclusively coniferous, and they are equal to the best of their class In the world. Hitherto only three or four small mills In the neighborhood of Hood River have cut lumber for ex port, but during the past year the Lost Lake Lumbering Company, a firm of wealthy capitalists from Minnesota, who own a large body of timber in the Lost Lake district, have erected a mill at the confluence of the Columbia and Hood rivers, with a capacltly of 250.000 feet a day. The Hood River Lumbering Com pany, another concern backed by large capital, has completed a boom at the mouth of Hood river, and has started a steam logging outfit on their 3000 acres of virgin forest near the head of Hood River valley. The logs will be driven to the mouth of Hood river, where the com pany contemplates the erection of a mill of 250,000 feet capacity, besides supplying logs to other mills along the Columbia. E. W. WInans contemplates the erection of a large mill near the forks of Hood river, which will make a specialty of cutting railroad ties. Devenport Bros, have two smaller mills In the same neigh borhood, from whence they flume their lumber to the Columbia These include all the export mills In the county. They find a market in Eastern Oregon, Utah and other Rocky mountain states, as well as in states bordering on the Missouri river. A dozen smaller mills scattered over the county supply the local demand. Extension of Railway Lines. Wasco county has within its boundaries or along its borders sufficient water power running to waste to drive the ma chinery of a nation. Not to speak of the Columbia river, which bounds the county for nearly 60 miles on the north, we have the Deschutes, which discharges probably more than 500,000 cubic Inches of water per second, "and Hood river, which discharges 120,000 cubic Inches per second. Along the banks of these rivers there are scores of ideal sites for mills or for the generation and transmission of power. The beautiful falls of White river, a little over 20 miles on an air line from The Dalles, have power suffi cient to drive all the machinery In the county, and are as available as if spe cially placed there for that purpose. Irrigation, chiefly for domestic pur poses and for gardening and berry cul ture, has contributed much to the wealth and comfort of many sections of Wasco county. Hood river valley has three ir rigating systems, which were built at a cost of $50,000 The Wamic settlement has three ditches, that furnish water for the purposes just named, for probably 100 families. Juniper Flat, a fine body of level land in the southern part of the county, of about 150 square miles in ex tent, has long and anxiously waited the completion of a half-finished canal that was originally Intended to flume lumber to the Deschutes, besides furnishing water to the settlers. Work on this canal was suspended during the panic of 1893, on account of the failure of its construc tors, but It Is understood that the set tlers have inititaed legal proceedings to enforce Its completion or have the char ter of the company foneited, in order to the completion of the .work by a syndi cate of the settlers. For the benefit of Eastern readers of The Oregonlan, It may be said that Tvater is never used in Eastern Oregon to Irrigate cereal crops. The best grain is Invariably raised on the uplands, where irrigation is neither prac ticable nor desirable. Even the Irriga tion of fruit trees is seldom resorted to, and Is generally considered of doubtful expediency. But garden vegetables and berries and timothy and alfalfa meadows, when judiciously supplied with water, yield enormously, while the beautifying of the homes of the settlers with shade trees Is best accomplished through a lib eral use of water. Much desultory work has been done to Improve our public highways, but much remains to be done. The air is full of rumors of railway projects, and before the ides of May have come the Columbia Southern will have extended itb line through Sherman county to the new town of Shanlko, In the southeastern portion of Wasco county, and 60 miles from the county seat. The same company has sur veyors In the field locating a line from The Dalles to Tygh valley, by way of Du fur and Kingsley that will tap all the great wheat belts of the county. Still an other road, intended to bring The Dalles into connection with nearly all Southeast ern Oregon, is earnestly talked of. This line is to follow the Deschutes and tap Crook county at the mouth of Trout creek, a few miles west of Cross Keys, Provision has been made for a preliminary survey, and before this appears in print the surveyors will be in the field. If this road should be built, besides the immense tiaffic it is certain to control from exist ing industries, it will open to settlement the extensive stretch of tableland south of the Warm Springs Indian reservation known as the Agency plain, which in cludes a territory of unbroken wheat lands two - thirds as large as all Sherman county. J . a r - JSOf fcsff W - - , AtBfc SP B M M ILM AiT M - i . JSP IheTkaww tsftihe-CbumiaSotrfher&L W IPs i X Xs:!rfll. x r TiJ r &4i &r irxXAi ism m . $aw 18 jSL-T fvr 1 n i Jul The line would also tap the rich gold mines recently discovered In the neighbor hood of Trout creek. Crook county, and might one day extend southward to Cali fornia. Companies Delving for Coal. The little that can be said of Wasco county's mineral development Is big with promise. The Ideal conditions for the ex-, lstence of coal In the neighborhood of The Dalles have long been noted by geologists and men skilled In this particular line of mineralogy, and the numerous cropplngs that have been discovered during the past SO years have placed Its existence beyond a reasonable doubt. Three companies, each amply provided with means, are making earnest efforts to settle the question. One of them has been at work for nearly three years, and Is at present tunneling into a mountain near the railroad track at Crate's point, but the reticence of all concerned bars any report of progress. The last to engage In the work are Seufert Bros , the well-known cannerymen. who have leased the lands of B. F. Laughlln and started a diamond drill to work on the bank of the Columbia. These gentlemen, who have turned everything they have touched dur ing the past 20 years Into gold, assure the writer tl.at they will continue the work they have begun until success crowns their efforts, or they are convinced there isno coal to be found, or, at least, not fqund in paying quantUes. The only authentic discovery In the line of the precious metals during the past year Is located about 30 miles south of The Dalles, a little east of Mount Hood. Seven quartz ledges and 60 acres of placers have been located. The surface rock assays ?56 to the ton in gold, and the placers, al though undeveloped, are very promising. The Hood River Gold & Silver Mining Company, composed of capitalists of The Dalles, own the discoveries, and will com mence extensive development work on them In the spring. Extensive beds of very pure silica abound In the Mosler neighborhood. Numerous carload lots have been shipped, at various times, to Port land, and thousands of tons could be sold In the East If satisfactory rates could be obtained. While boring for coal near The Dalles some time ago, the diamond drill went through 40 feet of magnetic Iron. W. R. WInans reports having discovered a large body of cyanlte or cyanite quartz near the forks of Hood river. The rock splits and break "true." Is of dark'-blulsh color and takes a polish like granite. It Is said to be finely adapted to dimension work, as well as mantels, monuments and similar uses. Best Year in "Wasco's History. It is possible that 100 or 200 families have been added to the population of the county during the past year, but no data is ob tainable, and these figures are only a vague guess. The largest Immigration has been to the fruit belts, where consld erable government land Is still obtainable. Very little good agricultural land remains open to settlement, and of the fanners who are here, far more are inclined to buy the lands adjoining them than to sell their own. Hence, the lands that have changed hands during the year have gen erally been purchased by resident farmers rather than by outsiders. The Wasco county farmer knows enough to hold on to a good thing when he has It There is no time, however, when good, desirable farms cannot be obtained at from $5 to 510 an acre, a price still out of all proportion to their value under intelligent cultivation. Unimproved fruit lands can often be had at the price quoted for agricultural lands, but good fruit farms, with trees in full bearing, cannot often be obtained for less than from $50 to $100 an acre. It may help a stranger to form some Idea of the profits to be derived from the smaller products of a Wasco county farm . If we quote the retail price that prevailed j n& .iw ...,,V" fV" v on December 1 at The Dalles market: Creamery butter, 30 cents a pound; choice dairy, 25 cents. Eggs, 30 cents a dozen they have averaged 25 cents for the year. Dressed chickens, 15 cents a pound; dressed turkeys, 17 cents; dressed ducks, 65 to 75 cents; geese, $1 GO to $2 each. Po tatoes, 75 cents a sack. Cabbage, 2 cents ,. pound. Onions, Vfi. cents. Honey, 15 cents a pound. Apples, SI to $1 50 a box. Pork (live weight) 4 cents a pound. After deducting from these prices any reasonable profit for the merchant and middleman, and calling to mind the prices already quoted for beef, mutton and wool, Is it any wonder that when the writer asked the Hon. Robert Mays, county judge of this county, and extensively engaged in farming, stockralslng and merchandis ing, what should be told The New Year's Oregonlan as to the prosperity of the county during the past year, his answer was: "Tell The Oregonlan It has been the most prosperous year the people of Was co county have ever known"? The only shadow on this picture is the present low price of wheat, which, however, Is in no 'sense ruinous, as the cost of raising wheat is only from 25 to 30 cents a bushel, and what is over this is profit. The Wasco county farmer Is not selling his wheat at 47 cents, for the very sufficient reason that he Is able to hold it in hope of a better price. Wasco county farmers were never much in debt, and Releases of mortgages for the year, although relative ly large, make no Important showing, but, as Indicating their confidence in the pres ent and hopefulness for the future, It may be told that of every 10 mortgages given by farmers, nine of them are ' for the purchase of more land. The crop prospects for 1900 are unusu ally bright. We have had unusually heavy rains. The ground is thoroughly soaked, 'and fall wheat in many places stands from six to ten inches high. The grass on every hill Is greener than It ever was known to be, and all kinds of stock go into the winter In prime condition. Taking It for all In all it would be hard to find a more desirable climate than that of Wasco county. A more healthy one Is to be found nowhere. From S. L Brooks, special weather observer for The Dalles district, we learn that the mean averago temperature for the past 24 years was 52.9, the mean maximum 62 2, and the mean minimum 42 2. So far this fall the ther mometer touched 34 only once, on the night oft November 22. The snowballs are In bloom in The Dalles gardens and tomato plants and other tender vegetation are scarcely yet (December 1) affected by the winter frosts. On Thanksgiving day (No vember 30) the writer picked a big bunch of delicious white muscat grapes, that were hard and fast on their parent stem, in the garden of a neighbor. The climate of Wasco county is remarkably equable. Summer glides so Imperceptibly into the lap of winter and winter In turn into summer that the dividing line between the seasons can hardly be traced. We have only two seasons, the wet and the dry. But the wet season Is not wholly wet, nor the dry season wholly dry. The cold of winter is of short duration, and the heat of summer is never Injurious, and seldom oppressive. We have no sunstrokes and few frostbites, and, with abundant, vigorous and health-giving breezes from the Pacific, neither cyclones, tornadoes nor blizzards nor anything even remotely allied to them. The average annnal pre cipitation at The Dalles is about 16 Inches. In the great wheat belt south , of The Dalles it Is about 20 inches, while In the Hood 'river valley, which lies nearer to the summit of the Cascades, it Is 35 inches. Progress of Tlie Dalles. Tho county seat Is The Dalles, which has a population of about 5000. It te pleas antly situated on the south bank of the Columbia river, 88 miles by rail from Port land, and 212 miles from the river's mouth. J B A I J 1 S " f " " ' f- ' vfr fij?0$rii' It derives Its name from the "Narrows" a little east of the city, which obstruct river navigation eastward. The O. R. & N. Co. gives the city connection with all points east and west, and a fleet of pow erful and beautiful steamers belonging to The Dalles. Portland & Astoria Naviga tion Company, and chiefly owned by the people of The Dalles, gives the city the benefit of terminal rates and river compe tition to Portland and all points west ward. Tho mercantile establishments of The Dalles would do credit to towns of 10 times its population, and a very large wholesale and retail business Is done with the In terior. The town has unsurpassed ware house facilities, and, through Its bankers and merchants, abundance of capital to utilize Its naturaf advantages. It Is the best wool market in the Northwest, and handles more wool direct from the grow ers than any town In the United States. This will appear no empty boast when It Is said that from 6t000,000 to 8,000,000 pounds are annually shipped here from first hands and find a market here. Wool is shipped to this market from tho state of Idaho on the east, from Washington on the north and from counties In Eastern Oregon that border on California. And yet, strange as it may 'appear, there Is not a woolen mill nor scouring mlll nor mill of, any kind to work on this Immensity of raw material within the limits of the county. The school facilities of The Dalles are unsurpassed, apd the benefits of a good, common sphool education are obtainable everywhere in the county. The larger re ligious denominations are well represented, and there are few districts that do not enjoy the privilege of a weekly service. The people are peaceable, law-abiding, contented and industrious, and In Intelli gence and culture, according to their sta tion, will not suffer in comparison with those of any other district on the conti nent. HUGH GOURLAY. The Dalles, Or. IfEW TOWN OF SHANIKO. Southern Terminus of Columbia Southern Railroad. Shanlko is the name of a new town In the southeastern part of Wasco county, near what was long an Important sta tion on the main wagon road between The Dalles and Canyon City, known as Cross Hollows The name is not Indian, as might be supposed, but is the Ameri canized patronymic of a former honored German resident named Scherneckan, whom his neighbors, In defiance of all Teutonic orthography, persisted In call ing by the name adopted for the new town. Shanlko has as yet no place on any map of Oregon. The townsite com pany was only Incorporated a couple of months ago. too late to do more than grade a few of the principal streets be fore the winter frosts and prepare for laying the foundation for a pumping sta tion for the water works. But the pre diction is confidently made that before The Oregonlan publishes its annual for 190i Shanlko will be the liveliest town of Its size, or of any size, in Eastern Oregon., Shanlko Is in no sense a boom town. It is the child of necessity. Certain lines of business are bound to go there, and the townsite Incorporators,, most of whom have large and conflicting interests else where, have simply yielded to the inevi table and determined to follow the busi ness to Its new home. To any one ac quainted with the topography of Eastern Oregon it is not necessary to state that the lines of communication, whether by rail or wagon, almost of necessity follow certain well-defined routes. Thus for all time past the bulk of all the traffic be tween the 'interior of Eastern Oregon and the head of navigation on the Middle Co lumbia has been carried over two, wagon roads that meet at Bakeoven, a few miles ; CO. ""' V-- Ji &&y?Mr west of Shanlko. From thence to The Dalles, a distance of 50 milesr one single, expensive tollroad carried the bulk of all the traffic of a territory nearly as large as the states of Vermont and New Hamp shire. That the future traffic of all this territory will find its. meeting-place at Shanlko Is beyond any reasonable doubt. The town will be the southern terminus of the Columbia Southern railroad, and as the extension of this road farther Into the Interior would be enormously expen sive and will not be Justified for many years by any certain hope of Increased traffic, Shanlko will, in all probability, long remain the terminus. Everything that men and money can do 13 being done to have the road completed to Shanlko by the end of March, and the contractor has bound himself in a $50,000 forfeit to have It completed by the first of May. At the earliest possible moment In the coming spring, materials of all kinds will be hauled to the townsite and the erec tion of necessary buildings pushed with all vigor. The railroad company will erect a substantial depot and general office buildings, besides car and repair shops, roundhouse, coal bunkers and sajidnuuse. It is estimated that about 30 dwelling houses will be needed for the employes of the railroad company alone. The Shanlko Warehouse Company, composed of D. M. and J. W. French, the well-known bank ers, and W. Lord and B. F. Laughlln. capitalists, of The Dalles, and W. H. and H. A Moore, bankers, of Moro and Gold endale, have already let the contract for an Iron and steel warehouse, in size SO by 300 feet. The size of the warehouse Is Justified by the fact that fully three fourths of the wool and general merchan dise heretofore handled at The Dalles will be handled here. This means an annual aggregate of 5.000.0000 6,000,000 pounds of wool, and anywhere- from 2.000,000 to 3,000, 000 pounds of general freight. The Shan lko Townsite Company, composed of the gentlemen already mentioned and E. C. Pease, of Pease & Mays, of The Dalles; A. E. Hammond, chief engineer of the Co lumbia Southern, and F. T. Hurlburt, cashier of the Arlington National bank, of Arlington, Or., have arranged to erect here the largest stockyards north of Oak land, Cal. Of the 5000 cars of livestock annually shipped from Huntington and Ontario, not to speak of hundreds of car load lots shipped from The Dalles, Ar lington. Heppner and Pendleton, It is ex pected that 3000 carloads will be shipped from Shanlko. All roads from the great stock ranges of the Interior lead to Shan lko. For hundreds of miles south the country Is open, and water and grass are everywhere abundant. Besides, Shanlko Is the natural, and In most cases the only, shipping point for all Crook county, all Western Grant county,' Wheeler county. Northern Lake and Malheur, and South eastern Wasco, and It is no unimportant thing to say that there is never so much as a single tollroad leading to the town. One of the largest general merchandising concerns in Eastern Oregon will have a branch house here and several other large concerns contemplate making Shan lko their headquarters. Pease & Mays, of The Dalles, who do an enormous busi ness with the Interior, will make Snan iko their future headquarters for this trade, and among the first buildings to be erected will, be an Immense Iron and steel structure to accommodate their busi ness. It Is altogether probable that all the larger business concerns of Antelope, an Important trading point about six miles distant, may move to Shanlko for self-protection, just as the business of Cross Hollow3 20 years ago moved to An telope for the same reason. A substan tial brick bank building is among the earliest improvements contemplated, and a bank will be established with abund ance of capital to handle all the business certain to he concentrated there. The nu merous springs of pure, living water at Cross Hollows will be used to supply the town with abundance of water, and tha townsite company has already contracted for a 60-horsepower engine, boiler and pump, with a capacity of 400 gallons per minute. The receiving system at the Hol lows, half a mile from the townsite, will have a capacity of 100.0CO gallons, and the distributing system a temporary capacity of 50,000 gallons. The same power will bo used to supply the town, with electric Ught3. Among the numerous natural advan tages of Shanlko, not the least important is the fact that It is less than a score o miles distant from the Trout creek gold and sliver mines, that are to be reckoned among the most promising on the Pacific coast. The Oregon King mine, that re cently changed hands at $100,000, not long since shipped three carloads of ore to the Tacoma smelter, which, after paying for smelting and freight charges over 70 miles of wagon road and about 300 mlle3 of rail, netted to the owners $2S a ton, or $166 a ton, gross. Another mine in the same neighborhood has rock that assays $90 to the ton in gold and 420 ounces of silver.' A3 a railroad terminal, Shanlko reaches farther Into the interior of Eastern Ore gon than any other town. It will need ex tensive hotel accommodations, livery sta bles and feed yards, and the men first on the ground with these necessities are cer tain to have all the business they can at tend to. To meet the demand that 13 sure to arise for feed for freight teams that will load and unload here, the ware house company has purchased nearly all the surplus hay In Sherman county. The town Is laid out Into 30 blocks of 12 lots each. 50x100 feet. The business streets are 100 feet, and the residence streets SO feet In width. The site Is on a plain that slopes gently toward the north east, in line with the prevailing winds. It Is about 2500 feet above sea level, and commands an extensive view In all direc tions. From any part of the town eight perpetual snow peaks are visible, namely: Mounts Rainier, Adams and St. Helens, In Washington, and Mounts Hood. Jeffer son and the Three Sisters, in Oregon. No accurate data of the climate and tempera ture are available, but old settlers assure tho writer that the thermometer seldom touches zero, that the winters are usually short, and, on account of exposure to the warm Chinook winds, snow seldom lies on the ground for more than a few days at a time. The moderate elevation of the townsite secures It against oppressive heat in summer, and. with abundance of pure air, the be3t facilities In the world for drainage, and abundance of pure, cool, living water, Shanlko ought to make an Ideally healthy town. Keep your eye on Shanlko. Nature has done everything in its power to make a prosperous town there, and the owners of the townsltei who are numbered among the richest men In Eastern Oregon, will do the rest. YAMHILL COUNTY. Immigration, of 1SOO the Larcest Since tho County Was Settled. Yamhill county, like most of her neigh bors, experienced. In 1S99, a most excep tional year. The spring opened late, but with bright prospects for an enormous yield of grain. A large crop matured, but with It came rain, which vastly les sened the opportunity to reap and thresh the crop, and the result was much grain damaged. A freezo, in February, prac tically annihilated the budding prune, one of the largest factors of the fruit indus try. The crop of hops was excellent and was reasonably well harvested, though some damage was done by rain. The po tato crop was unexampled, but about one third of It yet remains in the ground, and may not be gathered until spring. The crop of wheat Is estimated by the best judges at 1.000,000 bushels, two thirds of which Is believed to be still In the possession of growers, who are hold ing for better prices. The hop crop is estimated at 5000 bales, of which about one-fifth ha3 been sold. Fifty thousand pounds of mohair was produced In Yam hill county last year. This is a growing Industry. The product commands a prlea ranging from 25 cents to 35 cents a pound. The goat thrives in Yamhill county, and Is very useful in the clearing of land. The county ranks among the first in the state in the number of goats. The wool clip last year was 250,000 pounds. Of this amount, Mr. Hendrlck. the veteran ware houseman of McMlnnville, bought 100.000 pound3. Larsreat Immigration la .Yamhill's History. The county can record the largest immi gration In 1S99 that It has ever had In any single year since It3 earliest settle ment. At least 200 persons entered its con fines from Eastern states. The Increase has been quite general In the county. Some say that their attention was first drawn to the state and to Yamhill county by reading the New Year's Oregonlan of 1S99. The unusually heavy rains Interfered with fall seeding, so that probably not more than one-third the usual acreage has been sown. This will largely in crease the spring acreage. Yamhill Is pre-eminently an agricultural district. Nothing so emphasizes thl3 fact as the large stocks of farm implements kept in all the towns, and the great amount and variety purchased by the farmers each year. McMlnnville. tho county seat, has six of these stocks Yam hill also has large timbered districts, whose splendid specimens of fir sweep tho cobwebs from the sky. The large mill ing firm of Jones & Adams does an an nual business of 1,000.000 feet of lumber, while eight to a dozen other mills add at least a second million. Building in 1S99 was principally confined to residences, and the gain has been con spicuous and substantial In the larger disappointment is felt by many at the failure to complete tho construc tion of the government locks In the Yam hill river at Lafayette, that McMlnnville might thereby be placed at the head o navigation all the year around. This Is a consummation devoutly wished dur ing 1900, nothing now remalnlrg to be done except the construction oi a dam. The rainfall for the year, by months, up to December 12, was: January f.2R February March April May - Juno - -TO July ? September - 2.SG October S November lc December, to 12th - 3j60 Total 58 H This 13 an excess over 1893 of about 13 inches. Demand for Mannfactnrinc Enter prises. Tho great need of the county is man ufacturing Industries. We are long on raw material and short on skilled labor to eat the products of the farm. This ia largely true of all Oregon. We need fac tories and canneries to convert the over production and ship to other markets in manufactured form what we now ship out raw. to be returned manufactured, with freight rates added. A3 has been aptly expressed, we thu3 "corrode our viscera" with freight rates. The Star mills, of McMlnnville. have just completed filling an order of 7000 sacks of flour, to be shipped to Japan, and are grinding on a new order. Other mills of the county are shipping .to foreign countries. They have the machinery and the wheat, and labor does the rest. It only proves what may be done In other lines to take advan tage of the opportunities for trade with the Philippines, China and Japan. Cured meats, canned goods in great variety, dried prunes and other fruits, hops and hop products, sugar and woolen goods are just as practicable of preparation hero aa flour and lumber, and only lack tha