Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1876-11-18

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE WASHINGTON TERRITORY BOARD o.
IMMIGRATION.
The Washington immigration So
ciety was organized in the city O
Olympia, Washington Territory O,
the I'd day of February, 1875, for tn
purpose of replying to letters of per
sons seeking Information of the soil
climate and general resources of thil
Territory with view to emigratine
here. The labor was performed
gratituously, the citizens providing
the necessary material to carry on the
work, consisting of postage stamps
stationary and such books, pamph
lets and public documents as were in
existance, descriptive of the Territory
besides donations from the press, Of
the current newspapers.
During the nine months following
339 letters were received and
answered, and nearly 700 packages
of printed matter, besides samples Of
our wheat, barley and oats were sent
to inquirers.
During this period, also pamph-
let descriptive of the soil, climate
and general resources of the Terri
tory was compiled by the Business
Manager of the Society, and when
the Legislative Assembly met in o.
tober, 1875, the result of the Society s
work was laid before that body and
Territorial aid asked for publishing
the pamphlet and continuing the
work. The consequence of this ac-
ton on the part of the Society was
the passage Of an act by the Assem-
bly, Nov. IL, 1875, creating a Board
of immigration, to serve without pay,
and providing for the printing of
5000 pamphlets at a cost of 1857, and
allowing to the Board the sum of
$3.50 per year, for Office rent, postage
and incidental expenses. The Board
consisted of Hon. o. aP. Lacey of
Walla-walla, Hon. L. B. Hastings of
Port Townsend, and Mrs. A. H. H.
Stuart of Olympia, the Business Man
ager of the immigration Society,
which was now merged in the Board.
On Nov. IL, 1876, the result of the
years work was as follows: $50 let
ters had been received and answered,
1000 pamphlets and 5000 circulars
anc newspapers distributed in the
United States, Canada and Europe,
About 4 900 people have been added
to our population by this means, a
number which would have been
largely increased, had the Board been
provided with sufficient funds to have
employed an agent in San Francisco
to direct our own immigrants
to us when they arrived in that city,
instead of allowing them to be diverted
into California and Oregon as has
been and is now the case.
As an instance of this condition of
affairs: A colony of 20 persons in Ne
braska after q correspondence with
this Board decided to come to Wash
ington Territory. They arrived in
San Francisco and were Immediately
interviewed" by Oregon and Cali
fornia emigrant agents. Becoming
alarmed by the statements which
they received Of the thirteen months
rain in a year i'll Washington Terri
tory, the impenetrable forests of
Western and the sterile plains of
Eastern Washington, their hearts
failed them, and of the 20 persons
who set out for our Territory, one
man alone barely persisted in his de-
termination, arrived safe and we'll at
this Office to relate the story.
Of these 1000 persons, Hon. o.
p. Lacey writes to this office, that
about 2, 1000 have settled in Eastern
Washington, being principally farm
ers and stock-raisers and most of
these have crossed the country with
their own teams; about 500 have set
tied in the counties on the Columbia
river and between that river and the
Puget Sound country, and the re-
naming !, 500 have located on Puget
Sound. They are principally from
Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and
Michigan.
The Territorial warrant for $3.50
was disposed of by the Board at 80
cents, netting the sum of $135, and
this was spent in the following man
ner, viz:
For postage stamps. Standardization. 81 o5
AIALl0nGfV.
printing. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 81 90
Total. Observation-Disclosures. $1S5 90
Ten thousand circulars, briAy des-
criptive of the whole Territory have
been published by the Board and citi-
zens Of Puget Sound have paid for
the printing of 10, 900 more, descrip-
tive of the Sound country, for the
special purpose of distribution among
the emigrants on the ships of the Pa
cific Mail Steamship Company. OF
the 10000 circulars issued by the
Board 1000 were placed in the hands
of our Territorial Centennial Com
missioner, Hon. Elwood Evans, our
Delegate in Congress, Hon. Orange
Jacobs, and others of our citizens
visiting the Centennial Exhibition at
Philadelphia, and were by them put
in conspicuous places at the Exhibi-
ton and distributed among the emf
grants ON the overland train coming
West.
Hon. L. B. Hastings was one of
these gentlemen, and he writes the
following to this Office: "On my re-
turn West. made it my special bust