Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

minum pipes feed in water. Rainfall is only 16.3 inches a year, practically guaranteeing good fishing weather during the summer months at the 100 lakes within 50 miles and numerous streams in the hills. Three-fifths of Washington's farm income comes out of Spokane's area of influence. Mining activities in Idaho are tied into Spokane. A stranger who looks around the main streets will be surprised to find a geiger counter on display in every other store window. There's a waterfall downtown, too. Wholesaling is growing with terrific speed, feeding supplies out into the Inland Empire. Lumber supports a $75 million payroll at 500 area sawmills, including the largest white pine sawmill in the world, a Weyerhaeuser unit. Like other northwestern cities, there's concern over the chance of a power shortage in a few years but right now the city's more interested in making 1956 a much better year than 1955, which was a much better year than 1954. Ex-Sen. Clarence Dill, who supplied a lot of the push behind Grand Coulee as well as federal radio legislation, reminded that Columbia and its tributaries are waiting for new dams and can supply power for everyone if they are harnessed. Looking out his law office window toward his home on a high bluff, he said, "Except for two terms in the Senate I've lived here 47 years. I remember when this was a small town. Watch what will happen to Spokane in the next half-century — especially if public funds are supplied for new dams and the cheap power that attracts industry." WASHINGTON CITIES ABERDEEN HOQU I AM — Logging, lumber, wood products and furniture are the main industries in Grays Harbor County, according to Harry R. Spence, KXRO Aberdeen. The port of Grays Harbor is described as one of the best on the Pacific Coast. The county (population 56,000. 17,000 employed) has 50 miles of ocean front. Its retail sales totaled $59.9 million in 1954. Climate is suited to forest growth. Fisheries are important, both for industry and recreation. Harbor Plywood Corp. employs over 600; Aberdeen Plywood Corp., 400. The area recovered quickly from the 1954 lumber strike and all types of business increased in 1955. Retail trade in 1954 totaled $36.5 million in Aberdeen, $8.65 in Hoquiam. BELLING HAM — Close to the Canadian line, Bellingham gets 20-25% of its retail business from customers across the border. Its main trading area, according to Rogan Jones of KVOS-AM-TV, covers a population of 200,000. Counties included are Whatcom (71,000), Skagit (47,000), San Juan (3,200) and parts of Clallam, Snohomish and Island. Alberta oil piped in from Vancouver goes to big General Petroleum and Shell refineries, with another refinery expected next year. Natural gas comes from Canada and the Southwest gas network will include Bellingham. Two Dlywood plants and Puget Sound Pulp & Timber Co. are major employers, along with many sawmill? and an expanding paper converting industry. Agricultural income is heavy. It includes dairying, poultry and seed products. Whatcom County retail sales totaled $79.4 mil Broadcasting • Telecasting MODERN SPOKANE, capital of an "Inland Empire," exerts economic influence far beyond surrounding mountains. lion in 1954, with $56.7 million in Bellingham. BREMERTON — Seat of the Puget Sound Naval Base, Bremerton, has a population of 33,000. It is the main city in Kitsap County, 84,200. The county is closely tied into the Seattle market, with frequent ferry service across Puget Sound. The city is strung along the waterfront and has a seaport flavor. Business is good, with aircraft carrier conversion a stimulating factor. EPHRATA-MOSES LAKE Back in 1940. Ephrata quietly celebrated the attainment of 1,000 population. With opening of the Grand Coulee power and irrigation facilities, the population has jumped to nearly 9,000. Moses Lake has jumped from 300 to 9,500. Grant County is now around 41,000. As the Columbia Basin develops, these cities face a future of exceptional promise. "The era of drought, despair and desolation is at an end," said C. A. Hawley, Grant County auditor, in a recent sketch. Bob Moore of KULE Ephrata noted that Grand County retail sales had passed the $40 million mark in 1954, and added they were increasing at a faster rate than 3,000 other U. S. counties can show EVERETT— With population of 35,000, Everett is the principal city of Snohomish County, just north of Seattle. County population is 132,000, with retail sales of $123 million in 1954. The city sits on Port Gardner Bay, with a landlocked harbor. The sound, with Whidbey Island to the west, offers fine salmon fishing. Lumbering is the main industry, including a huge Weyerhaeuser plant. Snow-capped peaks are seen to east (Cascades) and west (Olympics). KELSO-LONGVIEW— Located at the confluence of the Cowlitz River and Columbia, these twin cities have the two largest sawmills in the world, Weyerhaeuser and Long-Bell. Reynolds Metals and Longview Fibre are among large employers in this industrial community. Longview has berths for ocean vessels, large loading slips for barges and a grain car-tipper. Population of Cowlitz County is 60,000—24,000 in Longview, 9,400 in Kelso. Tourist business is increasing, boosted by easy access to ocean beaches 80 miles west, mountain, lake and forest resorts and a new north-south pavement (Route 99). Cowlitz County retail sales totaled $54 million in 1954— $12 million in Kelso, $35 million in Longview. OLYMPIA — As state capital, Olympia has a steady block of income (nearly 3,000 state employes) to supplement industrial and service wages. It is located in Thurston County, having 18,000 of the county's 48,000 population. The city is situated at the end of Puget Sound and the view from the Capitol is scenic and industrial, with an expanse of 100 merchant ships in mothball formation as an added feature. Retail sales in 1954 totaled $53 million in Thurston County and $44 in Olympia. Olympia is 191 miles from the ocean but maintains a well-equipped harbor with rail facilities and a big cold storage plant. Several ocean steamship lines and a Puget Sound inland carrier use the port. Outbound lumber and inbound petroleum are the main cargoes. The Chamber of Commerce seeks new industries with a vigor not observable around the magnificent array of state government offices. Olympic Brewery is a favorite spot for sightseers, drawing 40,000 a year. Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. is one of the area's big employers. Two transcontinental rail lines pass through the city. Tom Olsen, KGY, explains that Olympia is enjoying steady growth and should not be thought of as a boom city. Out in Thurston County are big gladiolus and narcissus bulb farms. The tiny Olympia oysters are grown in carefully tended oyster beds. The city is gateway to resort areas extending out in all directions. PASCO-RICHLAND-KENNEWICK — With Columbia River development, Pasco and neighboring cities are nicely set for the future. Pasco is near the junction of Columbia, Snake and Yakima rivers and is a wholesaling center. A deep Columbia channel carries the grain, alfalfa and other crops downriver. Pasco's population, 14,000, has tripled since 1940; Kennewick has sextupled, 2,000 to 13,000, and Richland (Atom Town), home of the Hanford plutonium plant, has blossomed into a new city of 23,000. The improved river service to Portland will make Pasco an increasingly important oil port and industrial center. It is located on the Standard Oil pipeline from Salt Lake City. A new Shell plant highlights the industrial center. Retail trade in Benton and Franklin Counties totaled $100 million in 1954. VANCOUVER— This suburb of Portland (see "Portland" chapter) is a city in its own right — 42,500 population, plus built-up surrounding area, and $47 million in retail sales. Clark County has 86,000 population, $70.8 million in retail sales. It is the largest seaport on the Columbia River, with lumber, grain and general cargo docks; has $35 million factory payrolls, including Alcoa and Carborundum plants, lumber, wood products, chemicals, paper, garments and metals; still has large tract of industrial land available. The busy port is the farthest inland on the Columbia, being 90 miles from the Pacific. WALLA WALLA — As center of one of January 9, 1956 • Page 85