Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/368

WASHINGTON. the higher slopes in the north and southeast, it is insufficient to support agriculture without irrigation. In the south central part of the State the average is less than 10 inches. Another circumstance unfavorable to agriculture in the eastern section is the fact that throughout the State by far the greater amount of precipitation occurs during the winter months. Thus at Clearwater the normal precipitation for January is 20 inches, while in .July it is only one inch. The snowfall is heavy on the western mountains, but in eastern Washington it is light, and the warm chinooks often evaporate it completely without wetting the ground. Blizzards and tornadoes are unknown, but thunderstorms occur at long intervals.

. The soils are fertile in most parts of the State. The Puget Sound Basin is covered with a rich alluvium resting on a subsoil of glacial drift. On the southern mountain slopes and over the great plains of eastern Washington the soil is composed of decayed volcanic material, which possesses the elements of fertility in the highest degree, and, where it has accumulated to a sufficient depth, can be rendered highly productive by irrigation. Where not irrigated, however, the eastern lava plains are treeless and consist mainly of sage brush desert. The higher slopes of the north and east are covered with rich grasses, and on the eastern spurs and slopes of the Cascades there are open, park-like forests of pine. Western Washington, on the other hand, is covered with some of the most magnificent forests in the world. They consist mainly of gigantic coniferous trees such as the Douglas spruce, giant cedar, and Western hemlock, though the redwood and giant sequoia do not range as far north as this. The forests are rendered almost impenetrable by a profusion of undergrowth thriving in the rankest luxuriance in the moist atmosphere.

For, see the paragraph under .

. The southern half of the Washington Cascades, and the whole of eastern Washington south of the Great Bend and the Spokane River, are covered by an immense sheet of basalt forming part of the great Oregon lava-flow, the most extensive volcanic outburst known on the globe. It is of geologically recent origin—Mount Rainier still gives evidences of volcanic activity—and over large areas it has been but little disturbed or eroded. The rivers, however, have cut deep cañons through it, which in the case of the Snake River penetrate into the underlying rocks, showing the lava field to be 1000 and 2000 feet in thickness. For about 100 miles around the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers the lava is overlaid by an irregular deposit of unconsolidated sand, clay, and volcanic dust dating from late Tertiary times and known as the John Day formation, having been laid down in the ancient Lake John Day. The northern half of the Cascades and the mountain country of northeastern Washington consist mainly of ancient crystalline rocks and Lower Paleozoic strata. In Western Washington Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits are the principal surface formations, though Carboniferous strata are upturned around the volcanic centre of Mount Olympus. The northern part of the

State was covered by the Pleistocene ice-sheet, which left a heavy drift covering around Puget Sound, and is supposed to have formed the channels of the latter by its scouring action. It also dammed the Columbia River at the Great Bend, and forced it into a new and more southerly channel now indicated by the remarkable ‘Grand Coulée.’ When the ice retreated the river resumed its old channel.

. Washington is the most important coal-mining State on the Pacific coast, and is the only one of those States which has coal of coking quality. The production of this mineral has increased steadily since 1894, the output in 1901 being 2,578,217 short tons. Almost the entire product was obtained from King, Kittitas, and Pierce counties. Gold and silver are mined in fluctuating quantities, the value of the output in 1900 being gold $580,500, and silver $206,640, commercial value. The gold is obtained almost wholly from quartz veins. Considerable quantities of limestone and some sandstone, granite, and marble are quarried.

. As early as 1850 fish were shipped from Washington, and since that date the growth in the industry has been very rapid. The period between 1892 and 1902 showed an especially appreciable advancement, the value of the output in the former year being about $1,300,000, and in the latter about $6,700,000. The total amount invested in the industry in 1902 was $6,819,818, and there were between nine and ten thousand persons engaged in its pursuit. Salmon is the largest single product, the output in 1902 being valued at $3,889,185. The number of cases of salmon packed in 1866 was 4000, while in 1902 it was about 770,000. The canning and packing of fish ranks third among the industries of the State. Its growth during the period of 1890-1900 is indicated by the following table:

The establishment and rapid advance of this industry, bringing with it new methods of catching the fish, has greatly diminished the former plentiful supply. To remedy this condition, fish hatcheries have from time to time been established, until in 1900 there were fourteen in opera a tion. The exportation of fish in comparison with its output is very small, being valued in the fiscal year of 1901 at $354,221, over two-thirds of which sum was represented by salmon.

. In 1900, 8,499,297 acres, or 19.9 per cent. of the total area, were included in farms. The total acreage more than doubled in the decade 1890-1900 and the area of improved land, 3,465,960 acres, almost doubled in the same period. The recent enlargement of ranges by the incorporation of parts of the public domain has resulted in a continuous increase in the average size of farms since 1870, the average in 1900 being 250 acres. The agricultural area of Washington is greatly limited by the extensive mountainous and arid districts. In the western part the rainfall is very ample and the valley between the Cascade and Coast ranges is highly favored for cultivation. In central Washington the rainfall is insufficient for crops, but