New-York tribune., 1882-08-13
ON PUGET SOUND.

IFRoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT oPTHE TRiBUNE.I
OLYMPIA, Washington Territory, July lO-A-
most every day through the summer season intelh-
gent persons. newly from the last come TO
the land agencies and the emigration bureau III
Portland. and say they want to settle on Puget
Sound. When asked what occupation they intend
to follow, most of them reply that they wish to take
no farms. They are greatly surprised to learn that
the Sound region is not farming country, but only
an immense forest. where it would cost more per
acre TO yet the timber of the land than the best
farm i'm the state of New-York would bring. They
have read the glowing accounts III the Eastern
mapazines and journals written by summer
tourists who grow enthusiastic over the groat snow
Mountains the lovely sea-green waters, spread out
i'm broad Inlets or bemmed IN narrow wnclhy
straits OF pushing little far up into the depths
of the wopds the cathedral.like solemnty Of the
majestic forests Of frs and the perfect beauty of the
bright cool, July days but who forget to tell what
the country is worth in practical point OF view
for settlement by people who expect TO get living
out of the ground. In truth the Sound region, ex-
tensiyo as it is and attractive a. 1t is to those who
seek for health and pleasure III travel, Is OF small
value 70 the immigrant uniess he be lumbeIm an or
coa-lnner or by handicraft or traffic can live upon
the business furnished by those engaged In saw
mills. logging camps or coal-mines. The whole
Mountains. in which the Sound stretches ont it's
many arms. is an immense nr forest. Here and
there few fields have been made on ground
where the largest trees have been taken of by the
opoers but this has been great cost Of labor and
bv the aid OF fire A farm III the Eastern sense OF a
number of contiguous cleared fields free from
stulnps | saw nowhere in the course of four days
cruising on the Sound. In the narrow valleys OF
sofnf Of the rivers that bring down the melting
SHOWS from the mountains, where there was
originally only low bushy growth oI declduouS
trees some highly fertile land has been cleared; on
the eastern shore of the lower waters of the sound
back of the islands, considerable areas Of tde-water
flats nave been redeemed by dIking and produce
heavy grain crops; then there small prairies OF
the Puyalup and other streams which put into the
head of the Sound, some productive and some too
gravelly for cultivation. but these have long been
occupied The farmer who comes TO the racine
Northwest with p view of settling upon the Sound
is therefore likely to change his mind. lie does not
return to the East, but lie goes to the Willamette
country or to some Of the newer Oregon yaleys be-
vond the Cascades, or he JOINS the tide of mmigra-
tiop setting into the fine wheat belt that skirts the
base of the Blue Mountains FOR over POO miles
northeast of Walla WallI where the land is ready
for the plough and Is as rich as the best Illinois
prairie. .-...-
LUMBER RESOURCES.
The real resources Of the Sound region are Its
wonderful wealth OF timber. and the extensive
deposits of coal just beginning to be developed in
the foothills Of the Cascade Range. OF farming,
as have said one sees almost nothing and even II
one takes into account all the prairie and valley
farms out Of sight in the back country beyond the
forest walls the total product OF agriculture falls
far short of the needs Of The lumber camps and
fff.Faa ufnvr a
teropt the herculean tasz Of clearing the broad
plateaus fronting upon the water OF their dense
growth of mighty hrs and their masses of fallen
trunks for the sake of raising grain and potatoes
but that is a matter~w which concerns the next cen
tury rather than this. For the presentithe Puget
Sound farm is mere isolated notch IN the woods
mado bv the lunberman, aud its occupant is con
tent TO till a few acres among the stumps and to
open n few more for cattle range by killing the
trees and undergrowth with the help of fire. Lum-
bermen will tell you that the best timber is already
eat oil the shores of the Sound They are like the
cattle men in Montana who want to monoDoiZe the
country for themselves and try to keep out new
comers by tales of the ranges being over-stocked
The timber resources of the Sound have scarcely
been scratched by thirty years of active numbering
opcratons 1t is true that the best trees convenient
TO the water have been cut OIL from large portion
I
count Of trees which foI thickness and height would
be thought frst-rate in a Michigan pinery; nor
have they begun to work far back from the water
They have merely culled the forest trunks from
the shores; and even on the water front there are
many thousands of acres of untouched forest held
in reserve By the mill owners whose policy 1t Is to
buy logs and keep their own lands for future opera
tions and as a check on'high prices.
The value of this ma gnfcent timber field, which
sends spars to New-York and Liverpool and build
ing material to Australia and Chill can hardly lie
exaggerated. 1t may be necessary soon to 90
further back from the shores, and better methods
for transit for logs must perhaps he adOFted-here
would seem to be an opportunity for utilizing the
recent English invention Of steam truck laying
its own railway track as IT goes ana picking 1t up
behind it-but there is land enough bearing from
$50 600 TO 800 GOO feet of rst-rato lumber to the
acre to supply tho needs of the numbering operations
of at least century to come. As population in
creases upon the Pacific coast the market for
lumber will improve and there viii be no lack of
opportunity for capital and enterprise to establish
new-mils upon the sound
VAST COAL BEOs.
The second great source OF wealth of the Puget
Souud region is the coal field lying back OF it,
eastern shores up against the base OF the Cascade
Mountains It's width is from ten to twenty miles,
and its length when fully explored viii probably
be found to be great as that OF she Sound itself
reaching from Carbonate northward to and be
yond the British line, a distance ot.oyer n hundred
miles, At two points upon thS field mining opera
tIons are carried successfully 10y the aid OF rail
roads TO tide-water. The Central Pacific Railroad
Company purchased recently for half million
dollars the mines at Carbonate abOut.twenty miles
east of Tacoma, and are shipping coal to san Fran
,ts loo ,..,ttx 10, ..oI il n
true bituminous hard. solid, black and clean not
equal in heatproducing capacity to the best Pitts
burg coal hut a good fuel for railroad and steam
t.,,, ,,r-oc.os II IL tr,uen--ted In Tacoma over