, 1880-07-16
[Continued from title page

Saip, 10 spIcuu'O SEo"tnS 'a''u
Stockand's marsh, AS it is called,
near by, comprises several hundred
acres of what is evidently the bed OF
former lake; if, indeed, a subterra-
near lake does not now lie beneath |
it. At all events when jumped on it
will shake like bowl full Of jelly |
and ten foot pole poked full length
into it with the hands will strike no
bottom. Cattle roam all over it and
feed upon the heavy grass it yields,
although it looks like dangerous
business. l am assured there is a
small spring of pure, ice cold water
on.shis marsh which has been sound.
ed with long line for bottom with
out success. The marsh is drain.
able, and when it passes out Of the
hanls of SPECTATORS into those OF
enterprising residents, will make one
OF the most valuable and productive
farms in the county.
desire now to score one for the
much misrepresented gravelly bluff
land on the shores of Puget Sound.
Everybody knows where Point lap
Lip is, and that it is a high, bold
bluff, about 40 feet above high tide,
On the very verge of this bluff is the
old Dick Fritz claim, now owned or
cultivated by Harry Thompson.
Dick,-as he was familiarly known,
following the erroneous example Of
all early settlers, had cleared and
cultivated with Indifferent success o
small swale, taking it for granted
that the only good land on his place
was Of this character. When Thomp,
son took the ranch he could make
no headway at raising early vegeta'
bes on the low land, and finally, in
sheer desperation, he turned to and
cleared off about two acres Of high
land right on the edge OF the bluff
where the soil was nothing but fine
gravel and sand of a reddish tint,
and apparently, as hard and impene-
trable as "a rock, and here is where ]
found HIM OH the 18th of June, in
| the midst of the finest, most forward
and luxuriant garden of potatoes,
peas, onions, strawberries, Sc. &c.,
that had seen anywhere in the
whole county. AS l walked down
over the hard, adamantine.ike path
through his growing crops, and heard
my shoes clatter over the solidly
packed sand and gravel, my aston
ishment increased with every stride
at the wonderful revelation spread
out before me. Here, at last, was q
practical test and positive proof that
the very $50 stigmatizeD poorest
and in the county will produce the
earliest, healthiest and rankest Of
garden vegetables. His cabbages
were then so large and the leaves of
such prodigious growth that he had
been obliged to place beneath them
supports to keep them from breaking
down. He opened hill Of potat' es
and showed mo several that were as
large as goose eggs. Then, as if
what had seen was not enough, he
informed me in response to my ques
ton, that beneath this sand and gray.
ell surface was only sard, pure sand,
which he had proved by digging a
well, in which be got no water. This
sand and,gravel had the appearance
to me Of being precisely the same,
except as to color, as that through
which the coach wheels grind and
CRATE on the road from Port Town
send to Discovery, Whether or not.
il is the same, I.cannot say, but new
ertheiess it is sand and fine gravel
and the nutrinent il contains and the
tnoisture in retains tifook mo whole