Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-03-22

.SHuAoI AutcIvdIa. IoW SeCO008 apart.
through an opening in the floor, opened
it jaws, seized loR,and turned il over:
then sank again on. Of sight, till the
next log was ready for turning. There
was fierce and viRdictive expression
in the intermittent action Of this an
tomaton. which made is seem like a sem
tient and malignant demon. rather than
machine.
Sitting with his face sheltered behind
q large pane of glass, which was mount
ed like q screen, sat man sharreuino
saws on big iron wheel, driven by
steam. Tho wheel revolved 80 swiftly
that volleys Ct blazing sparks few right
and left from the saw teeth. Perhaps
nothing could give stronger impress
sion OF the amount Of force expended
In the mill than the fact that this saw
sharpener and his lightning wheel never
rest while the mill 10 going.
Shutting ones eyes and listening at
tentiyely to the whirring din, one per-
ceiyed myriads Of fine upper violir notes
In 1t, and now and then a splendid bass
chord, as Of giant violoncelIo; again,
thuds of heavy logs would crash in
among the finer metallic sounds, till the
sound seemed like the oufburst of
colossal discordant orchestra.
Outside the mill were huge booms of
logs floating in the water. One might
walk over acres of them. They had all
come from distant forests on the Sound.
The mill companies are too shrevd to
cut their own timber, in the vicinity of
the mills,yet the company to which this
mill belongs is said to own quarter of
million acres of solid forest; but at
present they buy all their logs, most of
them from men who cut them under the
Timber Act.
The wharves are lined with ships
waiting to carry the lumber away. The
ahips themselves, many of them, had
been built on the Sound, at Port Lud-
hundred feet tall, without blemish,
had come from the same forests which
had supplied the planks now being
slowed i0nominiously away into their
holds. It was marvellous sight to sec
the loading. Each ship was packed
many tiers desp with lumber; the hold
filled in solid, and the deck piled high.
The planks we're lifted by derrick,
on the wharf, and shot down, sliding to
the deck.
At the rate trees are being cut down,
and lumber shipped away from this re-
gion, 1t is q comparatively simple CAL
culation to reckon how long it will take
to strip the country bare. England,
France, Australia, China, Japan, and
even the Sandwich Islands, are using
Oregon and Washington pine and fir.
The Pacific coast Of South America uses
little else. Enthusiastic statisticians
publish estimates of the vast amounts
Of standing timber; showing, for in
stance, that tho timber now standing in
WasbipRton Territory alone il equal to
the whole consumption OF the United
States during the last hundred years.
10 the unthinking American this seems
q sufficient ground for Diminishing all
anxiety on the subject; and he does not
pause to establish any co nnecti0n in his
mind between this statement and the
fact that the mills on Puget Sound. when
all at work, have cutting caprcity of
800, ,OOO, GOO fest year, three of them
cutting over q hundred thousand feet a
day each, and fourth being put into
condition to cut two hundred thousand.
Americans are often rcproached, and
justly, for their lack of reverence for
the past; there seems greater dishonor
in their lack of sense for the RESPONSE
bility for the future.
i Leaving Port Gamble We sailed
straight into cloud Of silver radiances;
fog banks, sifted and shot through by
SUMS rays. Ceasslessly shifting and il
lumining. retreating and advancing,
they wrapped M in . new world, almost
moro beautiful than that from which.
they shut us. Now and then, a weird shape
glided past, with warning cries; Q
steamboat, or big log boom
drawn by tug. These log booms are
among tho most picturesque features of
the Sound. They are sometimes 1500
feet long and 60 wide, and contain a
million feet Of lumber. The logs. being
all barked, are yellow and glisteninR !;
and as the boom sways and curves ON
the water, the whole surface Of il shines
like floor Of duted gold.
At Port Ludlow, another sawmill
tank, which stood on posts some fifteen
or twenty feet high, close 10 the shore.
Il was a beautiful instance Of natures
readiness TO adopt and beautify the
bsrest and baSiest things. This rough
board tank, just az il stood. dripping
water at every crevi0o, would have been
| an ornament to any conservatory in the
land. From every joint waved grasses
and vines they hung over, nodded and
blew into tanRles with each breeze.
Tho cross-beams wore covered with
green moss, and from each side there
hung out plants in blossom; yellow and
purple asters, q tall spike of red fire.
weed in one corner, and myriads Of fine
white flowers whose name ! did not
know.
Before 10 O'Clock we had reached Port
Townsend. Entering its harbor, We
sailed through tho fog wall a. though
dividing folds Of curtains at doorway.
"Never q fog In Port Townsend Har-
bor," is q saying on tho Sound. Tho
town lies ON high bluffs. and q prettier
village could not be found. We jumped
ashore, took Q carriage, and saw all Of
the town which could be seen in fifteen
minutes' rapid driving. Tho houses arc
wooden, chiefly white, bat are powered
in roses and honeysuokles. The white
honeysuckle il indigenous to the region
and grows with . luxurianoe incredible
10 those who know it only ~ cultivated
cottage with ono side covered from
caves to ground BY matted wall Of tho
fragrant blossoms. Port Townsend ID q
military post, and an air OF orderly
precision seems to pervade the whole
place. The o6-look over the Sound 10
grand on tho ono hand the Olympic
Mountains, and on the other Mount
Baker and it, ranges; between these.
countless viatas Of inlet and ialand and
promoutorv.
There could b. nowhere In the world
q sharper Transition, in days journey,
than that which we made in going from
Victoria 10 Seattle. 6eat4le h twenty
seven years old BY the calendar, but by
record OF actual life Only six, % that Il
has all the hustle and gtir OF . new