Japanese farms in Washington

Abstract

More than thirty years have elapsed since Japanese farmers first appeared in the state of Washington, but it was not until after 1910 that they increased rapidly. The climax was reached in 1920 when there were in the state more than one thousand Japanese cultivating over twenty-five thousand acres. Over half of this land had trees, woods, marshes, and waste land before Japanese occupation, but soon it was cleared, drained, and tilled by their indefatigable hands. As a consequence, this rapid growth began to attract the attention of the American people. In 1920 the 3500 dairy cows owned by Japanese alone supplied about half of the milk consumed in Seattle, and nearly seventy percent of the berries, fruits and vegetables consumed in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, and other cities of the vicinity were raised on these Japanese farms. Furthermore, a considerable amount was shipped to such eastern cities as St. Paul, Chicago and New York.