The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-05-12
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

DEAR READERS OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
We distinctly remember having taken
leave of you a fortnight since, after
having spent an hour in writing up the
journey from Steilacoom to Seattle.
After the letter was signed, sealed, and
delivered, we sailed forth from the Oc-
cidental Hotel in the early glory of the
bright spring morning, and headed for
a beloved sisters house, mile away
over the hills, past long rows of new
buildings, our solitary walk overlook
ing the placid waters of Puget Sound,
upon which many crafts were sleeping;
while upon our right the thriving town
rolled itself away over the hill-side-a
commanding and beautiful city-site,
enthroned very queen upon the mar
gin. At last, when well under the
shadow of the University and its
grounds, we saw the home of our desti-
nation, its inmates, who were unap-
prised of our coming, scarcely astir,
when a ring at the door-bell reused
them, followed by the gladstone greet
ings of ye olden TYNE.
A day or two spent in visiting, writ
ing, and living up the gaps that absence
had made between our life and that of
our relatives, and we were ready for the
lecture field.
The kindly hospitality of the good
citizens of Seattle will long remain
with us as a pleasing memory. The
fact that taxation without representa-
ton is tyranny" is almost universally
acknowledged. The press and people
have Wed with each other in making
our visit popular and financial sue
cess. The meetings have been well at
tended, and much growing interest is
manifested in the cause of freedom.
On Saturday, accompanied by num-
Der of musical friends, we repaired to
the Seattle coal mines, some fifteen or
twenty miles away. Our route lay over
a primitive railroad to Lake Union,
which we crossed on a car-laden steam
scow, after which came another railway
portage to Lake Washington, where
our party again took steamer. Crossed
the lake in about two hours, and then
climbed up hill and into coal car, in
which last we stood like so many cat
tie, while the little engine bore US to
Newcastle, which is the new name of
the Seattle coal mine. A succession of
knolls and gulches, all blackened with
the fine coal that everywhere abounded,
was dotted with rustic houses, around
which many children and few pigs
were playing; the dark forest hemmed
the village like an amphitheater; the
open shafts of three coal mines peeped
at US with their great, watchful, black
eyes; the hotel, a rough, whitewashed,
and roomy building, over which
Charley Foss presides as steward, in
vited us to enter, and we were soon
struggling in vain with the accumulated
coal dust, which, like the headache we
were enduring, adhered to US much
closer than bur or a brother.
A local minstrel troupe were making
active preparations for performance,
and, much to our relief, the lecture and
concert were postponed till Monday
evening. The troupe gave great de-
light to the crowd of pleasure-seekers,
who patronized them literally; and
while Ike and the girls looked on and
enjoyed the fun, your correspondent re-
tired to her room, tied her rebellious
Uranium in a wet towel, and listened to
the music and stamping, to which her
aching brain snapped steady time, till
the hilarity was over and the wee small
hours closed the eyes of the excited
multitude in fitful slumber.
Captain Wilson, to whom we were
referred by Mr.. Shattuck, the gentle
manly superintendent of the mines, and
who 1--WE mean the captain) takes spe-
cial pride in showing the mines to
strangers, kindly lighted us through a
: long tunnel as black, but for the lamps,
J as Erebus, where for at least mile we
waded into the very bowels of the
earth, under a great arch of sandstone
: upon the left and bituminOus coal upon
the right, with here and there an open
ing through the inky blackness that led
to the chambers where the men were
excavating the immense caverns from
r which they garner inexhaustible sup
plies of coal; the quantity and quality
alike proclaiming the Newcastle of the
, Northwest to be also the Pittsburg OF
the Pacific. Occasionally the rumble OF
wheels was heard, causing the girls OF
our party to scream with fright, and the
jolly captain to highly enjoy their trep-
, idation. After the rumbling had been
heard for several minutes, coal-black-
ened miner, with a lamp on his head,
would appear beside donkey in the
E dense gloom; the rumbliPg of wheels
l would increase to deafening roar, the
girls would scream yet more Justify,
and we would all shrink close to the
\ sides of the dripping mine till the wierd
specter thundered by; then on we would
go till "a similar experience would in
, duce similar diversion, and so the long
e walk through coal dust, clay, and
slush, though unpleasant, was not un-
: endurably monotonous.