New-York tribune., 1870-01-06
OUR NORTHWEST CO Asst.
MD OF pUGET SOUND.

Casion. be very grateful task to the pen of the
sklllful panegyrst. The serenity of the climate tho
inuumerable pleasing landscapes and the abundant
fertility that unasSisted nature puts forh require
only be enriched by the industry of man with vii
lagos mansions, cottages, and other buildings TO
render IT the most lovely country that be imag
ined; while the labor of the inhabitants would be
amply rewarded in the bOuntics which nature seems
ready to beStow cultivation"
We recently Published a memorial of property
owners and men engaged in business, residents of
Vancouver's Island, addressed to President Grant,
requesting that in any negotiations which may be
pending undertaken between your Government
aud that of Her most gracious Majesty for the settle
mont of territorial other questions, you will en-
desvor to induce Her Majesty to consent to tho
transfer OF this colony to the United States
SITUATION AND CLIMATE.
Vancouvers Island lies between the parallels of
As 20 and jo north latitude and 1880 and 1850 west
longitude. It's climate, in the succession of its
sons and general thermal conditions, approxmates
closely to that of Great Britain The Winter months
ordinarily the same those in the west of En-
gland. When exceptional and severe they are like
those of the English midland counties The tempera-
ture mder and the seasons are more equabe than
the corresponding area of the opposite American
main land. Winter disappears IN March. The
autumnal Indian Summer is very long. Indeed, the
isOthcrma relations between NanCOuver'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 man, and the sun hotter
but the average mean temperature in Great Britain
and Naucouvers Island is the same. Last Winter
roses blO0med in the open air in Victoria in Janu'
ary, and ice did not form thick enough the fresh
water ponds in the neighborhood to " outfit single
drinking saloon III the city.
AGRICULTURAL AND MINERAL WEALTH.
The average yield of wheat on Vancouver is 80
bushels to the Gi pounds to the bushel, of oats
40 bushels of 4G pounds of potatoes 200 bushels and
uuapproachably excellent. The established reputa-
tlon of vegetables grown IN Washington Territory
and Oregon stands high, though we have heard
more than one American say that the vegetables of
NaucouyeI's Island were better.
Vancouver has iueXhaustibe wealth in three seams
of the best coal west ofiPonnsyyania in myriads of
salmon. cod, habut, sturgeon, herring smelt, had
dock whiting and pilchard, and in the Eing-timber
of the Pacific coast, the Oregon red pine The coal
is extensively mined, and sold all over the Pacific
const and in Japan and China. The fisheries are
iudsuutably, in connection with those of the waters
of Puget's Sound some OF the richest earth. Vic
toria is but a dav sail from the best whaling ground
left to the New-Bedlord harpooncrS. The timber of
Vancouver cannot be surpassed The Colonial
thoritios have declared that the supply of its red
pine is ineXhaustbe It's growth is enormous. 1t is
often obtained $50 feet long, squarng Is inches fOr9O
feet
THE LUMBER TRADE.
The extraordinary size, straightness and uniform
thickness of these wonderful trees, their strength
and hcxblity the straightness and beauty Of their
grain their marvellous durability and freedom from
knots and sapwood, place them beyond all compe-
titon.i the masting, spaTng, planklng, flooring
aud decking Of ships. The French, Spanish, Sar-
diuan and Dutch Governments are supplied with
masts and spaTs by contract with company which
has saw-mils at the head of the Alberni Canal in
Barclay Sound. This timber is the same which con-
stitutcs the principal item of the wealth of Pugets
Sound. The report upon its qualities made by the
French engineers in the Imperial dOck-yard at TOU
Ion, and the comparative tests of it with japanese
and other oaks made by the shp-builder Westcrvelt
IN IIakodada demonstrates that it is uneQualed The
ports ut which il is shipped be made at night
we'll as in open day. The island wonderful in its
climate and III its wealth of soil, COAL timber, ores,
and fishes, is wonderful also in the number and ex-
cellence of its harbors
o. The Colonial authorities of Vancouvers Island
6ec officially Sanctioned the declaration that Her
geographical position gives her commercially and in
a military point of view stntegically, the command
Of the North Pacifc;7 and that "to the golden
r4jgus and fertile plains Of British Columbia, Van
couycr's Island will be as the strong man armed
that kecpcth the door
EFFECT OF 4 NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD
The people of the United States ought to have that
door in their own hands and the opening and shut
ting thereof Particularly should they control this
command of the North Pacific" since it is certain
that the North Pacific Railroad will soon be built
from Lake Superior 10 Pugets Sound The STRAIT OF
san Juan de Fuca will be the outlet of the Road TO
the Pacific Naucouvcr's Island walls thciStrMt on
the north The commerce, the industry, the manu-
featuring. tho agriculture, that will spring up
on Puget Sound and its shores under the IN
dueuce of this continental railway, will be amazing
The shore lines of that inland sea arc l,SOO miles
long On the eastern side they are fnnged to tho
wafer and covered back TO the mountains with
forests of pine fir and cedar of hight and diam
eter of a clearncss strength and straigbtness OF
cleavage that the Atautic-slOpe people cannot be
made to comprehend and refuse TO believe. so deep
ara these waters and 50 bold their banks, that III
most parts of the Sound man-of-war may anchor
with twenty fathoms under her sternpost and have
her ib-boom among the trees on the shore. Twelve
huge saw-mills there are making lumber for the IA
ci6c coast the Sandwich Islands, Japan, CHINA, ana
British India Some of these cut 10000 feet day.
One of them owns and constantly employs seventeen
large ships. ....,,,,,.,
And vet the lumber business of Puget Sound is in
its infancy Its fisheries are untouched. The thirty
mile, outcrop of excellent bitumnOus coal on the
east aide of the Sound has only been picked at in two
or three places The lower vein of this coal Is l6
feet thick The upper vein, intermttingly worked
hack of Seattle is A. feet thick. The soil all around
the Sound is perfect for wheat and for fruit. It's
natural grass is bunch grass which cures to hay
on the ground, and in January and February com