Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-08-31
olYIPiA, SATURDAY IolylNC. aug. 81, 1879.
OLYMPIA.

VII A1xAs
It = q subject Of gesesl ,cnark as we'll
% surprise :hst . nseh greater number Of
ssw bvildsss sse sew going forward in
Olympia tAaa have beer erected dusiog
ssy previous season. The fact seems the
more surprising for the reason that every.
body had settled himself down iuto the
idea that the future Of the town depended
estirely upon the location Of the railroad
terminus. 1t was thought that wherever
the terminus was located there the town
would $40 60. Out of this idea some
comfortable little sums Of money have
bseu realised. During the years 1869,
1870 and 1871, Township 10 North Range
I West Vas retailed out in acre aud town
loss, 1t prices that would be considered
snpls within ten miles Of New York City.
Rsilrosd probabilities gave that township
its value, and Is soon Is it was demon.
stratcd that it had no chance for the
terminus it was worthless. Purchasers Of
lots in Nisqually aud other "cities" in
Township 10 North Range l West, had
been. worked up to very high anticipa-
Hon Of what the terminus was to do for
their property aud when the price fell
from $50 and $500 per acre to nothing,
il was tina fi,s practical illustration we
had Mad Of what the railroad could do to-
wards breaking up a town BY going some.
w1eye else. Next came Township 10 N.
Range 2 West, aud while this township
had tho benefit of the railroad idea, its
lands ran up 10 three weeks from Govern
meut price and no buyers, to $50 and 800
per aero. Solid miles Of it were plated
into additions aud towns; and any Of this
hsd, from Olympia seven miles north, (the
farther north the better,) was sought after
sad gobbled up at almost any price, from
the day it became possible that the railroad
would run to that township, down to the
date Of the announcement by Messrs.
Spraguc and Gsea~in that the road would
lead to and the depot buildings be erected
upon the Wylie or Billings Claims. Two
months have elapsed since this fact trans.
pircd, aud wo venture to say that there 10
mot mind conversant with or railroad
history, no matter what inclisatiou or in.
ssross may have been upper.ost, but has
been overwhelmingly disappointed in the
results Of that announcement.
The occasion chosen for the commune
cation, it will DO remembered, was the 4sh
Of July, and though nearly two months
have gone BY, and We hear every day
through the press Of the rapid and certain
progress of the railroad towards its north.
eru terminus, yet not an acre has been
cleared, not building has been erected,
not lot has been bought or sold, upon the
Wylie or Billings Claims. As practical
result, We arc seeing more clearly every
day how little the location of . terminus can
DO towards building up new town in OPP
position to long fixed and apparently nat
ural order Of things, without some special
advantage that does not seem to exist in the
present case.
Olympia is improving simply because
the practical necessities Of business are
more imperative than the most plausible
schemes of spectators; because trade and
commerce will run in their own channels
until they find deeper, smoother and short.