, 1883-03-01

bti NHb WtH'. NtN'
Washington P0stl
Governor Newell OF Washington
Territory, who is here as a commits.
sioner, delegated by various muuici
palities. corporations and prominent
citizens, to urge upon Congress tine
early admission OF their territory as Il
state, was seen yesterday by Post
reporter, and asked what claims, 9th
en- than the one Of l25,OOO population,
he would urge.
Il cannot reply better than by
stating what our resources are, ana
thereby demonstrating our ability to
sustain ourselves as state. We
consider that we have the ability to
assume TIE functions and bear the
expense incidental to stateship, and
our people are almost unanimous in
the desire that we shall be admitted
to the Union during the present ses-
sion Of Congress-"
What is the condition Of the mat
ter in Congress now".
Separate bills have been intro
duced in the House and Senate and
reported fayorably by the respective
committees, One bill provides for
the annexation Of the three most
northerly counties of Idaho, lying
north Of the forty y-siXth parallel flati-
tude."
What are these natural resources
upon which you base your claim to
be sclf-sustaining"
Leaving out Alaska, Washington
Territory is the extreme northwest
ern possession, and lies between the
Pacific ocean and Idaho, British Co
lumbia and the Columbia river. 1t
contains 10000 square miles, aggre
eating 450,OOO,O0O acres. II is diyid-
cd by the Cascade mountains, an
extension Of the Sierra Nevadas,
which run nearly north and south
into two separate regions, differing
essentially IN their characteristics,
and called respectively east and west
Washington. The latter occupies
about two-ffths of the territory, and
IS known rs the Puget Sound Basin.
The surface is hilly and in some por
tons moutainous. Four-ffths of
this surface is covered with dense
forests, the trees being of great mag
nitude. They consist of white and
yellow fir, cedar, hemlock, spruce and
pine, with smaller quantities of ash,
alder, oak and maple The fir tree,
especially, reaches, when full grown,
an enormous size, the average tree
measuring four feet with an altitude
of from 2o0 to 800 feet. Many mon
strous specimens are found, some
fourteen feet thick. This variety ia
found nowhere outside Of Vancouyers
island, Washington Territory and
Eastern Oregon. 1t is highly btu
ninous, tough, elastic and enduring,
and especially adapted to the con
struction OF naval vessels in all their
parts"
Have you nothing but trees, gov
ernor?"
"We have other resources equal in
value to the wood which | will tell
you about after l have told youabout
the hugo cedars we have. We have
gold, silver, copper, zinc, cinnabar,
tin, plumbago, rOica, soapstone. mar
BILE, granite, sandstone and limestone;
all these are found within our limits.
To utilize our timber saw mills of
large capacity are operating upon Pu-
get Sound, the large st Of which is at
Port Ludlow, q new structure, com
plete, but not yet in operation, being
456 feet long and 200 feet wide 1t
has cutting capacity for 2lS feet
logs. The amount cut last year was
365,0 100000 feet. This is sent down
the coast, to Asia, Australia, France,
England and the Nile. There are
twelve millions Of acres of such tim
ber, worth hundreds of millions dol
lars. There are ccdars in existence
Of twenty-one feet in diameter in all
parts of the territory. The bark of
the fir trees is used mainly for fuel.
The forests are filed with elk, deer,
bear, foxes, rabbit, grouse, phcasants,
ducks and other game"
Have you any coal deposits?"
General McAIicken, the surveyor
general of the territory, informed me
in a recent interview that the entire
Puget Sound Basin is underlaid with
coal. Indications are apparent every
where. The varieties are bituminous,
ignite and anthracite. Extensive
mines have been opened at Seattle,
Tacoma. and along the line of the
Northern Pac' 'fc. The mines at Sc
attic and Tacoma are extensively op-
Grated, each town having facilities for
loading vessels at the rate of 1000
tons day; the mines being located
within one hour of rail communica
ton from the bunkers, at which the
vessels are laden. -Four steamships
OF 1000 tons capacity are already es-