, 1880-04-22
Whatcom County.


This il the extreme southwestern couh-
IS In Washington Territory. II Is b"n"d-
ed By British Columbia on the nor,h' the
Cascade Mountains OH the east. Sh"ho-
mish aud Island counties e'i the sOnii,.
and Canal de Haro and the Gulf OF Ge0r-
yia OH the west. Il is the hrgest county
in the Territory, west OF the Cascade
mountains, containing All ARA @! about
3.s4O square miles. The estimated popu-
larion is about 2,350-showing that the
county is yet for the most part sparscly
settled. The taxable pr6l erty of the
county was given in last year NlS19) at
1886, 600. Its principal towns ARE: La
Conner, Skagit City, saaiBislh selonie'
whatcora, Anacortes. Fcrndae and se'n-
iahmoo. A post office Is located Mt each
OF these places, besides, several al'crs III
the county, Of which more will be SAID
hereafter. Farming is the principal III
dustry Of the inhabitants. it being carried
on extensively in some localities.
SOIL CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS.
There are three main classes oil land IN
this county, viz: tide marsh. river bot
tom and high rolling benches. The Kind
ofsoil that may be said TO prcdomlnatc
rich brown loan, Nesting upon whitlsli
clay. In general this soil is very prodnc-
tive. and hence the anxiety Of the farmer
is not so much about being able to raise
posd crops as about the facilities fer dis
posing OF his productions after they have
been gathered, All kinds Of fruit and
vegetables that can BE- produced IN tcm-
uerate climate flourish and do well here,
while the average grain yield for the
county ranges from 50 to 40 bushels OF
wheat, and from GO to over 100 bushels OF
oats or barley, per acre. The timber OF
y the county is composed Of red ana whlte
fir, cedar, maple, alder, &c. &c. 1t is,
for the n,ost'parl, a thrifty growth, and
IN some places the trees are very arge.
The climate OF this county is much mllder
than It's lhtlt,Nic ""'" "'N'>~'
,lecpest snow reported last winter, even ln
the northern portion OF the county, was
20 inches while 100 miles south oi IL OH
the Sound there was from 40 TO CD incfes.
The climate Is also quite dry, compared
with that OF the rrnaillder Of Western
Washington, the rain record kept At Bel
lingham Bay showing far lower average
than at any other point IN the Puget
Sound basin-except San Juan (see mete-
geological report The reasons for this
are ca pable Of easy and satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION, but. rs our space is limited, We
will leave that for scientific dissertations
and confine ourselves 10 mere state enIeill
OF tact.
DESCRIPTION IN DETAIL.
We will now consider the various local
tiles In the county and. a. tile northern
norton contains perhaps m"Ie available
vacant agricultural land than does any
o,h.r one portion. We will commence at
psAYTON uAmOR,.
or semlahn,oo Hay. as 1t n commonly
called. Thi. harlS,r * 'ituaied mar ue
nor,l,-we-tern cO,uer ~ 'he 'hunhy. It
o,eus into ths rulf oI Grurgia Oh The
west, ard sxlrtrl. inland ah"ut three
mlls. Tbs b,y !. riN1'iar iu form. aud
4, neari, ru,md. II. mnulh i "iHiSrrd
sui,r uarrgw w y aa',siapii -laCh pr'J' e's
from ti,r hid on iic souti,srh 'tl"' -"
ti~ posai VI ,bi. 'lli is ',n''. lo''' ofii'T'
wharf As urv v th- no'ii'-Fn i'r''''-
ana ~ ~ as4a, s.si Fanir rEiri"i''g
InrusFh 80 san luta Ero''V ID '''''''''
f,au- Per Toe i.e,si 'i'r fs'iui - .er"a
~ah wrv.r aali. a. NV ~ iis l1iT''fe-
Esls ps.sa ,sfs-. sassg re 'a'''F' -" ''.'
sga ha s,islslsi 80 g. D sfes'a "a" ''''A
a.sl fa~sp 3. lasu 'f1ate srfauEh o. hTer
suasU miI rsaHg ai.srs. ca.s'h''' ~
usr rtwt ~ssral u-as.alsd lai,sf' stis