, 1877-03-02
Another Plea for Port Townsend.

EOruanus uaNihE DSeh ec'O" fyS
making the voyage The steamer
left Portland on Monday the 10Th,
andarrived on the 25th. She was
detained four days at Astoria, being
unable to cross the Bar.
Capt. Thorne reports the Ajax and
several other San Francisco bound
steamers had been detained at Asto-
ria by the terrible surf on the Bar
long enough to have reached San
Francisco and started on their re-
turn trip, and he predicted that the
Gussie Telfair, which left here for
Portland the day before the Califor-
MIA arrived, would have to lay off and
on outside the bar for several days
before she could cross, unless the
sea should calm down.
We know that when Ben Holiday
controlled these steamers his great
aim was to do everything for Port
land, for which, at present, we be-
lieve, he receives but small thanks.
But we have no knowledge that Mr..
Cornwall, the present owner, is so
much welded to Portland as to pre-
vent his listening to the facts in the
case. Taking into consideration the
saving of time, expense of fuel and
additional insurance, which would all
be avoided by making Port Town
send the headquarters of the Sitka
steamers, it would be far more
economical and safe for the steamers
bound north to start from Puget
Sound than to run the additional
distance from here to Portland, nor
is this in the slightest degree nec-
essary. The principal freight those
steamers carry is government sup
plies for the northern posts. All
these could come by railroad to Ia
coma and thence transferred to the
Garrison at Fort Townsend for ship
ment north as required. Many of
these supplies, such as hay and beef
cattle, can be purchased on the
Sound cheaper than in Portland, be-
sides saving the cost of transporta-
tion.
The first steamer that carried the
Sitka mail was the Constantine,
Capt. Erskine, in 1869, and she ran
between Port Townsend and Sitka.
The service never has been perform
ed so well since. General Thomas,
General Davis and other officers were
of the opinion that Port Townsend
should be the headquarters for all the
northern posts, and had Gen. Thom-
as lived his often declared opinions
would have long ago been carried
out. Gen. Davis, then in COM
mand of the post at Sitka, stated to
several gentlemen here that he fully
expected to be ordered to remove
his headquarters to Fort Townsend,
as Gen. Thomas considered this the
proper and natural point for furnish
ing the supplies for the northern
posts, which then consisted of
Forts Wrangel, Tongass and Sit
ka. When the mail contract of
Messrs. Hutchinson, Kohl & Co.,
owners OF the Constantine, expired,
Mr.. Garkelde obtained the contract
to carry the mail to Sitka, starting at
Port Townsend, but Ben Holiday
induced Landaulst Williams, the At
torney General, to declare that Gar
felde's contract was null and void
by reason of a flaw which he said
existed in the advertisement of the
Postmaster General, the form of
which had been used in that Depart
ment for over forty years. While
our honored Delegate in Congress,
the late Judge McFadden, was in
Washington, he, with some other
gentlemen, two of whom are now in
this town, called on Postmaster
General Creswell, to show him the
peculiar advantages Port Tovnsand