The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-10-15
Iornia hills. the dwarf black alders,

lorna hills, the dwarf black alders,
and young frs, the ferns. and even d.
minutive specimens OF the salal shrub
berry Of Puget Sound. The streets are
shaded with the Eucalyptus, but in the
gardens are orchards Of apple. plum aud
pear, as in the north. but intermibgled
with thrifty fuchsias, geraniuns, and
the co,umon seni-tropicai shrubbery
OF San Francisco gardens.
THE LUMBER BUSINESS
Is the principal occupation aid support
of the place. a good deal of which CEN
tiers also at Arcata. a town. perhaps as
large as Vancouver, situated
ten miles or 81 farther up the bay. but
in plain view from Eureka. The saw
mills number eighteen. Il majority of
which. probably. are In Of around Eu-
reka. These, when all i'll full blast,
must make lively times. ana account
for the rapid growth of the city. Just
now. though, ,hey are nearly all shut
down. and appear to he going to decay.
We Were casually told by well-posted
resident, that in dull state of the
market the mills there could not COM
pete with Puget Sound, uotwithstand-
ing .heir proximity to the city, owing
to the drawback to their transportation
In the harbor bar. He said lumber
could easier be carried down in the
large ships from the Sound for 50 per
NJ than from Eureka for IS
VIZ dropped into one Of the biggest
mills that WAS running. that of Messrs.
Mckay & Company. curious to
see how they did things in the red
wood country. The first pecu-
iisrity observed was the small
ness of the strips into which the
logs are worked up. and their enormous
weight. bang 50 water-soaked as to
drop ont of ,h" chutes from The planners
with aim ST the gravity of sheets of
.ead,-were t1ld that the redwood butt
logs were always SO, the logs si.king
in water like So much iron aud having
to be- buoyed up on each side in the
raft by sandwitcbing between two dry
top logs in order to float them to the
mill
The next special feature that drew
our attention was the enormous dimeu.
sions Of the logs sawed. They had
just rolled OIL 10 the saw-carriage q
little chunk of stick only nine feet in
diameter, which they We're beginning to
work up in scarphs by means of huge
triple circular saws one placed above
another. little horizontal saws in the
plane of the cutting points making the
transverse cut 1t takes massive and
powerful machinery to handle this sort
If merchandise The log-way is a
Slid broad euage railroad six-feet wide
Oh which rms truck ti"h + wide.
Logging in this district r,Yuires the
investment of immense capital. The
timber fields are penetrated to the re-
hottest practical points from tide water
by means of the most substantial broad
gauge railroads and steam locomotives.
In this business the broad track is found
altogether more feasible than the mar
row gauge.
Besides lumber. immense quantities
of shingles and cord. wood also are
shipped. One of the novel features of
this bay is the great numbers of lit -.
tie ugly brown pelicans. having long,
pouchy bills resembling the snout OF an
alligator, which haunt it,-whence the
name of the good Humboldt steamship
Pelican.
We hurrled off from this port hoping
to get out oil the tide, but Just before
reaching the bar, its long white breaker
lines were swept from our sight by a
fog bank rolling in from sea with the
afternoon mistral or landward breeze.
and we were obliged to hurry back pre-
cipitately to the dock, guided by the
unearthly clangor of the fog-whistle.
and had to lie there until high tide the
next day.