Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-12-14
nlt1,7 POST -lHfeLLIGEHcER.


.LuSDEREx ABROAD.
The King of Newspaper Blunderers
ss hare about two months ago, IN the
person of Sam Bowles, oil the opilns
e.,a Rxpxbliean. The first paragraph
= hid tvo column article, is quite &C
cnrate. being a general description OF
the Sound, and probably taken IN sns
main from the writings OF others.
Wien II comes TO what MIR. Bowles DIM
calf ,av. and heard, he is far fro" even
a presencs to truth. In his nrs' ~
tancs he says the railroad 70 isoo'
-.. hr;,t in 1871. In truth, 1t was De
onn in 1871, but the greater part Oh ~
hn;lt IN 1872 and 1873. He next locates
Tacoma near the end of the longest
Southern arm Of the Sound. In truth.
4 il only a little more than nan
vay. The road, he says, runs through
. ,h;ck forest of tall and stately ever
.rasn trees. Coming from Aassachu-
eta the timber along the line may
have appeared to him as described but
hero the description sounds simply re-
d;culous. The road really runs through
a burned, scrawny, dead. stunted Rro~tn'
the timber being such as to exai'e
contempt on tho part of the average
home lumberman. lie admits a claim
for New Tacoma of 1000 people, while he
locates in Victoria only 5000. In the
first place are about 200, in tho otner
about 1000. Beyond this statement OF
the population, he displays ill-feelinR
Or. prejudice against the tne tei-
minal town feeling with which
va have no sympathy, ana
We care not to repeat his utterances con-
corning the home of our neighbors.
Coming on, he speaks of Seattle, IN
contrast with New Tacoma, as "a new
and larger place." 1t is larger place
20 be sure, and q good deal larger, and
"a believe " II constantly widen the
distance between it and its reigtbor,
b II that il as inferred is newer place,is
untrue. Seattle IL nineteen years older
than New Tacoma. Mr.. Bowles ID quite
right whom he speaks or Seattle as the
busiest and most prosperous town on
the Sound, but he is simply abominabie
in h;s desoription of Port .Townsand.
Hear him:
Sailing up the Sound from Tacoma
and Seattle, through Admiralty inlet,
our boat touched at Port Townsend,
the port Of entry for Washington Ter
ritory, before pushing acroos the rough
waters Of Juan de Fuca to Victoria. Ii
is an old and weather beaten village
struggling along by the sea and back
over the hills, at the end of a tongue of
land formed by two deep inlets from
the Sound, and ia inhabited chiefly by
fishermen, q few soldiers, Customhouse
officials and nondescript ioafers.
His impressions of Victoria we're IN
favorable also. He stretches the time,
though. when he says she enjoyed her
greatest prosperity, rs or 30 years ago,
there being no such town Of. Victoria
In existence then.
Coming back to the Sound, he outs
down Mount Rainier from IA ,44O feet to
1880. OF the islands. he had better
said nothing, SO far is he out of the way,
his conclusion being that "there are but
few settlements ON the islands, for the
land 10 poor and unproductiye. On the
island of San Juan there arc exten-
sive limestone beds which are now being
worked, but with this exception the
signs Of life are rare on any Of them"
Mr.. Bowles Is an old newspaper man,
born and bred into the business, and
such statements as he has made in the
article under review are inexcusable,
particularly SO coming from him. We
anticipated with pleasure the reproduc-
ton Of his article entire, but are forced
to content ourselves with the extract
following, the only one to which We can
fully agree. Instead Of pleasing people
hereabout, AZ no doubt the Republican
editor intended, he has effected a result
directly the contrary, Tor. taking the
whole article. no honest person, with a
regard for fairness and truth. can be
pleased with it, and this il particularly
the case with people living out Of Seat
tie. all Of whom axe falsely and more or
lsss injuriously represented. But here
70 the one worthy paragraph before re-
fsrrsd to:
A weeks cruise mp and down the
islands Of Puget Sound, the great in
land SEA Of ths far Northwest, is an ex-
perienoo full Of interest. delight and
revelation. A fair schooling in geogra-
ply in ones younger days and tolerable
1ami iarity with maps OF the Pacific
coast since, give but vague idea of the
extent aud irregul trity Of this remark
able body Of tids-water and Of the char
Aoter Of the land surrounding it and
scattered through it. In the severe,
colorless language OF figures 1t is repre-
esnted that the Sound covers an area
In Washington Territory Of 1000 square
miles, and has shore line of 1900
miles," and In British Columbia its nd.
ditiOnai area ia even greater. From the
broad straits Of Juan de Fuca which,
flowing East and West, separate the isl-
and Of Vancouver from Washington
Territory, the Sound extends south in
two arms, lying near together, some ~
or 30 miles, into the heart Of the Terri.
tory, The longer Of these arms end in
what might be called an open hand, the
water spreading out into q broad bay
and thence running of into compare
lively narrow inlets representing fin
Rors. North Of the straits the waves of
the Sound lap the Western shore OF
Washington for many miles. indentinc
the coast with bays and inlets innumer-
able, and encirclino hundreds Of islands
OF various shape and size, from lannon's
San Juan, cne Of the largest, t. single
bold and nAmelesa rock rising above the
eea, bare or surrounded by q stuuted
growth OF pine. Along the Eastern and
Northern shores of Vancouver and the
Western sea front of the British main
land are ether islands and inlets eoual-
~ various in outline. Indeed the steam
crs running TO Alaska, 1000 miles North.
make tneir passage between islands and
the mainland from the open sea. The
shores OF the mainland and the islands
are covered with forests OF pine, Or and
oedSi. their growth on the islands being
nv&sy wrs.~