Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-01-03
WESTERN wAs.1xGrss.


kVlu t3z0 cbsYts<~-%~ - 49,
An article descriptive Of Western
Washington, printed on another page,
touches the most important features OF
that very great section. Those Who
read il will see how very shallow u the
common criticism THAT "the 6oond
country can never amount to much
because it has no backing" Asa mat
ter of fact, the Puget Sound country has
the best possible backing" Troe, il
has not great areas Of farming Land, bat
it has enough TO supply local require
msnts, and its tide and timber pastures
afford stock ranges which the people OF
Eastern Washington will within very
few years look upon with envy. Timber
ranges are now almost wholly neglected
both in Oregon and Washington, but
they are in fact the best permanent pas
lures we have. The day will come, and
ere long, too, when the chief cattle pro-
ducing sections Of Oregon and Wash
ington will b. the timber ranges OF Pu-
get Sound and along the coast.
In her coal and iron mines Western
Washington has the resources which
have made Pennsylvania the second
State in the Union. And she has them
in no small measure. Her store Of Goals
is great enough 10 supply tho needs of a
manufacturing population of q million
people for an indefinite period. It is
practically inexhaussible. She has,
literally, mountains Of iron, Of the quail
tiles most valuable, easily accessible;
and of the best commercial timbers she
has a supply whose extent or value it IL
impossible TO estimate. II il so great
that thirty years of reckless extrava-
gance in its use, and much wantOn de-
struction have scarcely left a mark upon
it. These three great materials-eoal,
iron and wood-are not only In great
demand a. raw materials throughout
the commercial world, but they are the
basis of manufacture, and the hand
maid of manufacture il wealth.
In her present stage Of development,
and, perhaps, for few years to come,
Western Washington will sell her raw
products, but in time she will become
the seat of great manufacturing enter
prises. And not least among the ad-
vantages of the Puget Sound country ia
Puget Sound itself, the finest harbor in
the world.
Another circumstance Of value in es-
timating the future development of
Western Washington 10 it's fno working
climate. A man can work in the open
air every day in the year, without dis
tress from heat and unframed by cold.
Its seasons afford scarcely more variety
than ID healthful and pleasant. The
industrial conditions of the country at
this time are prophetic Of great devsl-
opment in the future. Coal mines near
Seattle and Tacoma have been opened
and connected with deep water docks
by lines Of railroad. Other and more
extensive coal fields are soon to be
tapped by new lines Of railroad. The
iron beds near Port Townsend are being
opened, and nine large merchant mills
produce million feet of sawed timber
per day. The cities Of the Sound,
though mono Of them are yet large or
possess great wealth, are wonderfully
energetic, and are progressing at a pace
which cannot be described. And in 90
cial and moral conditions, the Sound
country Is abreast of the times. Il has
newspapers Of unusual enterprise, q
college Of merit, a fine general school
system, beautiful churches and Guilt
waited and refined society. II Western
Washington were without resources ex-
cepting in and of itself, il it were an
island in n,id ocean, it would become
great.