The Bickleton News, Bickleton, WA., July 28, 1911, page 1
A RAILROAD NEEDED
Farmers in Eastern Klickitat county are in the midst
of harvest operations, and all the available labor is being employed in gathering
a crop which, though not abnormally large, is pretty generally satisfactory.
Probably 300,000 bushels of wheat will be harvested besides a large quantity
of a fine wheat hay. A number of farmers have gone into hog raising quite
extensively and poultry raising is on the increase. There are not as many
cattle in the country as formerly, for outside buyers have been numerous
and have gathered up most of the available beef at good prices. Horses are
somewhat of a drug on the market just now, but much success is met here in
the raising of good horses and mules.
At this time of year, when the farmer has to think of
getting his produce to market, the question of transportation begins to loom
up and the necessity for a railroad becomes apparent.
The stretch of country from Goldendale to the east line
of the county, and from the Columbia river on the south to the Yakima line
on the north, is a very rich section, a larger part undeveloped. Besides
the immense amount of products now grown for the market, there is in this
section a stretch of fine timber about fifty miles long and twenty miles
wide that has scarcely been touched. This timber land is well adapted to
the hardier fruits. The pioneers in the timber back of Cleveland have
demonstrated that no finer apples and strawberries can be grown anywhere
on non-irrigated soil.
This whole section is a paradise for early and late vegetable
raising. Vegetables grown here have a flavor and keeping qualities that in
time will make them famous.
Farmers of this section have an average haul of at least
20 miles, so it is no wonder that they confine themselves to grain growing
and other things more easily transported to market. But it cannot be long
now until a railroad will see fit to enter this territory and tap the timber
belt and carry our grain to market. When this is done there will be more
diversified farming, and the great quantities of fruits, vegetables, and
poultry and dairy products will be produced for market instead of merely
for home consumption.
The coming irrigation ditch to water the Horse Heaven
country, to the east of us, is another factor of the future development of
this section at that cannot be lost sight of.
Many farmers will this year haul their grain to Alderdale
for shipment to Portland by the river route, and if it is satisfactory it
may become permanent, unless a railroad is built.
Bickleton is the central trading point for this section.
It is a town of about 300 inhabitants within its limits, surrounded by a
rich farming community, and is 25 miles from the nearest railroad station.
Its elevation is about 3,000 feet, and its climate is unsurpassed, the winters
not being severe and the summers delightfully cool and pleasant. We have
a fine bank, drugstore, hardware store, and a number of general merchandise
stores doing an immense business. We have two churches and an excellent graded
school, the high school been on the accredited list, also two doctors and
a good hotel and livery barn, besides other places of business. The Bickleton
roller mills won a gold medal at the A.Y.P. exposition for the excellence
of its flour. Flower Brothers & Coleman do a large business in cattle
and hogs, and a large number of sheep are owned by ranchmen and others. We
have fine lodges of oddfellows, woodman, and other fraternal societies, two
rural mail routes, long-distance and a most excellent system of farmers telephone
lines. We have a progressive and aggressive local of the farmers' union,
and our farmers are shrewd and hard working, but are handicapped for lack
of transportation facilities.
We need a railroad, and we ought soon to have one.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer