n the main are gradual slopes. These conditions make irrigation
very feasible. Its wonderful results have been seen and the process
of irrigation has found a wide field within the past few years.

THE IRRIGATION AREA.

Not only the Yakima valley, where this method of farming had its
beginning in the state, but many other places, are now being made
productive which were once thought wholly worthless on account of
their aridity. Among these are the Wenatchee valley, the Entiat,
the Methow, the Chelan, and the Okanogan--all on the slope of the
Cascades. The immediate low lands of the Columbia and Snake rivers
and considerable of the narrow valleys of the small streams emptying
into them have in many instances been irrigated.

[Illustration: Plate No. 33.--King County Rural Views.]

[Illustration: Plate No. 34.--HOW THE HILLS MAKE WAY FOR THE SKYSCRAPERS
IN SEATTLE. 1907--Last of Hotel Washington. 1908--New Hotel Washington.]

[Illustration: Plate No. 35.--A Portion of the City of Seattle
Overlooking the Harbor.]

[Illustration: Plate No. 36.--Torpedo-Boat Destroyer in Government
Drydock at Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Kitsap County.]

[Illustration: Plate No. 37.--Steamship Dakota in Government Drydock
at Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Kitsap County.]

[Illustration: Plate No. 38.--A Kittitas County Apple Tree.]

WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT.

The work of reclaiming the arid lands has been wonderfully accelerated
and widened in scope by the national government. The projects of the
reclamation service now include practically all of the available
waters of the Yakima valley for irrigating the lands therein. In
Yakima county alone there are probably
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260,000 acres now under ditch, and probably 50,000 more will be
reclaimed this season. This is probably not more than half the
lands in the county capable of irrigation. The fact that the general
government is in control of these projects insures as wide and
just a distribution of the available waters as possible. The cost
of irrigation, which is from $50 to $60 per acre, is paid by the
owners of the land in ten annual payments. There is also an annual
charge for maintaining the canals from $1.25 to $1.50 per acre.
These projects of the government cover the lands in Benton and
Kittitas counties also--both of these counties being in the Yakima
valley. The government is also engaged in managing an extensive
project in the southern part of Okanogan county, where probably
50