, 1876-10-28
Our Future holland.

About nine O'Clock last Saturday
night, we were invited to take q trip
to the Swinomish flats on the steamer
Wenat, which had been chartered
to carry home for final interment,
the remains of Capt. E. T. Dodge.
At ten P. NJ, accompanied by the
Messrs. Baxter, Capt. D. P. Wal.
lace and the writer, the steamer with
Capt. Dave Hill at the wheel, moved
out silently and plowed her way
DOWN THE SOUND.
The night was rainy and fearfully
dark and whenever the fireman
opened the furnace-doors to throw
in coal, q lurid flame seemed to burn
a hole into the veil Of darkness "that
might be bottled mp and sold for
Tyrian dye" At such times it was
impossible to see the jack-staff and
Capt. Hill plowed his way along by
the compass, till just before day
light we landed at
| UTsALADY,
Where we took in wood and water.
This place, by far the most eligible
ship-building site on the whole
Sound, is now lying idle in the
hands Of an assignee and looks as il
its guardian genius was the late
Wilkins Micawber. But whenever
the property passes into the hands
of moneyed men, then we may con-
fidently look for an advancein Utsa-
lady property. This place, situated
on Camano Island, lies close to
good bodies oftimber and can con-
duct its logging operations, fifteen
per cent cheaper than any other mill
on the Sound. At daylight we sped
away for
SWINOMISH FLATS.
Having first secured the services OF
Mr.. Peter Dubufe, to pilot us up the
little slough where Mr.. Dodge's
family resided. Capt. Hillhad never
been up there before and would
take no chances with his boat. Pass
ing about mile to the eastward of
the "Hole in the Wall" we entered
small slough that was more tor
tuous than the trail of a serpent, but
the little boat threaded the narrow
labryinth with the greatest accuracy
and soon reached
THE DEAD PIONEERS FARM.
Here were to be seen all the. evf
dences of an industrious life, closed
without half warning. The broad
meadows, enclosing 800 acres of land
reclaimed from the freshets of the
mighty Skagit; the orchard, laden
with its red and golden wealth Of
Autumn fruits; the warehouse, filled
with hay and oats, the product Of
the closing harvest, and last of all ,
the great barn with its uncovered
rafters, all told how a useful life
had been prematurely ended. We
left the honored remains with the
weeping mourners and as the funeral
was not to take place hll to-day, we
returned to
LA CONNER.
This place is not large but it is de
cidedly ambitious and picturesque.
Situated near the southern end of
the Swinomish slough, it must yet
prove toll-gate between here and
Bellingham Bay. We knew the cratic
humorist who called himself "Hans
Patrick LIE Conner" but the origin
of this singular title for a town is
this. It is named for Mrs. [. A.
Conner, wife of the. hotel-keeper of
the place, who laid off the site. 1t
is the emporium of rich farming
country, quite as rich and nearly as
large as the whole kingdom of Hol-
land. The wealth of grain that will
be grown there in the five years.
will build up bigtown at La Con
ner.. Here we met Mr.. Gilliland, the
Western Union Telegraph operator;
Mr.. G. Donovan, who is Democratic
candidate for Treasurer; the brothers
Caches, who are carrying on a big
trade with the farmers and have a
warehouse full of grain.
RECLAIMED Lam DIS
Are always easier cropped than mp
lands. The vast body of swamp land
lying in the delta formed by the
confluence of the San Joaquin and
Sacramento rivers, is alreadya q great
grain garden. The land cost one
dollar per acre for the States title
and eighteen ION the average) TO,
reclamation. Now the lands on Sher.