Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-01-20
OLYMPIA, SATURDAY MORNING, JAN. 20, 1872.
HOW WILL THE RAILROAD AFFECT
OLD SETTLERS2

That is the question. What will be the
results upon Puget Sound Of railroad con-
pection with the Columbia river? How
will that connection affect business and
business men ? How will it affect real
property? As perhaps few if any of our
readers have cared to seek for some Joseph
who can interpret this riddle, without pre-
tending to special means Of information or
the mantle of a seer, it seems to US that
there are few important conclusions
which should become impressed upon any
mind that will focus itself upon the facts
that are known: conclusions such as, that
increased facilities of communication with
the world must bring an influx of popula-
ton, whose labor will, of course, develop
the old and open new resources, increasing
the material wealth and prosperity of the
country.
In the march fevents, the ordinary road
will fall into disusc, and the neglected
mud.wagon will rot piece.meal beneath its
shed. The plank and paper stores and
shops will be speedily replaced by massive
blocks of stone and brick. Huge engines
and clauking machinery will perform the
Offices now filed by the carpenter at his
bench, the smith at his forge, and the
jadcd horse upon his tread wheel. The
narrow clearing Of the frontier will expand
into the we'll cultivated farm. The log
cabin will give place to the spacious man
sion. The village will grow into the city.
The desert will blossom as a garden, and
the waters will be whiteued with sail.
These changes are readily comprehended
BY us all. They are merely the repetition
Of what is occurring forever 1t is, after
oil, only what We "Old Settlers" have
been waiting aud watching and hoping for,
through all the long years that are past
1t is with thought of these things that we
have sweetened our pea coffee and seasoned
our potatoes and clans In dreams of this
now near and always glorious future, have
we worn away the long winters and waste
the short summers. hut have we ever
considered what part We are to take in the
new condition upon which We are about to
enter? Have we ever, in our con6diug
simplicity, entertained suspicion that any
others than ourselves, who have always
been here, could by any possibility be the
owners Of those brick and stone blocks
those stores, machine shops, Of that ship
ping, those forms, mansions aud villas
which our imaginations have painted upon
the horizon # the future SO long and
fondly, that We have come to wait with
impotence for the hour to arrive wher VIC
are to step into our new and ready fur
uished possessions?
Here the second important conclusion
may be presented, which is, that as tn,
field Of business is extended, rivalry aut
competitions will be multiplied 10 every
pursuit. The new river will be fairer ant
broader than the old: it will also be stron.
er. Those who have strength and skill
will glide on gaily with the stream, willis
all who are now merely making believe t,
swim, with one foot on the bottom, mus
inevitably disappear beneath the comm,
wave. 1t is the rule that the pioneer sci
dom reaps the harvest for which he has sowr
the seed. The reasons are obvious first
the habits and experience Of frontier lif
have not qualified him to compete, ii
business pursuits, with those who are fresl
from the struggles Of civilization (; and sec
ond, that civilization, with its fresh ant
skilled enterprise, also brings capital, .
stilf more formidable competitor.
These reflections have been suggested
BY the exsserated expectations which w
find too frequently entertained Of the per
sooal benefits to Gov Immediately from the
completioa Of the railroad connecting the
Souad With the Columbia river, and VII Al