Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/271

Rh them also navigable. The valley of the Chehalis is the most extensive of any in Western Washington. Nor is its beauty or fertility exceeded by any others. It belongs to the coast only through the circumstances we have named, the greater portion of its extent being cast of the Coast Mountains. Gray's Harbor is in Chehalis County, the shire-town of which is Montesano. The population of both Pacific and Chehalis counties will not amount to more than twelve hundred.

North of Gray's Harbor, until we come to the Straits of Juan de Fuca, the coast is unsettled. There is, however, a large amount of fine, level country between the sea and the Coast Range—a much greater extent than anywhere on the Oregon coast. It would also appear from the last census returns that grain-raising is carried on no more extensively in the coast counties of Washington than Oregon. Chehalis County contains 77 farms, on which were raised 785 tons of hay, 3,345 bushels of wheat, 4,235 bushels of oats, 475 bushels of barley. Pacific County contains 56 farms, on which were raised 384 tons of hay, 1,100 bushels of wheat, 1,586 bushels of oats, 30 bushels of barley. Taking into consideration the isolation of these farms, and that probably they do not depend on grain-raising for the profit of their farms, the showing is very good. Pacific County returns 58 horses, 2 mules, 447 cows, 94 oxen, 389 young cattle, 981 sheep, 144 hogs. The proportion of horses to the number of farms reveals the fact that but little farm-work is done which requires horse-power to do; and the amount of stock, that cows, sheep, and beef-cattle are more profitable than farm crops. But as a great many of the inhabitants of these coast counties scarcely farm at all, doing just enough farm labor to supply their families with