The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1876-10-06
County and City Official Press.
Friday, October 8, 1879.
THE UEDEvELOPED EMPIRE.

has always been found that popula
ton gather aud accumulates along the
zen shores and the lines Of broad. trav-
ersable rivers. whilst equally rich re-
gions inland have long remained an
unknown wilderness. The reason for
this result il the influence Of commerce
aud facii.ies Of communication upon
settlement But with the advent Of the
railroad new factor entered into the
problem Of material development. The
railroad In the United States has not
only supplemented the venerable modes
of Communication of oldcn times. bat
has practically dried up in part, the
great rivers as avenues of business and
turned the axial channels of trade from
"a north and south To- an east and west
line ii direction.
Washington Territory Is naturally the
finest maritime district in the world
in it's possession of Puget Sound with
its arms bu. singularly enough, on &C
count Of the great bar across the mouth
If the Columbia. aud the " Cascades
in its course tho largest and richest
portion Of the Territory which Is en-
braced in the valley of that river, is an
inland basin and requires the deliver
aGee Of = railroad To open il 10 settle.
ment. In consequence OF its isolation
II is comparatively a terra inecgnita.
There are few persons who have
any knowledge or idea of its wonderful
agricultural capabilities aud other re-
sources.
Being dry country. like California.
it has been regarded by casual visitors
as n kind of u barren wilderness. So
California for the matter of that ia all
seriousness was written down by all its
early explorers as desert and incapable
OF agricultural occupation Yet the
presence of man aud the reviying touch
Of water has wrought glorious change
there. and triumphantly proven
the fallacy of the assumption
SO the same elements will do in our
Eastern counties.
Wallis Wslla already raises | 900, 900
bushels of wheat per nnnum for ex-
port, and tho tenth of the valley is not
yet III cultivation. And yet Walla Walla
is only one of the many of those valleys.
The Palouse country of Whitman
county, which is just beginning To at
tract settlement four hundred new
settlers having entered there this
Summer is es,,maied to possess even
larger area of grain land than Walla
Walls That there IS the great Yakima
valley nearer home, with its broad
central plain of kittitas and many side
branches. as Nachess. Weuas and Alta.
mum. OF this valley Gov. Stevens
said in 1858. "Gres, injustice has been
done this region by gentlemen who
have gone over II rapidly in the Sum.
mer and who have seen il but once
The whole valley of the Yakima and
IT'S tributaries. which have been ienom-
mated sage plain and desert is rich
and productive"
These three valleys are beginning 10
rise into prominence now. because the
advance guard of civilization has
reached them and is making them
known 10 the world But they only
constitute a rim of the Territory along
the Southern border. North of Walls
Walla aud Whitman lie the great rich
valleys Of Spokane and Colsille and
north OF Yakima arc the Wenatches,
Me,ho~. Ch.lan and Okauaugsn.
In regard 20 their capabilities we have
emphatic and reliable accounts in the
reports of the early government sur,
Seys Says Stevens The country
north of the Spokane river between the
Columbia and kootenay, and The
Occur dAlene mountains is fertile aud
we'll timbercd. The country ahou,
Colville and Clarke's Fork is rich il
minerals. The valley Of oKanaugar
Is iine, we'll grassed. wooded and ara
bic" Again. he states, Washington
Territory east of the Cascades possessc,
abundant forests. Ga the immeSiia,.
hank of the Columbus the country i,
not promising. bat going hack li,;l,
distance, the grazing Is laxarioa,
aud excellent. aud the soil rich
particularly on the river valley
We might add similar testimony Il
the most yoluminoas extent, in reysrt
ID tins great undeyeloped empire which
remains to be penetrated and hailt ny
from this ssa port, hat will oonclad,
with an additional tex,rac, from .
speech delivered in Congress b, senate,
Csssesly. # California, on the Nor,her,
Pacific land grants. IS follows: Al
empire In itself. ! beg, gentlemen, {.