Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-04-29
Trip up the Samish.
EDITOR ENTERPRISE.

| Ouc uOI SibCSS "AoS'Ao'"-
aries, whose abiding place Is in one of the
quiet hooks of Fldalgo Island, whose
business is shingle making, and whose
schemes for the building of railroads,
harbors, cities, etc., will outdo those of
| Willard or Gould, and who from much
gazing upon the emerald setting OF which
Mt. Baker is the pearl, had come to be-.
lieve that wealth in some form must lie
hidden within its unexplored depths, con-
cuded (having become tired OF dull,
steady. every day work. to go and search
tor themselves. Accordingly, after hav-
ing laid in goodly supply of provisions,
they set sail with two pair Of good
stout ash oars from the tranquil Ship
Harbor, steering In direct line for Mt.
Baker and dropped anchor the first night
| at the hospitable doors of Mr.. D. Ding
wall.
Crossing from there an arm of Belling-
ham Bay and following for three miles
up one of the many sloughs that indent
the mainland and down which the loggers
| float their logs to the sea, they came to
jam and were obliged to lay up their boat,
put their "grub" into packs and pushed
on foot, following road for fourteen
miles along the north side of the large
tract OF level alluvial lands, the combined
deltas of the Skaget aud Samish rivers,
including the famed Olympia marsh and
altogether embracing many thousand
acres. So much has already been said
and written OF this wonderfully fertile
land that it would be super1uous to add
more, but to these three visionaries, who
arrived weary and footsore at Capt. War
ner's just at dark, it seemed as though
enough wealth had already been seen by
them, in the shape of magnificent timber
and rich soil which, few years would
see developed, to repay them for coming
thus far.
Capt. Warner, than whom no more
hospitable or genial man is to be found,
lives in what might be termed the north
east corner of the above mentioned al
luvial plain in a little "Garden of Eden"
of his own finding, which is prairie of
about two hundred acres. Here, un.
molested by neighbors, surrounded by a
large family, raising upon his pretty farm
all the necessaries end some of the lux-
uries of life, he lives as happy as a king,
troubled only by the thought that civili-
zation is soon going to encroach upon his
domain. BY his own pluck and muscle
he has built nearly the whole road from
his place to salt water, some fourteen
miles.
After having been made very comfor-
table over night, and having enjoyed the
captains reminicences of bis early travels
and experiences in this western country,
many of which would be intensely in
teresting to read if printed, our three
visionaries donned their packs (about
sixty pounds apiece and plunged into
the evidences, making light of their
rather cumbersome loads in the enthu-
| siasm induced by the prospect ahead that
had never been trodden by the foot OF
white man. They first took a northeast
and then nearly due north course, follow
ing up what is known as the south Sam>
ish river small stream unnavigable except
only by salmon. The valley proper, or
river bottom, has an almost uniform
width, averaging about one and half
miles; the soil is exceedingly rich. consists
ing of wash from the hills upon either
side, mixed with vegetable mold, and
covered with q growth of vine maple,
alder and salmonberry, with scattering
spruce and hemlcck. quite easy of clear
ing. The wash from the; hills is of soft
greasy dark-colored slate rock, OF which
the hills are almost entirely composed.
Our three worthless scrambled across to
the east side of the valley and followed up,
sometimes in the bottoms and again on
the benches that border the hills, finding
fresh cause for surprise and amazement at
every step, in the enormous fir and cedar
trees that run up straight and clear of
l branches tor q hundred or more feet