Recommended Region: The Walla Walla Region (Walla Walla and Columbia Counties, Southeast Washington)

This is one of the best dry land farming regions in eastern Washington. The drive east of Walla Walla is like a trip back in time to typical 1950s American farming country. Aside from the satellite dishes and the now ubiquitous crop sprayer tank trailers, not much has changed since then! When searching for a potential retreat, concentrate on the small towns east of Walla Walla proper–like Waitsburg and Dayton, but none smaller than Dixie. Statistics (for Walla Walla): Average high temperature in August: Average low temperature in January: Growing season: 190 days. Average snowfall in January: 19.8” (64.7” annually.) …


Lister Low RPM Engines Still Made in India

I have been a fan of one and two cylinder engines for many years. I grew up seeing these old timers putt-putting away at the county fair. Stationary engines still have a surprisingly large hobbyist following in the U.S. and Australia. Steam engines dominated from the 1860s to 1890s. Then came several different styles of one and two cylinder gas or diesel engines. They were eventually supplanted by higher compression (Briggs and Stratton style) high RPM gasoline engines. Because of their simplicity, low compression/low RPM engines still have considerable utility for grid-down survival use. They were common on most American …


Letter Re: The Wallowa Region

Mr. Rawles concerning the Wallowa Lake area a few points. Whether or not these are good or bad I leave to you. Around the lake itself the area is expanding as new homes are being built along the southern side of the lake. The region has become a popular tourist area due to events like the Chief Joseph Days which is held in August in Joseph. It includes a decent size rodeo and parade. In Joseph there are several large bronze foundries which serves to draw a number of folks to the area to see the works. Since a modest …


Letter Re: Retreat Potential of The Carolinas

Hi Jim, I understand that you are looking for more detailed information on Carolina retreat locales. My wife and I both grew up here and have traveled quite a bit of the state. We live in the western end of the state (The Blue Ridge Mountains.) As far as the East is concerned, I’m with Joel Skousen as he gives it an “A”. As long as you stay out of Buncombe, Henderson, and Macon counties. They’ve been invaded by rich Floridians, yuppies, hippies and drug-heads. But they do offer many employment opportunities, especially in the elder-care, nursing home, health related …


Letter Re: L1A1 Rifle Bolt Hold Open Modification

Sir: The pin on my L1A1 bolt hold open was cut off. Do you have the part that holds the pin with a pin that has not been cut off? Thanks for the help. – The Texas Aggie JWR Replies: Most countries that issued the L1A1 foolishly specified them without a working automatic bolt hold-open (for after the last cartridge in the magazine is fired), even though it is part of the original design. This specification change was ostensibly done because they didn’t want dirt or sand entering the action when the bolt was held open. I suspect, however, that …


Letter From Fred The Valmet-meister Re: Asian Avian Flu

Jim: I heard Dr. Bill Wattenburg on KGO last night talking about the Asian bird flu. I also read the link you gave to the article on WorldNetDaily. Dr. Bill really scared me this time! I am a bit depressed hearing what he said last night. He said that if the virus does make the jump to humans, it will kill half the population of the Earth. I’m not kidding he said that. He said it would be worse than a nuclear bomb going off in the major big cites because everyone would try to flee. Oh my God. I …



Note from JWR:

I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that readership is up! The bad news is that because of the steadily increasing SurvivalBlog site traffic, I’ve had to upgrade our web hosting account with to one of our ISP’s “Gold” accounts–which is nearly twice as expensive as our old account. (Was $143, now $311.) Even though I’ve tried to minimize the number and size of graphics, users are downloading more than 12 gigabytes per month. (They are small files, but there are lots of blog readers!) The recent increase in advertising revenue helps, but the support of …


Recommended Region: The Wallowa Region (Wallowa County, Northeast Oregon)

The Wallowa Valley is in far north-eastern Oregon, in Wallowa County. The towns dotted along the valley (see map) include Wallowa, Lostine, Enterprise, and Joseph. The following population statistics are courtesy of the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce: Wallowa County: 7,150 Enterprise: 2,020 Joseph: 1,085 Lostine: 230 Wallowa: 760 Imnaha: 100 The median income in Wallowa is $28,603, versus the national average of $41,994. (Source: 2000 U.S. Census ) The mountains ringing the Wallowa Valley get the lion’s share of the precipitation, while the valley floor itself is fairly dry. The average precipitation for the entire county: 18.85 inches, Enterprise: …



Letter Re: A Sense of Scale

Mr. Rawles: Great site, I look at it every day that I am near a computer and learn something every time. One minor thing that I noticed the other day was your mention of some ranches in Eastern Oregon being several sections. You did say that a section is 640 acres but some readers might not understand the scale of things. Tell them that a section is one mile by one mile [square]. They may not have a feel for an acre but a box with a four mile perimeter is something all your readers will understand.



Note from JWR:

Today I’m covering yet another region in Oregon in my detailed retreat locale analysis series. I’ll be moving on to my recommendations in Washington later this week. Recommended Region: The Illinois River Valley/Cave Junction Area (Josephine and Jackson Counties Southwest Oregon)(SAs: Retreat Selection, Relocation, Demographics, Oregon) Note: Cave Junction is the home to both The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine and WorldNetDaily , so it must have something going for it! Statistics (for Grants Pass): Average high temperature in August: 88.7. Average low temperature in January: 31.1. Growing season: 140 days. Average snowfall in January: 3.2”. Median residential home …


“Doug Carlton” on Survival Retreats in the East and Surviving on a Budget

Jim: I wanted to address a couple of things some of your readers have brought up recently. There’s been a lot of well thought out letters on retreat sites that aren’t in the west. That’s great, I live on the east coast myself. I want to hear more about other locales, as I’m sure Jim does as well. If your state isn’t on his list of retreat locations, don’t take offense. As long as you’re applying some of the same logic, ideas, and planning to your retreat location then you’re doing far better than most survivalists, let alone sheeple. Jim …


Letter Re: Armored Window Shutters, Ayn Rand, U.S. Military Organizational Structure

Dear Mr. Rawles, My copy of your book [Patriots] has been read by so many people that the binding is falling apart. I’ve read it three times myself. Are there photo examples of the retreat doors and shutters? Sorry, I cannot post pictures, due to OPSEC. I did my best to describe the shutter and door ballistic upgrades in detail in the novel. (In narrative form.) If you want to construct something similar, just be sure to take the weight into account when sizing the hinges, and remember that the hinges need to be attached to some substantial framing or …