Geography of the Fruit Industry of Yakima Valley, Washington

Abstract

HE drainage basin of the (pronounced YAK-i-mah) extending diagonally through South Central Washington, contains an area of 5,970 square miles of which about 9 per cent is irrigated. Yet within the 400,000 acres of irrigated land are planted a sufficient number of fruit trees to make County the leading agricultural county of the state of Washington and to place it among the five leading counties of the nation in income from agricultural products, ranking first in apples and pears, third in cherries, and eighth in peaches. Farmers in the county receive nearly $50,000,000 income from fruit alone, and other crops bring the total farm income to $118,000,000. The term Yakima Valley as used in this paper will include only the irrigated portion of the drainage basin of the River in and