Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-09-20
THE NOnTH-wEsT COAST.

| The greatest crimes that men have done.
Havr grown from little things o..
|
THE NOKTH-wEST COAST.
| Dear Editor 1T has been sometime since we
spoke through The columns OF The Telegraph,
but thinking perhaps letter from the fur
North Vest Coast might interest some of lis
many readers, we venture TO WELD "the pen
that mighty instrument of little men" aud en-
tertain you with description of Puget pund'
--beginning with Olympia, with its 800 in
habitans, bciny capital OF, aud the largest
town in the Territory. 1t is situated al the
head OF the Sound, 100 miles from the Straits
San Juan de Fuca, and 220 miles from the
ocean, by water. But the Sound is so deep
and wide that the ltrgrst vessels can sail up
! to the Olympia wharf They have not built
| any expensive public buildings yet, as there is
some speculation, and good deal OF doubt,
as to Olympia being the permanent capital
1t is quite an old town, and owing to that
fact, has many beautiful soft maple shade trees
adorning its Streets.
Passing down the Sound twenty miles, Is
Steiacoom, which has poor harbJr and no
personal attractions farther than that il is the
county seat, and hence boasts of Jail
A ross the bay, opposite, on II large island, the
territorial pcnitenliury is to be built. or is
building, with stone. and is TO he large enough
to answer all demands. when Washington be-
comes State, with many Thousand inhahi-
ianis, rs you know il is only a Territory nov, +,
OF bfly thousand people, not including INT In
dlans and Chinese. Fifrcn miles iurthtr
north, but down the Sound, rem mi,er, is Com
mrncemtn, Bay, on the south shore 0; whicn, ,
at the mouth OF Puy alop river, is ilie "n,a ~
city OF Tacoma, where We al, n,w wrl!ing
-Four weeks ago the only sigus % ciyiiiZaltan
here was II large steam saw mill with hal y
dozen houses, occupi d 10y THESE employed
, rpaning tine mill, which, .urns GU, Az, 900 feet
lumber per day GA hrse) This mill is run
by the U, p 4. II. Company now, who
bOu 5ht it last week, paying one hundred
thousand dollars in gold coin--have nothing
e,se, mere The town CONSISTS now---all built
Ia the last two wreks--of one hotel, Taconia
Tn Hne building, half dozen dwelling
houses and as many again saloons and gam
bling dens. Whisky and vice in every style,
shape and form have joined hands while the
largest per cent. OF tue inhabitants, which,
perhaps, muy reach three hundred in All.
Even now, Il drunken sheriff, with few of
his boone companions, are "promenading" up
and down in front of the saloons, swearing,
showing their pistols, and thr atening TO shoot
any one who may presume to interfere. But
this attracts very little att ntOn, and is allo"
/ ed as "a matter of cnursp A wpek uDn they
had poor fellow for breakfast up at the H.
d an dance house His murderer escaped or he
would have been hung by mob--not 50
| m ch for the crime he had beinousiy commit
| I II as Tor the amusement it would afford the
ciiizeDs who would relish such an entertain
ment--consider il only pleasant past, time 10
witness The slinftlng off of This mortal coil
| But We leave The denizens, To njuy, luoG
| Al the city. which for two miles square is laii
out in streets, blocks and 10 is. although cover
ed with dense forest oi tr trees, most OF t,rm
2O0 hundred feet high aud So near together
that 4tI0 cords of wood is the average yield
pr acre. The ground is very rolling, with
| gr dual rise as you go back from the waters
el:n, or towards the suburbs. Sixteen hun
dred acre, on the east side, towards Puya.op
river, and the finest laying land, is owned by
tue Tacoma Land and Improvement Conipa.
ny, who have forty men u, work cutting
down The trees, which keeps up an almost in
cessant roar, as the mighty giants of the for
est lolteI and tumble. AS last as the trees are
cut. twenty men are employed with augurs to
bore two holes at right angles every six or ten
feel along the body OF the trpe--ihe holes
meeting AT about the hart of the log, WHEN
live Goals OF fire are put in the draf( of air
passing through the holes Immediately causes
fire, and, We are iold That logs six and seven
leei in diameter would burn in two inside ol
twoholrs, after which they are piled and roll.
ell IN heaps and burned. SAN some OF tie
fines, limber on the coast being destroyed III
tis Style : q. CO J4 sAQs
Along the north side of the town Cinnamon
are employed grading for the railroad. They
expect the cais will be running from here 10
Kalsma, a point on the Columbia river forty
miles below Portland, in a few week, and then
the U. T. H. X will have II line from Tacoma
u Kalama by rail, where they make connee-
ton with their boats running from Portland
70 Astoria, and also from Portland UP the Co
lumbia 300 miles 10 Wallula. Freighis- ure
very high on this coast, and every one is com
planning OF the rsilroad and It's tyranny.
Tacoma has yreai many drawbacks and
dsadvantagesAwbi stand in tile way of its
ever being . great shipping point, Ths most
serious Is the depth of water. which is lr6m
thirty TO fifty htl'oms IN the bay, making ii
almost impossible tor vessels to anchor A
great many prophecy thai shs R:silrcad Co. do
not intend to make Tacoma The prrmanen,
terminus, but that as soon IS they have sold
their lands at, an exhorbiisnt price 10 Town
lots, tney viii build the road twenty mfIes
farther down the Sound to sesttIe, which Is 8
town Of come nine hundred inhabitants v--ths