# Leaves of Knowledge/Chapter 17

TACOMA, AND OLYMPIA, THE CAPITAL OF WASHINGTON
CHAPTER XVII.
Tacoma, and Olympia, the Capital of Washington.
The City of Tacoma, where I made my next stop, is beautifully situated on Commencement Bay, on the east side of Puget Sound.
Here are the great terminal shops of the Northern Pacific Railroad. This company has built immense elevators and warehouses, and from their docks shipments of wheat and flour are made to the Orient, the same company also having their fast passenger and freight steamships, that make their regular trips on the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Tacoma has numerous saw mills and an enormous business in the manufacture and shipment of lumber. Here is the country of big trees; unsurpassed in size are the fir, cedar, pine and other ​timber used for the manufacture of shingles and lumber. Across the Sound is the lumbering town of Shelton. There are numerous coal mines adjacent, the principal ones being at the towns of Carbonado, Wilkeson and Pittsburg.
Near here are the great fruit sections of Puyallup, Buckley, Auburn, Sumner and Orting, all increasing the immense trade of Tacoma.
The hunting and fishing are practically unlimited. The climate is salubrious, seldom freezing weather and never very hot, being both a glorious and perpetual summer and winter resort.
I viewed from the Tacoma hotel the unsurpassed scenery across the beautiful harbor and level expanse, and that giant, far-famed and widely known ​Tacoma's proud snow-capped peak, towering 14,532 feet above the sea level.
Near the city is Steilacoom, where is located the State Western Insane Asylum, the Eastern State Asylum being at Medical Lake, near Spokane.
At the head of Puget Sound, with its 2,000 miles of shore line, is Olympia, the capital of the State of Washington.
Gate City is the junction of the road from here and the one branching off from Centralia on the main line of the Northern Pacific going to Gray's Harbor.
A short distance further west is the lumbering town of Elma, which I take a great pride in, on account of its name, being, as you see, the same as my own. It is a busy little city with important railway connections, in addition to its thriving lumbering trade.
​Montesano has also important lumbering industries.
I now make my second stop at Aberdeen, at the head of Gray's Harbor, and situated on both sides of the Chehalis river, where vessels are constantly being loaded with lumber and shipped to San Francisco and foreign ports. Also the saw mills are kept continually in operation, furnishing the manufactured lumber for shipment by train to eastern markets. Here is the home of that beautiful bird called "Glebe," from the breasts of which are made magnificent shoulder capes.
I made a trip over to Cosmopolis on the gasoline launch Maud S., and another trip by boat to South Aberdeen, and they, as well as Hoquiam, were one continual bustle in the manufacture and shipment of lumber. "Ocosta by the Sea" and the summer resort of ​Westport, constitute the towns of this prosperous inland sea of Gray's Harbor.
I then went to Centralia and Bucoda, where I found the same stir in the sawing and shipment of lumber.
At Chehalis is still lumbering industries, and the junction, branching off to South Bend, on Willapa Harbor, where is the home of the oysters.
At Long Beach is a fashionable summer resort.
At the mouth of that great and glorious Columbia river, which gives prosperity to Washington and Oregon, is Ilwaco, with salmon fisheries and canneries.
At Castle Rock, Kelso and Kalama may be heard the buzz of the saw, demonstrating the manufacture of lumber.
I will now take my reader with me for a brief stop at Portland, Oregon.