, 1876-11-25
BOARD OF IMMIGRATION.

The Washington immigration So
ciety, was organized in the city oi
Olympia, Washington Territory, on
the second day of February, 1875,
for the purpose cf replying to let
ters of persons seeking information
of the soil, climate, and general re-
sources of this Territory, with a
view to emigrating here. The labor
was performed gratuitously, the
citizens providing the necessary
material to carry on the work, con-
sisting of postage stamps, station
airy and such books, pamphlets,
and public documents as were in
existence, descriptive of the Terri
tory, besides donations from the
press, of the current newspapers.
During the nine month following,
$50 letters were received and an
swered, and nearly 700 packages of
printed mater, 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 Oc-
tober, 1875, the result of the So
ciety's work was laid before that
body and Territorial aid asked for
publishing the pamphlet and con-
tinuing the work. The consequence
of this action on the part of the So
ciety was the passage of an act by
the Assembly, Nov. -, 1875, Great
ing a Board Of Immie ration, to serve
without pay, and providing for the
printing of 5,000pamphlets at cost
of 1857, and allowing to the Board
the sum of $50 per year, for Office
rent, postage and incidental ex-
penses. The Board consisted of
Hon. 0. P, Lacey, of Walla Walla,
Hon. L. B. Hastings of Port Town
send, and Mrs. A. Fl. Fl. Stewart of
Olympia, the Business Manager of
the Immigration Society, which was
now merged in the Board.
On Nov. II, 1876, the result of
the years work was as follows $50
letters had been received and an
swered, 1000 pamphlets and 10000
circulars and newspapers distrib-
uted in the United States, Canada
and Europe.
About 1900 people have been
added to our population by these
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 i'm
migrants 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 CT 20 persons in
Nebraska, after a correspondence
with this Board, decided to come to
Washington Territory. They ar
rived in San Francisco and were i'm
mediately " interviewed by Oregon
and California emigrant agents.
Becoming alarmed by the state
ments which they received of the
thirteen months rain in year in
Washington Territory, tho lmpene-
trable forests of Western and the
sterile plains of Eastern Washing
ton. their hearts failed them, and of
the 20 persons who set out for our
Territory, one man alone bravely
persisted in his determination. and
arrived safe and we'll at this Office to
relate the story.
Of these 4 1000 persons, Hon. O..
P. Lasey 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
settled in the counties on the Col
umbia river and between the river
and the Puget Sound country, and
the remaining 800 have located on
Puget Sound. They are principally
from Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota
and Michigan.
The Territorial warrant for $50
was disposed of by the Board at so
cents, netting the sum of S135, and
this was spent in the following man
ner, viz:
For postage sta mps. s....................S =! ~
% stationery .....-.-.-...... ---.. ~ = %
- printing ...---..-.....-....-. %
Total. .---.--..........-'S i'' w
Ten thousand circulars briefly de-
scriptive of the whole Territory have
been published by the Board, and
citizens of Puget Sound have paid
for the printing of 10000 more, de-
IL oa,1nfy-v for