, 1873-01-05
THE WEEKLY ARGUS.
MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1874.
\ Natural Fact.
WHY ALL OF TIE STEAMERS WILL NOT
GO TO SEATTLE.


Truthful Jeems." Of the Intelligcn7
ccr, has promised to show up ''certain
interested parties" who have caused the
removal of the steamboat inspectors
Office from Seattle to Port Townsend.
He insists that twO-thirls of all the
steamers OH these waters MUST go tc
Seattle to do their business.
Without stopping to take into con-
sideration the immense loss that Seattle
will sufTsr on the removal Of the office
in question from that city, we shall
attempt to show why Port Townsend
and NOT Seattle, is and always will be
the headquarters for the most impor-
tant part ofour Sound steamers.
1t is a well-knOwn fact to every ship
master who has sailed into the Strait
of Fuca bound for Puget Sound, that
there are two places on the route where
he Is likely to be detained b. the winds.
The first of these places Il of Cape
Flattery, at the mouth of the Strait.
The feet of. vessels (some sventeen or
more) which arrived here last Thurs
day, some of them after weeks of deten-
tiOn of the Cape, and the balance of
them had been knocking about there
for several days, Is proof Of this fact.
1t is not often that a sailing vessel
gets into the Strait the first time she
makes the Cape.
The next place where the winds are
apt to battle the sailing efaft is at the
entrance OF Admiralty Inlet. Vessels
will frequently bring a leading wind
mp the Strait as far as Point Wilson,
(which marks one side Of the entrance
OF. Admiralty Inlet, and also of Port
Townsend Bay. and there the wind
viii leave them to the mercy OF the
tides or, as is sometimes the case,
will run into wind, blOwingI exactly
nan opposite direction. In this bay.
then, or offits entrance, on the N'AIid-
die Grounds" these vessels have to
anchor to wait for favorable wind or
the more expeditiaus tug-hoat to take
them to their destinations up the Sound.
This fact Is also substantiated by the
fleet OF vessels which arrived here on
Thursday and had to come to anchor
on account of the adverse wind, and
we believe every one dfthem was towed
up the SOund) as it has been hundreds
Of times before, in the same way, by
other vessels. Our astute friend of the
Intelligencer may say, ''Ah, this only
happens in winter, when the prevailing
wind is adverse to vessels coming ur
the Sound" From the report of the
Superintendent of the United State;
Coast Survey, which is at our elbow,
we copy the significant observation
''In summer vessels frequently drift
abont the entrance lad nirality Inlet
for days, without breath of wind, ant
in very strong currents
Now one of two things Is sure to re
suit from this fact, and, no matter
which shall come about, the steamers
win be here all the same.
The tugs have to make this their w.
ing-place here, now, in order to take
vessels on up the Sound, and as the
marine trade of the Sound Increases the
more numerous will he the tugs to ac.
commOdate this trade, and this branch
of the steamers Of Puget Sound already
forms veay impOrtont, if not the most
bart of the boats that plo these waters.
All ef these boats will have to make
their headquarters headquarters here.
Already shipOwnerS are ordering their
vessels to this place, here to wait for
tugs to take them OH to the mills above.
This to be made the headquarters of all
tugs may be considered as one result OF
the workings of the winds and waves
that won't accommodate Seattle.
The second is that they may induce
the building of live railroad to thi.
point to accommodate the immence
trade that has been so much talked Of
and in that event the steamers will
have to come here anyhow. Our
second proposition we consider we con-
slider to be the most probable result.
We sincerely sympathyze with
Truthful Jeems, of the Intelligencer,
for the loss to Seattle of the Steamboat
Inspectors Office, and would shed tears
with him over it; but we cannot see
how our tears or even his potent (?) ink
Wal help the matter any.