The character of the climate is well suggested by the crops which can be harvested.  They include peaches, apricots, grapes, figs, tomatoes, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other things which require a warm summer and warm soil.  Very little moisture comes upon the land in the summer.  The winters are moderately cold, with some snow, which is joyfully hailed by the farmers, for all moisture is quickly absorbed by the soil and held for summer’s use.  The spring season is two or three weeks earlier than in the Puget sound basin.  Moderate winds prevail during the summer months, coming from the east and west by turns, and prevent excessive sultry weather.

OCCUPATIONS.

Aside from the ordinary agricultural pursuits suggested by the foregoing, which includes grain-growing, horticulture, dairying and truck gardening, should be mentioned stock-raising, particularly of sheep, many thousands of which are yearly wintered in the valleys and summered on the ranges.  Bee culture and poultry-raising are also both becoming important.

In closing, it should be said that the activity of the government and private investors together has given a great impetus to the settlement of these arid lands, and the population is rapidly increasing, being made up of a miscellaneous assortment of Uncle Sam’s energetic, wideawake, industrious citizens, building homes and making fortunes more rapidly, probably, than in any other part of irrigated regions in his domain.

The doors are open, too, for the newcomers, for ten times the population now there can well be made prosperous.

[Page 46] the counties and more important cities and towns of Washington

ADAMS COUNTY

Location.

Adams county is in the center of southeastern Washington, cut out of the once great desert plateau, covered with sage brush.  It has developed into one of the most important food-producing counties of the state.  It has a population of about 13,000 and covers 1,908 square miles of territory.

Climate.

Its climate is not different from that of the balance of the district in which it is situated, and, although some days in winter are severely cold and some in summer hot, its dry atmosphere softens the asperity of its cold, and its generous crop yields are full compensation for the heat of the summer’s sun.  Its mean temperature ranges from 30 degrees to 40 degrees in winter and from 50 to 74 degrees in summer.  Its usual coldest days are 20 degrees to 25 degrees and its hottest ranging above 100 degrees.  Its rain and snow give about 12 inches of water.  It has one small stream, a tributary of the Palouse river.

Transportation.

The Northern Pacific railway cutting the county diagonally from northeast to southwest and the Oregon Railroad & Navigation railway across its southeast corner and near its south and west borders furnish good facilities for handling its generous wheat crops.  To these are soon to be added the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Portland & Seattle, and the North Coast roads, giving the county very superior railroad facilities.