The Hop Industry of the Yakima Valley, Washington

the state. In the case of San Luis Obispo county, the Swiss ranchers have made effective use of the coast lands and native vegetation REFERENCES 1 First notice of Swiss settlers in San Luis Obispo County appears In the San Luis Pioneer, Vol. 6, No, 213, September 13, 1873. Hor general economic and geographic descriptions of San Luis ' Obispo and the Santa Lucia area, see the various papers of John Wesley Coulter. The presence of a Swiss element In the population, however, has been entirely ignored from a cultural standpoint by Mr. Coulter and others, * Data on Someo and other Swiss villages may be iound in Diotlonaire Géographique de la Suisse (Neuchatol, 1902), and Diotlonaire Historique et Biographique do la Suisse (Neuohatel, 1932). in the successful development of a specialized industry: they are, in fact, responsible for the current land utilization of the area. 3 Diotlonaire Géographique de ?a Suisse, ß; 219. ' Compiled from the San Luis Obispo directory, 1931-1932 (Ban Luis Obispo, 1932). " San Luis Obispo Tribune for May 5, 1894. Souvenir edition. • Bureau of the Census report, 1930, ' MS. notes of the late Thomas P. Hunt, In files of th* TJ, C. Dept. of Agriculture, Berkeley, CaI. More recent figures would probably be somewhat lower, for many of the ranchers have been forced to operate their own ranches during the last five years. The Hop Industry of the Yakima Valley, Washington OTIS W. FREEMAN State Normal School, Cheney, Washington The Yakima Valley in south central Washington comprises one of the most productive irrigated areas in the United States. The Yakima River and other streams with sources in the Cascades supply the needed water. The Yakima Valley is separated into two nearly equal divisions by a ridge crossing the Valley through which the Yakima River has cut a passage called Union Gkip. Hops are commercially grown chiefly around Toppenish and Moxee City in the upper Valley . Moxee "Valley lies at an elevation of 1,000 feot ahovo sea level. The soil is deep and fertile and is mostly classified as Yakim-n sandy loam. It is generally woll drained which prevents alkali accumulation destructive to hops. Most Moxee hop farmers have fifteen to twenty acres in the crop. In 1929 Yakima County had .120 farmers with 2,172 acres in hops that produced 4,044,050 pounds. This was about 5/6 of the production in the state. Only the Salem district in Oregon exceeds the Yakima Valley in importance in the Union. Hop vines nro raised from cuttings placed in rows 8 feet apart. Tho crop requires much labor during tho year, including pruning the roots in the spring, several irrigations and cultivations when necessary , stringing tho vinos, and finally picking and curing tho hop cones. Hops nro generally raised by tho wire trellis system with cross wires between the polos to support the vines. Labor for picking consists of local residents , Indians from the Yakima Reservation , 'and transients. Several thousand workers are neoded during the hop picking season. Hops ara cured in kilns, gonorally built of wood 30 or 40 feot square. The quality of hoer depends in part upon certain constituents of hops, especially soluble rosins and lupulin. The greatest handicap to hop producers comes from gront price variations. The legalization of boor caused high prices which resulted in ex-j, pnnding production faster than consumption and as a result prices in 1934-3!) were generally tinder the cost of production. (S) ...