Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-07-21
THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.

The weather to-day is clear and calm.
THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The following extract from letter writ
ten by Californian now in the Puget
Sound country will prove interesting to
parties having an idea of locating in that
region:
THE CITY OF VICTORIA
Is beautifully located has some very nice
residences belonging to English nabobs.
But the town is dead; business dull, and a
great many houses are to rent and for sale.
Goods are sold as cheap as in San Fran
cisco, and some, such as silks and velvet,
are sold much cheaper. The terminus Of
the Canadian railroad is at small place
called Yale. The total force employed on
it at present is $50 white men and
l0l Chinese. The Skagit mines seem
to be the bane of contention between
Seattle and Victoria, while Port Town
send, little new place, opposite the
Sound and between these two places,
criticises their actions and laughs at
them for fighting over a bone so bare
of meat Victoria proclaims to the world
the wonders of wealth that lie in the
Skagit-only attainable by coming to Vic
toria and taking the Fort Hope route, while
Seattle strikes nearly bee line through
brush and bramble, upon hands and knees,
clambering up precipices with ladders, and
wading through snow five or six feet deep.
The returned miners call it Scratchit, and
according to their reports of the place they
give it very appropriate name. Scores of
disappointed men with blankets are to be
seen IN the two-bit house in Seattle and
upon the wharves cursing the country. But
little gold has been taken out yet, and it
is almost impossible to get machinery and
supplies to the mines till better trail has
been cut out.
Is the most enterprising town on the Sound.
It has about A, coo inhabitants, consider.
able capital and quite number of ener-
getic men. The town is destined to be a
great place. 1t has very good harbor,
but poor site for city, being built upon
high bank and very little level ground.
Innumerable stumps are seen on every
hand, the forest of pine and fir being very
dense. Its exports are lumber, slaves,
coal, hops and furs. The soil is almost
worthless for farming, it being very light
and sandy, and it costs SIS to clear and
fence an acre. Hops and potatoes are ex-
tensively raised on the river bottoms, but
the weather is too cool for corn and vines
i. e. melons and pumpkins. A narrow
gauge railroad runs from the town to the
coal mine. East of the mountains is a
large open country which is being set.
tied up very rapidly. This will draw its
supply of timber and coal from the Sound
and will certainly become tributary to it.
This place,
Has about five or six hundred inhabitants.
1t is at present the terminus of the North
ern Pacific. The railroad runs from here
to Portland. Old Tacoma is dilapidated,
forsaken place, and only very few fam
lilies live there. In New Tacoma nearly
every house appears entirely new, and there
are quite a number in process of construc-
tion. There are no enterprising men here
and no capital. The people are discour-
aged. A few men are employed in the rail-
road machine shops and foundry. This is
the only enterprise in the town. 1t has the
most beautiful site for city I ever saw,
being gradual slope to the southeast and
east. The Sound, a lovely, CLASSY sheet of
water, is visible for many miles to the left,
and the snow- capped Cascades are. seen to
the right, while magnificent view of
Mount Rainier, the highest mountain in
the Territory, is had
CAPITAL NECESSARY.
have been on the Sound now nearly
two weeks, and it has rained every day,
with but one day of sunshine, and to
Californian this spoils everything, 1 would
not advise any poor man who is looking for
place to make money to come to this
country. Money must be brought here
before it can be made here. There are too
many here now. A man told me to-day
that most of those employed in building
were working out old board bills, and it
is impossible for any stranger to get work.
1t is only those who have "burned their
ships behind them,' by selling all and
bringing their families with them and have
not enough to go back with that stay. The
good times and chances to make money
that the papers elbow" so much about are
all in prospect. Capital has got to come
here first to develop it, and this will not
be till the surrounding country is settled
up. This is splended country for rich
men to make themselves richer by invest
ing their money and waiting for develop
ments, but poor man has no business this
side Of the Cascades yet. The railroad
company is now surveying the different
passes of the Cascades, and the people on
this side are waiting in breathless suspense
to learn which pass will be determined
upon. When this question is settled and
the branch railroad from Walla Walla to
the Sound is started, then there will be a
rush to either this place or Seattle. South
east of this town lies fertile valley, called
PUYALLUP,
Not much smaller than Napa valley. 1t is
thickly timbered with large cottonwood
trees, alders, hemlock and various others,
but no oak or beach some soft maple.
But six miles square of the best and most
fertile part is reserved by the Government
for the Siwash Indians. Some of them
have little patches in cultivation. The
Government supports boarding school for
them about four miles from here A rail
road runs the whole length of this valley