Wheat gives up five and one-half million bushels to the farmers each year.  Oats one and three-fourths million and barley about one-half million bushels.  Whitman county has more banks than any county in eastern Washington besides Spokane.

TRANSPORTATION.

Whitman county is as well, or better, provided with railroads than any agricultural county in the state.  The Northern Pacific, O. R. & N., Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the S. & I. railroads are all interlaced about its grain-fields.  These all connect with Spokane, and give access to all eastern and western markets.

[Page 90] PRINCIPAL TOWNS.

COLFAX, the county seat, situated near the center of the county, on the railroads and Palouse river, is the largest town in the county, with about 3,600 population.  The town owns its own water system, has electric lights, fine court-house, banks, mills, warehouses, etc.

PULLMAN is a town of 3,000 people, near which is located the Washington State College, a large educational institution supported by the state, having about 1,000 students.  It is an important grain-shipping point.  It has a public water system, electric lights, and is a thriving and growing commercial center.

PALOUSE is a railroad center of 2,500 people, a large shipping point for grain, live stock, fruits and pottery.

OAKESDALE is a town of 1,500 people, having three railroads, and is an important shipping point.

TEKOA has a population of about 1,400, is a railroad center, and is a large shipper of fruits and grain.

GARFIELD has a population of 1,000, and ships much grain and other produce.

ROSALIA has 1,000 population, and is an important grain center.

This county has a dozen other shipping points where from 300 to 700 people are supported by the business originating on the tributary farms.

YAKIMA COUNTY

Yakima county is one of the large and important counties in the state, having the Yakima Indian reservation included within its boundaries.  Its area is 3,222 square miles and it has a population of about 38,000.  It is watered by the Yakima river and its tributaries, and through its valleys the railroads from the east find their easiest grade toward the Cascade passes.  It is a county of level valleys and plateaus, having a soil made up chiefly of volcanic ash and disintegrated basaltic rocks, of great depth, which yields fabulously in cereal and grass crops, fruits and vegetables with the magic touch of irrigation.  Artificial watering is 30 years old in this valley, and yet only a very small area was thus treated until the matter was taken up by the national government.  But now vast areas are being provided with water, and the consequent growth and development of the county is wonderful.

A series of lakes in the mountains are being utilized as reservoirs, and from these lakes the waters are being distributed in many directions in the large irrigating canals.  When the projects now under way are completed, more than 200,000 acres will be under ditches.