Overhead perspective of F. G. Monroe ranch workers branding cattle three and a half miles Southwest of Sprague, Washington. Photograph by T.T. Richardson, c. 1908.

Wheat field on the Alfred Leach ranch in the Gallatin Valley, Montana. Photograph by Schlechten, c. 1908.

Laborers in a sheep shearing corral owned by Lloyd and McKerlie near Ellensburg, Washington. Ellensburg is located in Kittitas County where thousands of sheep were wintered in the low lands of the south and eastern parts of the county along the Columbia and Yakima Rivers. Sheep were normally shorn in the springtime when its heavy fleece would not be needed to keep the animal warm. Photograph by Paultzke, Otto W., Ellensburg, c. 1908.

Sacks of grain await shipment at Davenport, Washington, where more than a million bushels of wheat were exported in 1901 and as many as 15,000 and 20,000 bushels were produced in one season. Davenport is the county seat of Lincoln County in what the Coast magazine, called part of the "Big Bend Wheat Country" of Eastern Washington. Photograph c. 1902.

Teams of horses hitched to a threshing combine on the Robert Gunning ranch near Davenport, Washington. The wind guard on the rear of the combine keeps air from upsetting the threshing (separation) process and stores the chaff from the grain. Photograph by Paige, c. 1908.

Sacks of grain (consisting of 70,000 bushels of wheat) stacked at Richard J. Stephens' warehouse in Almira, Washington in Lincoln County. Stephens also owned a warehouse in the unincorporated community of Govan, Washington. Photograph c. 1908.

Team of horses and laborers operating a combined harvester and thresher on the Haskins Brothers farmland near Almira, Washington in Lincoln County. The wind guard on the rear of the combine keeps air from upsetting the threshing (separation) process and stores the chaff from the grain. Photograph by W.F. Mitchell, Almira, Washington, c. 1908. 

ca. 1908. A scene in the Big Bend, circa 1908. Threshing 3 miles south of Waterville, Washington. This area of north central Washington State was a wheat farming community. The fertile soil, dry summers and heavy snows in winter produced abundant crops. During the past season circa 1907, however, wheat ran from twelve to thirty bushels per acre, a lighter yield than normal but as prices remained good, the farmer did not lose in the long run. The town of Waterville became the Douglas County seat in 1887, and according to its Chamber of Commerce, farming remains a mainstay of the local economy. The Wilhelm Collection (Coast Magazine September 1908, p. 153-157-article on Waterville) TPL-4273

Photographer: Witter, Alfred S., Waterville