, 1877-03-23
Innrm.lIon for .ImmIErnnts.
There have been lately a number Of

There have been lately numDer ol Iam-
NE. and single individuals arriving on the
p.,i6c Mail Co.'S. steamers who came
- min their friends In Clallam, san Juan,
: fsi,nd and Whatcom counties, who were
de,irnu. Of stopping at Port Townsend,
Snf found their baggage all checked for
.-.,tle or Tacoma. aud were Obliged to 90
:, ,he.e places aud return here on the
So,tb Pacific and obtain conveyance TO
.hs noiutS they wished to go to. From
,,ii.mrn who arrived here on the last
tr;n Of the Dakota we learn that Seattle,
'Tsroma andjPortland each have an agent
IN San Francisco whose duty 1t Is to visit
Ia,.b emicrant train, distribute circulars,
md attend to the checking Of baggage to
,,,me TO Puget Sound by steamer. Port
Townsend and the lower Sound counties
are completely ignored by these agents,
mi the cretlu!ous immigrant hears Of
Dothing and learns nothing about any
otber places on Puget Sound or In Oregon
tban those mentioned above. The last
legislature appointed Board of Immi-
TritiOn Commissioners who have written
Estters and distributed pamphlets, but
with 10 more perceptible or practical re-
snlt-so far as this portion of the Sound
Is concerned-than hen sitting on poroe-
lain eggs.
The whole Eastern country has been
flooded with descriptive pamphlets and
with eloquent speeches. Selucius Garfield,
FlwoOd Evans and other orators have
sonnded the praises of Washington Terri
tory, and Judge Swan has tor years con-
trbuted valuable articles descriptive of
the country. Jay Cooke and Ezra Meeker
have published tons of pamphlets, Sam.
WilkesOn and other magnates of the
Northern Pacific Railroad have given to
the public and the world at large the result
Of their views, but until within the past
wear no great increase to our population
has been apparent. Now, however, there
seems to be great wave of immigration
setting toward this Territory, and the
cause is not from anything we have allud-
ed to, but from one of those mysterious Op-
erations Of Providence which guide the
destinies OF nations. The plague of the
crSsshOppers. like the plague of the
Egyptian locusts, which was one great
cause of the Israelites leaving :,gypt has.
n like manner, induced the residents of
The infected districts to remove to more
favored cline. The fact of our remark
ably mild winters, together with the let
ttrs OF those relatives and friends who are
already located in the Territory, has been
the really powerful incentive for them to
leave the grasshOpper country for this
Territory, and they are coming sure.
1t now remains for us to give them
practical intarInatiOn, and to do so we
must make this county matter. The
lower counties of the Sound, jefferson,
Island Clalam, San Juan and WhatcOm,
should have regularly paid agent in San
Francisco to direct emigrants to the thous-
ands Of acres of splendid farming land vet
unoccupied In all these counties. Let our
County Commissioners open roads or even
trails from Port Discovery to Quilcine,
and from Quicine near Li,l's farm to the
great prairie between the foot hills and
the Snow mountains. Let the COmms-
siOners Of Clalam County have a recon-
noissance and n subsequent tract open
through the Elwha gap into the splendid
Chehalis country where a hundred thOus-
and families can find farms on the very
best Of soil. Let them show the immi-
grant the lands about Dungeness. Elwha,
Fieshwater Bay, Pislt, Quillehuyte and
many other locations on Fuca Straits. and
on the Islands ofthe Archipelago De Haro,
a1d In Island and WhateOm counties, aud
have persons ready on the arrival of
steamers to show the localities to the Inn
migrant and have the expense of such
work added TO the taxes.
It Is folly to talk of raising subscriptions
orto consider that Port Townsend alone
i 70 bear all the expense of this business.
Il Is for the public benefit and the counties
shOu d defray the cost which will be re-
turned to them thousand fold by the
enhanced value Of taxable property.
IL the County Commissioners have any
dou0ta TO the authority TO act as we sug-
gest, then let there be a called meeting of
t'e legal voters and let them instruct the
commissioners In the matter. We hope
the citizens of this town will have meet
ing forthwith TO discuss and digest some
plan Of operations, and we assure the citi-
zens Ofall the counties alluded to that the
columns Of the ARGUS will he open at all
, ines for communications which will tend
give the emigrant praetical information.