and these had to be abandoned also. When the treaties were completed in 1859, many persons were ready to take up lands in the country, while the emigration of that year furnished several hundred settlers.^ In 1860 Walla Walla County had 1300 white people, and within the next six years the government surveyed about 750,000 acres of land in the valley, most of which was immediately taken up for agricultural purposes. The chief crop was wheat, which yielded at the rate of forty to fifty bushels, and was turned into flour for export to the numerous mining camps supplied from this centre. In 1865 the amount thus sent out was 7000 barrels. At the same time other products, like hay, onions, potatoes, and wool, were shipped down the river. In 1870 Walla Walla County had 5174 inhabitants. By that time the valley was fairly well settled, containing many beautiful farms, with comfortable and even handsome dwellings, surrounded by gardens, fruit orchards, and ornamental trees.
Settlement of the Grand Ronde valley. For many years the emigrants to Oregon had passed with regret the beautiful valley of the Grand Ronde, nestled so peacefully among the Blue Mountains. After all danger from the natives had been removed, and the Walla Walla country partly filled up, settlers began to take claims in this attractive region, notwithstanding
1 The Olympia Pioneer and Democrat of September 30, 1859, says that eight hundred emigrants had settled in the Walla Walla valley, while twenty families had taken claims on the Yakima, and thirty on the Klickitat and through the country from the Dalles to Fort Simcoe (on the Yakima).
