The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-12
OUR NORTHWEST COAST.
The Coast End of Puget Sound.

Captain George Vancouver, in May, 1882,
thus pictured the island which bears his names
ITO describe the beauties of this region
will, on some future occasion, be a very
grateful task to the pen of the skilful pane
gyrist. The serenity of the climate, the in
Vulnerable pleasing landscapes and the
abundan. fertility that unassisted nature puts
forth, require only to be enriched by the in
dustry of man with villages, mansions, cot
tages, and other buildings, to render it the
most lovely country that can be imagined;
while the labor of the inhabitants would be
amply rewarded in the bounties which nature
seems ready to bestow on cultivation.
We recently published memorial of pro-
perty owners and men engaged in business,
residents of Vancouver's Island, addressed to
President Grant, requesting that Gin any
negotiations which may be pending or un-
dertaken between your Government and that
of Her most gracious Majesty for the settle
ment of territorial or other questions, you
will endeavor to induce Her Majesty to con-
sent to the transfer of this colony to the
United States. I'd
rs SITUATION AND CLIMATE.
Vancouver's Island lies between the paral-
| lels of As deg. 20 min. and 81 deg. north lati-
| tude, and 1873 deg. and 12S deg west longi-
| tude. Its climate, in the succession of its
seasons and general thermal conditions, APP
proximates closely to that of Great Britain.
The winter months ordinarily are the same as
those in the west of England. When excep-
tional and severe they are like those of the
English midland counties. The temperature
is milder and the seasons are more equable
than on the corresponding area of the oppo-
site American main land Winter disappears
in March. The autumnal Indian summer is
| very long. Indeed, the isothermal relations
between Vancouver's Island and Great Britain
are nearly identical. The differences are that
| in Vancouver the springs are later and colder
| good for wheat), the summers dryer (better
for wheat and good for mani, and the sun
hotter-but the average mean temperature in
| Great Britain and Vancouver's Island is the
| same Last winter roses bloomed in the open
air in Victoria in January, and ice did not
form thick enough on the fresh water ponds
in the neighborhood to outfit a single
drinking saloon in the city.
AGRICULTURAL AND MINERAL WEALTH.
The average yield of wheat on Vancouver
is so bushels to the acre, GA pounds to the
bushel, of oats 40 bushels of 46 pounds, of
potatoes 200 bushels and unapproachably ex-
cellent. The established reputation of vege-
tables grown in Washington Territory and
Oregon stands high, though we have heard
more than one American say that the vegeta-
bles of Vancouvers Island were better.
Vancouver has inexhaustible wealth in three
seams of the best coal west of Pennsylvania,
in myriads of salmon, cod, halibut, sturgeon,
herring smelt, haddook, whiting and pill
chard, and in the king-timber of the Pacific
coast, the Oregon red pine. The coal is ex-
tensiyely mined, and sold all over the Pacific
coast, and in Japan and China. The fisheries
are, indisputably, in connection with those
of the waters of Pugets Sound, some of the
richest on earth. Victoria is but IA days sal
from the best whaling ground left to the New
Bedford harpooners. The timber of Vancou
yer cannot be surpassed The Colonial au
thorities have declared that the supply of it
red pine is inexhaustible. Its growth is enor
nous. 1t is often obtained $50 feet long
squaring 40 inches for 30 feet.
| THE LUMBER TRADE.
The extraordinary size, straightness, anC
uniform thickness of these wonderful trees
their strength and fiexibility, the straightnes
and beauty of their grain, their maryellou
durability and freedom from knots and sap
wood, place them beyond all competition il
the masting, sparring, planking, flooring, anC
decking of ships. The French, Spanish
Sandman and Dutch Governments are sup
piled with masts and spars by contract witt
company which has saw-mills at the head o
the Alberni Canal in Barclay Sound. Thi
timber is the same which constitutes thu
principal item of the wealth of Pugets Sound
| The report upon its qualities made by th'