now, which is joyfully hailed by the farmers, for all moisture
is quickly absorbed by the soil and held for summer's use. The
spring season is two or three weeks earlier than in the Puget sound
basin. Moderate winds prevail during the summer months, coming from
the east and west by turns, and prevent excessive sultry weather.

OCCUPATIONS.

Aside from the ordinary agricultural pursuits suggested by the
foregoing, which includes grain-growing, horticulture, dairying and
truck gardening, should be mentioned stock-raising, particularly
of sheep, many thousands of which are yearly wintered in the valleys
and summered on the ranges. Bee culture and poultry-raising are
also both becoming important.

In closing, it should be said that the activity of the government
and private investors together has given a great impetus to the
settlement of these arid lands, and the population is rapidly
increasing, being made up of a miscellaneous assortment of Uncle
Sam's energetic, wideawake, industrious citizens, building homes
and making fortunes more rapidly, probably, than in any other part
of irrigated regions in his domain.

The doors are open, too, for the newcomers, for ten times the population
now there can well be made prosperous.

[Page 46]
THE COUNTIES AND MORE IMPORTANT CITIES AND TOWNS OF WASHINGTON

ADAMS COUNTY

LOCATION.

Adams county is in the center of southeastern Washington, cut out
of the once great desert plateau, covered with sage brush. It has
developed into one of the most important food-producing counties
of the state. It has a population of about 13,000 and covers 1,908
square miles of territory.

CLIMATE.

Its climate is not different from that of the balance of the district
in which it is situated, and, although some days in winter are
severely cold and some in summer hot, its dry atmosphere softens
the asperity of its cold, and its generous crop yields are full
compensation for the heat of the summer's sun. Its mean temperature
ranges from 30 degrees to 40 degrees in winter and from 50 to 74
degrees in summer. Its usual coldest days are 20 degrees to 25
degrees and its hottest ranging above 100 degrees. Its rain and
snow give about 12 inches of water. It has one small stream, a
tributary of the Palouse river.

TRANSPORTATION.

The Northern Pacific railway cutting the county diagonally from
northeast to southwest and the Oregon Railroad & Navigation railway
across its southeast cor