Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1870-02-12
PUGET SOUND:
ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.
BY ELWOOD EVANS, ESQ.

An address delivered at Port Townsend,
Washington Territory, Jan. 9Th, 1869, for
the benefit Of the Good Templar's Hall
Fund repeated at Seattle for the benefit
of the Seattle Library Association, Jan.
18th, 1859; repeated at Olympia, for
benefit of Tacoma Library and Reading
Room, Jon 22d, 1869, and also at request
of Grand Mound Lodge Of Good Templars,
May 1st, 1869.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN 1t may oc-
cur to many of my hearers that the SUBJ
ject to which their attention. is invited, is
not opposite to the occasion. They may,
with great propriety, consider that each
resident Of Washington Territory possess
es the same means Of knowledge, and that
it savors OF egotism for one of their own
number to volunteer to enlighton them
upon an evcr-present, ever-constant object
Of observation. But if this home of ours
can be made to appear more attractive, if
the blessings Of bounteous Heaven which
have been conferred in this region may be
SO grouped as to present better showing
why we should be more contented with
our respective lots and more grateful to
Divine Goodness for the favors we arc
permitted to enjoy; if these gifts, so man.
fold and extensive will Justify the invita-
tion from less favored portions of carth's
circumference of those who there are des,i-
tute, who here would find comfort and
plenty to satate all their legitimate wants,
in turn ailing us to ripper and fuller re-
aliza'ion of such blessings; if this duty
can be made to appear to each of you, con-
vcrtng you into aids of Immigration and
ministers to the a!leviation Of suffering hu-
manity elsewhere, then the subject be.
comes attractive to all ofus, Of Importance
to individuals as well as the community
Selfish interest might be regarded abun-
dant justification for individual or organ
lied effort to encourage population to come
and enjoy the vast unoccupied domain
skirtng Puget Sound and the various riy-
ers which flow into it. But there is
louder call invoking such course. 1t
is sympathy with humanity crushed to
earth in less favored portions of the earth.
Love for our race, the duty of ameliorat-
ing the condition of our fellow beings, al
deviation from distress, poverty, disease
aud degradation, all command the effort to
invite others to come aud share with us
the advantages Of this favored. region.
The " five loavcs and two fishes" typical
of the glorious assurance that divine love
was not only cxhaustlcss but rather in
creased in volume as Gods creatures be.
came willing to share in it, were not d.
mnished in quantity as the multitude of
partakers increased Nor will the bless.
ings so bounteously conferred in this To-
cality be less to any of us because thou
sands instead of tens are the sharers in
them. Human progress, the establish
mcnt Of American States on the Pacific,
the advancement Of civilization, the anne
lioration of our species, are all to be sub
served by attracting hithcr the surplus
from the ove~glutcd ccnters of popula-
tion in the Atlantic States and Europe.
Transplanting the same in the unoccupied
wastes of this Territory, vitalizes the new
field, and alike and at the same time re.
news the energies of the old settlement
1t lifts from the latter n drawback, and by
general law of nature in the equalization
of social forces, infuses new life into both,
for it will not be successfully gainsaid that
in the one many suffer because overcrowd-
cd, while we languish here from mere
weakness ofnumbers, from paucity of pop
ulation. 1t will be equally conceded that
those who find mew homes in our nev Ter
ritory insure their own prosperity and So
cial benefit as we'll as contribute to our
Growth and a1vancemppt .sf .-..s a.t
Be it my effort, therefore, to cndcavor
to convince you that we have Territory
worthy of your commentator, that we
have home Of which we may be proudly
grateful, and to encourage each of you to
use your influence to invite those who arc
seeking new places of settlement to direct
their attention to this Territory.
The PAST of Puget Sound is replete
with interest. Itpossesscs history that
must cndear it to you, as we'll as provoke
the curiosity of the novelty seeker Brief
ly in this allotted hour, let us recur to
some Of its poculiarities. The cursory
view presented may enlist your attention,
and hereafter invite an investigation of
some of the leading characteristics. That
study will prove to you'a source of unal-
loyed qualification, for the books of voya-
ges and travels in which these matters are
recounted, are full Of entertainment as we'll
as useful knowledge. Nor will it be less
a source of pardonable pride that Britain
furnished such men as Capts. Cook, Van
couver and Mcares, that our own beloved
country contributed Gray, Kendrick and
Wilkes, that the i!lustrious Spanish navi-
gators, Dc Haro, Perez aud Quadra, all of
whom were found willing to devote their
heaviest efforts to rcnder their names i'm
mortal, seeking in this region to add to the
store of the worlds knowledge, the gcog-
raphy aud resources Of what is now the
inland sea of our own Washington Terrific
ry. Bright as arc those names, lustrous a.
was the service Of those who have rendered
their names immortal, yet there hangs a