Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1871-08-12
OLYMPIA, SATURDAY MORNING, AUG. 70, 1911
Puget Sound Country.

A gentleman from Wisconsin, who had
been induced to visit this section by read
ing Mr.. Meeker's book, arrived here last
week, overland from Monticello, in compa-
ny with several friends from the East.
After looking around this town, with
which he and his party expressed them
selves greatly pleased, on leaving he said
there was one Washington Territory celeb
rity he regretted not to have seen-that
was "E. Mecker, the champion liar"
However severe and unjust this opinion
of Mr.. Mecker and his book may be, it is
shared in, pretty generally, by those, es.
pecially from the old Northwestern States,
who have had the opportunity of compar-
ing Mr.. Meeker's description of the coun-
try by personal observation; and yet there
is no fact stated by Mr.. Meeker which is
not literally true; nothing exaggerated or
calculated to deceive any who do not allow
their imagiuations to fill up the picture,
the outlines of which he has only attempt
cd to give. His descriptions of the climate,
the soil, the water courses, the animal and
vegetable productions, are all true to ma
ture, and are among the elements Of which
Eden was formed. To these attractions
the western man, in his imagination, has
added the rich and beautiful prairies, the
natural lawns and park like woodlands of
his own home, than which nothing can be
more dissimilar than the rugged hills and
dark and almost impenetrablc forests which
are the features most apparent to the trav-
cler here. In passing from the Columbia
River to the Sound, by the stage road, but
little is seen but high hills covered by gi.
gantic forest trees through which the sun
only penetrates at intervals, and valleys
woven over with an impenetrablc growth
OF bush and vine indicating the ren,arka.
BILE productivcness of tie soil. The Wis.
consin, Iowa, or Illinois man has never
before seen such formidable obstacles to
be overcome in order to reduce land to
cultivation, and he at once pronounces all
that has been said or published in favor Of
this country, as false inventions of specu.
lators and interested parties, designed to
.beguile settlers to their ruin. On arriving
at Olympia they find town of fifteen hun.
dred inhabitants, exhibiting every outward
evidence Of thrift and comfort, and literally
EMBEDDED in fruits, flowers, and ornamental
shade trees, the growth of which they had
never before seen excelled, and the market
supplied with fruits aud vegetables which
for size and quality are to them wonder
and marvel; they find also every variety
OF fish and game most sought for by cpl.
cures, and withal the most delicious and
equable climate to be found iu any portion
Of the habitable globe, untainted by mala.
rious poisons and uninhabited by winged
insects collecting internal revenue tax up.
on every breath drawn.
But this, they say, is favored spot
an exception to all the balance of the Ter.
ritory; they would like very much to live
here if there was any good farming coun.
try adjacent to the town. If they will look
through the back streets and commons OF
the town, they will see the standing proofs
in the huge stumps by which they are
thickly studded, that the town, with its
full grown orchards and luxurious gardens,
was but recently hewn from forests as uu.
forbidding as that by which it is surround.
ed, and that the same conditions of soil and
climate appcrtain to larger portion Of
the timbered lands Of tho Territory west Of
the Cascade mountains. They ignore the
fact also. that these forests are the chief
wealth Of the country. The Government
charges for stumpage, at forty cents a
thousand feet, would average forty dollars
an acre upon the most Of the timbered
lands, and that is more than any of the
wild lands in the old Northwestern States
will ever BE- worth.