to be its staple crops until irrigation may come in and stimulate
fruit production, for which it is thought much of the lands will
be suitable.

TRANSPORTATION.

Both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railway systems are in
the grain fields of the northern part of the county. The Milwaukee
road crosses the southern part, the N. & S. is projected along its
western border, paralleling the Columbia river, which is navigable,
thus affording all the county, excepting the central portion, good
facilities for marketing its products. As the county develops,
beyond question branch lines will penetrate this portion, and Grant
county will become as well supplied as any other portion of the
state with facilities for commerce.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

EPHRATA, the county seat, is a small village on the Great Northern
railway about midway of the county and the center of a large
wheat-growing section. Its transformation into an important town
is rapidly
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going on, the new county government calling for a variety of new
occupations to center here.

WILSON CREEK, near the eastern border of the county, is a larger
town whose chief industry is marketing grain. It is an important
distributing point, with prospects of larger growth.