The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-08-24

1890
an old place The builders OF the little
Episcopal church here mnny years ago had
some romantic us well as economical notions.
They built by the side of II massive tree, saw
cd III the top of the tree and placed their bell
on the huge trunk. From its high place as
the successor of the tree-top-the old bell has
rnng its echoes out over the waters and back
again through the forest, sending forth III
calls To worship in that distant .and secluded
spot for many years.
Between the two Tacomas IL located II very
fine saw mill and excellent coal bunkers, and
below tae old town is the brick yard. New
Tacoma Ia the nominal terminus Of tn"
N. T. X. II. for the purpose of the land grant.
ami has been for 10 years.
The place seemed very quiet and failed 10
convince us that such II degree of future
greatness awaits IL as Its more ardent All
mirrrs anticipate. One objection IL that the
water la the Bay this part Of the Sound IL
called Commencement Bay Is too deep.
You can stand upon the wharf, place ~
pebble upon your thumb and snap II oil int"
water 300 feet deep. Vessels cannot obtain
anchorage, and another objection Is the high
hill between tho water and the town. That il
vii. make u good thriving little city we do
believe.
After our stay is completed here we pre-
pare to go further "down the sound" which
means toward the entrance of Juan de Fuca
straits. and consequently "down" in this in
stance means north.
We are bound for Seattle, and the ride 10y
steamer is II most delightful one of three
hours. II Is made late In the afternoon, and
the early evening, as IL gathers, seems to
bring additional beauty To the scenery.
Puget Sound is most enchanting body Of
water, and the water, the forests of trees OF
incredible size and height, the mountains in
thef ancc.w \ Old Mound rainier sending
itsw. u over 1900 feet, and the
beautiful Oily -,ic range on the other side, II
sky clear rs crystal, except us light cloud
sometimes comes sailing along and stops t.
rest on Old Rainier, all conspire To render
the scene magnificent and the little voyage
enjoyable.
Bat we are writing this more for the worth
of the country rather than to indulge in OK.
travagances on the scenery. Suffice it to say
the Territory furnishes much beautiful
scenery, to which Western Washington con.
tributes her share IN scripture measure.
About half past six us we round Alki Point
to the East, Seattle the Queen city of tn,
Sound" comes in sight and presents mic,
view The city is built upon ground one,
covered with forests and reaches back over
the plateau lying between the Sound ana
Lake washington-which is beautiful fresh
water lakc-z6 miles long, and lying about
three miles from the Sound. A canal in being
constructed to connect the two bodies of wa
ter tn enable ships to have fresh water
harbor. The city somewhat cncircles the bay
and has an abundance of water front and
good anchorage. 1t has been settled sine.
ISL, and has had history checkered with
adversely and prosperity Forycars it strug
gled as an insignificant village. In 1867 1,
contained but :s houses and 400 people. II
| five years it had reached population oi
1000, outstripping all rivals. Since that tim,
| II has continued to grow, and is now enjoying
a fine degree Of prosperity, and fast assum
| ing the dimensions of city. 1t has Il popula
| ton of about 5000 resident inhabitants an,
from 600 to 800 transient.
1t has had much to do by way of street i'm
provcmcnts and this year alone is spending
about $l50,0c0 in that way. 1t has many cit
| liens of means who have acquired theil
wealth here, and PULL together for the build
ing up of the place. Improvement il the rul
ing sentiment and everywhere going ON. |,
| is estimated that about 300 buildings are IL
| progress of erection this season, many u
them costly ones. Fine residences costing
| De kxn 81
blocks are among the number.
Seattle is the general distributing point FOL
the Sound country, and is the center OF al
the boat and steamship lines Oh the Sound
Around her docks gather not only the steam
| ers OF the Sound but the great ocean steamer
AMI sailing vessels. The N. p. X X. Co nav,
contracted to build one branch of the Cas-
cade division into Seattle as well as Tacoma
| from the point where 1t energies from tn,
mountain pass, and this gives Seattle Il direc
line to the East and also the North and Soutl
line of the Pacific division to Portland. Tn
company are now bridging the willamette II
Portland, and constructing their road ON tn
west side of the Columbia to Kalama, Il
which place they will cross the trains b.
steam ferry, 50 iaat the Pacific division viii
soon be complete.
Seattle has the Territorial University, larg
Catholic Hospital and school, u fine larg
| school building and money I'm the treasury L
build two more the coming season. There
an Episcopal Parish school and Il km,icreal
den, about dozen churches, and two dali
newspapers that receive the Associated Pres
dispatches. In the line OF manufacture
Seattle has three foundries, two brew cries
three chip yards. one tannery, three boile
makers, six sash and door factories, five INA
chine shops, two furniture factories, one ic
factory, one Touring mill, six saw mills il
operation and two more in process of cree
ton, one of which has commenced cutting
since our visit there; three brick yards, tire
fish packing establishment, one fish cannery
and a large barrel factory. 1t has three IA
tiOnal banks with large capital.
Other places of interest on the Sound ar
Olympia, the capitol, All easy going, old
fashioned town of about 1000 people, whc
makes everybody feel at home, Steelacoon
Port Townsend, Whatcom and the city acros
the Straits-VictOria. We cannot well eXap
gerate the vastness of the extent and value %
the forests of Western Observation-Disclosures
tionably the finest body Of timber land in tn
world.
1t is said that at low estimate one-half o
the growth OF these Puget Sound forests con
sist of trees that will yield $4,000 600 feet o
lumber to the acre. Therefore the approx
mate quantity of this great tract alone thu
area of which is nearly as large Us the Stat
| of Iowa, is not less than l6O,OOO,OOO,COO fee
| upon which the cut of the last IS years
has made little impression The principa
growths in Western Washington are fir
pine. cedar, spruce, larch and hemlock
White oak, maple. cottonwood, ash, alder ant
other varieties are also found i'm considerable
quantities, and utilized in manufacturing
There are three varieties of pine, three OF
cedar, two of fir, native to this region. The
| fir exceeds all others I'm quantity and value
Not infrequently the yellow fir is $50 fee1
high and pine 100 to 100, cedar 100, Silver II,
| lSO, oak 40, black spruce 100 feet. Trees OF
| ordinary size yield 5000 to 5000 II. each, and
some produce as high as 900 The product
OF the mills is shipped to San Francisco
Sandw ich Islands, Mexico, the Islands west
OF South America and even to Australia and
India.
There are some 10 or 20 large mills In Oper.
alton on the Sound, and the daily cutting
capacity is more than 100000 feet. The
mills of Seattle and vicinity cut about 100000
feet per day. Tacoma 100000, New Tacoma
Is, goo, Port Ludlow 100000, dhe largest cut of
any one mild, Utsaladay 1900, Seabeck g..
900, Milton 10000, Watcom 1900. Most of
these mills are run at their full capacity.
Planning mills ne generally connected with
them.
There are valuable coal. iron and other
mines in Western Washington. The coal
mines of New Castle, connected with Seattle
by narrow guage, have been worked for
many years, and the little engine is busy all
the time bringing in the coal to the bunkers,
where il is loaded upon ships tor transpor-
tation. Much the came may be said of the
mines east of New Tacoma. The agricuitur-
al land that does not first have to be cleared