[Illustration:  Plate No. 41.—­Sheep-Raising in Klickitat County.]

[Illustration:  Plate No. 42.—­Wheat-Raising in Klickitat County.]

[Illustration:  Plate No. 43.—­Eighty-Acre Orchard in Klickitat County.]

[Illustration:  Plate No. 44.—­Manufacturing Scenes, Chehalis, Lewis County.]

[Page 49] principal cities and towns.

Prosser, its chief town and county seat, is on the Yakima river and Northern Pacific railway in the western central part of the county, and has about 2,000 population.  It is the chief distributing center of the county.  It has three weekly newspapers, six churches, good water supply, banks, stores, warehouses, lumber yards, etc.

Kennewick, at the easterly center of the county, on the Northern Pacific and Portland & Seattle railroads and on the Columbia river, is a town of much importance, having about 1,500 people.  It is noted for the remarkable earliness of its fruits and vegetables.  It has the usual business, church and school establishments, including an ice and cold storage plant.

Kiona, on the Yakima river, midway between Prosser and Kennewick, Carley and Peterson, in the southern portion of the county, on the Columbia river, are all growing and prospering smaller towns.

CHEHALIS COUNTY

Chehalis county is central among the counties bordering on the Pacific, the towns about Grays Harbor being its seaports.  It has an area of 2,600 square miles and a population of 35,000.

Resources.

Its industries arise out of its vast timber belts, its fertile low lands, and its fisheries.  It is said to have 800,000 acres of magnificent timber lands, the great bulk of it unmarketed.  Logging and the manufacture of wood products make up its chief occupation, though general farming and fruit-raising is rapidly gaining.  The lands of the county when reclaimed from the forests are fertile and respond generously to the labor of the husbandman.  In 1906, 15,000 apple trees were planted in the county.  The fishing industry, including the canning of salmon, sardines, clams and oysters, is a thriving industry and destined to develop into much larger proportions.

Transportation.

Grays Harbor is open to the ocean, but is splendidly protected and has safe anchorage.  It is the largest lumber shipping port in the state.  The Humptulips and Chehalis rivers empty their waters into the bay, and are both navigable for some distance.

In addition, the Northern Pacific railroad skirts both sides of the bay and a logging railroad from Shelton, in Mason county, has nearly reached the ocean, going through the county from east to west.  Other railroads have surveying parties in the field, and a conflict is on to share the vast lumber-carrying trade of the county with the Northern Pacific, which has till now monopolized it.