climate and soils are well adapted. Some lands have been irrigated
with great benefit, but the bulk of the farming is successful without
irrigation.

Fruit-raising is receiving deep interest of late, and the county
bids fair to compete for honors with the very best localities in
the state for the hardier fruits.

Lumbering and saw-milling engage the attention of a large number
of the people, the product of the mills finding a ready market
in the farming region, large cities and mining camps.

Mining of the precious metals is a growing and an attractive industry.
The ores include gold, silver, lead, copper, tungsten and iron, while
quarries of limestone, marble, onyx, fire-clay, etc., abound.

TRANSPORTATION.

In addition to the navigable waters of the Columbia and Pend d'Oreille
rivers, which traverse the outskirts of the county, the Great Northern
railway through the Colville valley from the southern to the northern
boundary, reaches most of the agricultural and mining centers and
renders good service. The western part of the county, comparatively
undeveloped, deserves much more attention.

PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS.

COLVILLE is both the county seat and principal town in the county,
having a population of 1,600 people, and is a growing town, a
distributing center on the railroad, surrounded by prosperous farming
communities.

NORTHPORT is the center of much mining activity and has a large
smelter for the reduction of ores of the precious metals. It has
a population of 1,200.

CHEWELAH is a center of agriculture, mining and lumbering industries
in the center of the county, having about 1,000 people.

NEWPORT, in the southeastern part of the county, is an important
agricultural distributing center. A dozen other smaller towns offer
great opportunities to the homeseeker.

[Illustration: Plate No. 77.--Raising Potatoes in Young Orchard,
Spokane County.]

[Illustration: Plate No. 78.--Basalt Columns, Spokane River at Spokane.]

[Illustration: Plate No. 79.--STEVENS COUNTY VIEWS. "Where the
Elephant Drinks," a Remarkable Crag on the Bank of the Pend d'Oreille
River. A Typical Fruit Ranch. Flume Creek Falls.]

[Illustration: Plate No. 80.--Stevens County Timber. Cedar Forest.
White Pine Forest. Yellow Pine Forest.]

[Page 85]
THURSTON COUNTY

Thurston county is known as having the state capital, Olympia,
within its borders, and as including the extreme southern reaches
of Puget sound. It is a county