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The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., April 30, 1910, page 8

THE GREAT HARTLAND FARMING SECTION

This precinct which is 12 miles from the Lyle railroad depot and the Columbia river, 11 miles to The Dalles and 22 miles from Goldendale, the county seat, is essentially an agricultural country, which produces all kinds of grains, grasses and vegetables as well as fruit. The average yield of wheat is 25 bushels to the acre and often 30 or more. Oats and barley and do very well also, and some of the farmers have sown alfalfa which promises to be a success. Several of the old-timers have orchards consisting of apples, peaches, pears and cherries, and notwithstanding the lack of attention a wonderful yield is obtained.
We believe that the time has now arrived when much of this land will be planted in fruits and the experimental stage has now been passed. The land as well as climate is equal, if not superior to Hood River, and the price of land, most of which is cleared and under cultivation, is such that an unusual opportunity is presented to homeseekers or investors. Of recent years prices have advanced, and the end is not yet in sight. Large tracts have just been disposed of, at all the way from $20 to $40 dollars per acre and even at the maximum price it is very cheap indeed.
This precinct familiarly known as the High Prairie country, contains many farm homes which are handled by intelligent farmers, but some tracts are owned by non-residents, and as a general thing need more and better attention, and as these farms come into the custody of owners who will reside on and care for the land, the response will amply remunerate for the care and attention given it, and anyone in quest of a good home no mistake by purchasing in this district.
There is a post-office, store and many of the homes have telephone communication, and an effort is being made to extend the benefit to every home, and the accomplishment of this most desirable addition to the requisites of civilized life is now in sight. There is a Baptist and Methodist church edifice and occasional preaching, a commodious school house, and the school will soon be in session under the tuition of an able and experienced instructor.
Water is plentiful and excellent in quality and obtainable in most places at 10 to 25 feet. Formerly this country was covered with bunch grasses of which some yet remains where fenced up, but most of the land is employed in raising grain.
We have the benefit of a daily mail and an effort will be made to get an R.F.D., and a few more residents would be a decided help in this respect. We need no J.P. our people being all law abiding citizens, and if necessity should arise to transact business our neighboring town of Lyle can furnish the needed accommodation.
Thousands of people in the congested sections of the East are looking for a place where, with their small accumulations, they can acquire homes. Here the balmy breezes of the Chinook winds waft over the land in the winter, dispelling the cold, and the cool mountain breezes in the summer temper the heat. That pure mountain air is permeated with ozone from the evergreen forests, and people who are afflicted with lung and throat trouble find this a haven of rest. The atmosphere is pure and invigorating, the water it is the very best, the land is cheap, easily cultivated and produces well.
Never has the time been when the importance and the significance of the farmer as a commercial factor in the industrial development of a county been so can congently realized as now. Large sums of money are being spent in literature people in an endeavor to lure back to the farm the thousands of young man who seek the congested centers of population, expecting to make a livelihood without much work, and finally become discouraged, drop down the scale of usefulness, while if they would only acquire a few acres of mother earth, they could live a life of independence. Here in Hartland we have broad acres of land that needs development; we are not crowded, there is still room for many. There is comfort compared with Eastern conditions, we are exempt from the great extremes of temperatures, torrential rains and great atmospheric disturbances. Come and enjoy our happy lot.