Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-02-15

ern Pacific Railroad Company is the
only corporation which can COM
nand the means necessary to under
take the enterprise. 1t has recently
made survey of Cowlitz Pass, and
the Superintendent affirms that it is
the intention to commence work on
the road next season. Should it be
built the route will, of course, end
at Tacoma; but Seattle may connect
by a level route up White river,
along the Stuck and across the Puy-
allup valley. Olympia could, like.
wise connect with a branch road of
the same gauge and claim justly
that her harbor possessed the short
est route between Wallula and the
Sound. This place would likewise
be the terminus of the shortest and
cheapest route for products of the
Willamette valley, should they be
diverted from their present course
by distractions at the mouth of the
Columbia river. We do not include,
in this estimate, the large amount
Of produce that will be annually
foated down the Columbia in barges,
at cheaper rates than can ever be af-
forded over the heavy grades of
mountain railroads. This is alto
gether feasible, soon as locks unbar
the several portages on the river,
and we hazard the prediction that
the time will come when produce
will be received by that route at
Olympia, cheaper than it can be car
ried across the mountains. With
our narrow-guage railroad extended
over the level route to the Columbia,
there is no doubt of the feasibility of
this suggestion, as the barges could
return with cargoes of coal and
lumber for the Upper Columbia.
Another vital consideration that
will determine the selection of the
great city, is the possession of safe
and capacious harbor, one in which
vessels in search of cargo, or de-
tanned from any cause, may anchor
in safety for the weeks and months
sometimes required by adverse cir
cumstances. 1t must be sufficiently
large to allow anchorage at con-
venient distance from the docks
and still beyond the limits that
would subject them to dock-charges.
In New York harbor there are some
times as high as 200 sea-going
vessels lying at anchor awaiting
favorable opportunity for depart
ture. Had that roadstead been
deep as some of our much extolled
harbors, but a small portion of that
number could have found an
anchorage at any one time. This
matter is of paramc unit importance.
1t is one that will be determined by
the demands of commerce, the ver-
dict of sea-faring men, and not the
by the interests of spectators in city
lots or town sites. The question
now arises, Where is this harbor sit
uated? We grant that Puget Sound
is sometimes sailed The great Nat
ural Harbor," but it is not so. It is
tolerably safe water for navigation,
but very few places afford safe an
chorage for large number of sea-
going vessels grouped together.
Port Townsend might afford room
for large number in the upper part
of her harbor, near the military post,
but where could Tacoma or Seattle
accommodate one or two hundred
ships i'll safety, during the ordinary
gales of Winter? Both of these har-
bors, according to the coast survey,
possess only narrow strip of an
chorage ground, along the shore-line
on the northeast side. Had Ia
coma been located like Seattle, on
the northeast side of Commence
ment bay, it would have been better
than at present. Probably the an
shorage in front of town would have
been as good as that at Seattle; but
the truth is, both bays are much
alike. They are fast filling up with
river sediment, which is kept back
bv the strong circular current which
sways around the shore of each bay
like wall, SO that it cannot be dis
tributed below where it is needed.
The fats continue to epcroach upon