Land Tenure in Oregon. 87 TABLE 22. TOTAL NUMBER OP FARMS, AVERAGE AREA PER FARM, TOTAL AND IMPROVED ACREAGE, PER CENT. IMPROVED, TOTAL VALUE, AVERAGE VALUE PER FARM, AND AVERAGE VALUE PER ACRE OP FARM LAND, IN OREGON, CLASSIFIED BY DECADES, FROM 1850 TO 1900.(*) Items 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 Tntal Nn of farms. . . 1,164 5,806 7,587 16,217 25,530 35,578 Average area per farm.. , 371.8 354.9 314.9 259.9 270.7 283.1 JL oi/aL area ui farm land.. 432,808 2,060,539 2,389,252 4,214,712 6,909,888 10,071,328 Improved area of farm land . 132,875 896,414 1,116,290 2,198,643 3,516,000 3,328,308 Per cent, of area im- proved .... 30.7 43.5 46.7 52.2 50.9 33.0 Total value of farm $4,908,782 22,099,161 30,475,387 76,975,140 143,024,800 172,761,287 Av. value per farm.. . $ 4,217 3,806 4,017 4,747 5,602 4,821 Av. value per acre . . . $ 11.34 10.72 12.76 18.26 20.70 17.15 TABLE 23. PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE BY DECADES OP NUMBER OF FARMS, ACRES OF FARM LAND, AND VALUE OF FARM PROPERTY, IN OREGON, FROM 1850 TO 1900.(t) 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 Items. to to to to to 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 Number of farms 398.8 30.7 113.7 57.4 40.4 376.1 16.0 76.4 63.9 45.8 Value of farm property 350.2 37.9 152.6 85.8 20.8 The value of farm property, which is, doubtless, the best general criterion of agricultural growth, increased very rap- idly during the decade from 1850 to i860. This is character- istic of all the states of the Western Division at this time ex- cept Washington, for which the figures are not given, but there was scarcely any farming in Washington before i860.
- U. S. Census Reports for 1900, Twelfth Census, Vol. V, pp. 688-689 and
692-695.
flbid. pp. 702-703.----
