Part 19

PE ELL is a town of 1,000 people on the South Bend branch of the Northern Pacific railway, chiefly engaged in milling and agricultural pursuits.

MCCORMICK, LITTELL, KOSMOS, LITTLE FALLS, ADNA, DRYAD, DOTY, and KOPIAH, are all centers of industry in various parts of the county.

Lewis county as a whole offers wonderful opportunities for newcomers in all pursuits--commercial, agricultural, and mining.

Lincoln county, adjoining Spokane county on the west, is one of eastern Washington's great granaries. Its northern boundary is defined by the Columbia and Spokane rivers. The bulk of its lands are rolling prairies of great fertility. It has about 2,300 square miles of territory and about 25,000 people.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The bulk of the county consists of the rolling prairie land characteristic of the great wheat belt of the state. There are some mineral lands in the northern part of the county and here and there will be found considerable stretches of timber. In its northern portion the county is well watered by the Columbia and Spokane rivers, while in the southwestern section and elsewhere numerous small creeks and lakes occur.

RESOURCES.

The great resource of Lincoln county is its wheat fields, which in 1907 produced to exceed 8,000,000 bushels. Other cereals and hay are important crops. Along its northern part, particularly on the bottom lands of the rivers, much fruit is grown, including peaches and all the small fruits. Diversified farming is growing in favor among the farmers. Compared with other counties of the state, Lincoln county ranks as follows in the number of its stock: Horses, second place; hogs, second place; cattle, sixth place. The county also stands fourth in the number of its school houses and spends annually $100,000 for school support.

In wealth per capita, Lincoln county leads the state, showing for assessment purposes an average holding of real estate of $1,163 and $226 in personalty.

TRANSPORTATION.

The county is traversed from west to east its entire length by the Great Northern and the central Washington branch of the Northern Pacific railroads, some distance from its side lines, so that very little of the county is more than 12 miles from a railroad shipping point. There are 170 miles of railroad tracks in the county.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

DAVENPORT, the county seat and largest town in the county, is situated on the central Washington branch of the Northern Pacific railway near the middle eastern portion of the county, and has a population of about 2,800 people. Its business blocks are chiefly built of brick. It owns its own water system, is lighted with electricity, has fine school buildings and churches. Its court house cost about $80,000. It is surrounded by splendid farms and annually ships out about 1,250,000 bushels of wheat.

ALMIRA, in the western part of the county, on the Northern Pacific railway, is another prosperous and growing grain center with about 600 people.

HARRINGTON, on the Great Northern railway, is a town of some 1,200 people. It has a beautiful location, commands the trade of a large farming county, ships grain and livestock, and is a prosperous and growing town.

CRESTON, EGYPT, and BLUESTEM are smaller growing commercial centers.

MASON COUNTY

Mason county lies on the upper reaches of Puget sound, having the Olympic mountains at its north, where about one-fourth of the county is in the Olympic forest reserve. Its total area is about 900 square miles, and it has a population of about 6,000. Hood's canal penetrates well into the center of the county in its great bend, giving it a very long salt-water shore line. From the Olympic mountains numerous streams flow into the Puget sound, while others empty their waters into Gray's harbor.

The county is a great forest of splendid timber, which has been only to a limited degree cut out. The soil of the foothills and valleys Is composed chiefly of shot clays and alluvial deposits, making good farming, stock-raising and fruit-growing lands.

RESOURCES.

Logging and its allied industries constitute the main industries of the county, Much of the logs are shipped out of the county to feed sawmills in other parts of the Sound.

Raising and marketing oysters is an important source of wealth to the county.

There is already considerable acreage for farming and stock-raising, stock finding pasturage the year round. This industry will grow as the land is cleared.

The county affords splendid hunting and fishing in season.

TRANSPORTATION.

The county is so cut into by the inlets and bays of the sound that it has splendid transportation facilities by steamer to all the sound ports. The Northern Pacific railway reaches its southern boundary. No other railroads traverse the county but its logging railroads, which can give only a limited service.

SHELTON is the county seat, situated on an arm of the sound at the terminus of the logging railroad, and has about 1,200 inhabitants. Steamers from its wharves reach all the parts of the sound directly or by connection with others.

The logging industry, manufacturing lumber, cultivating oysters, fishing and farming are the chief industries of its people. It has four churches, good schools, a newspaper, good stocks of goods, volunteer fire department, electric lights, gravity water system.