Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-03-17
!, sxoarALMIE WAGON ROAD
,correspondence Yakima Record.l ]

fDE
Correspondence Yakima Record.l
rha nsople of Kittitas valley consrat-
,,ate the residents of your town and
uu;~;n;ty upon the boom in real estate,
"S;ch. from all reports, you seem to be
.n;oyinc; but We beg of you not for a
comeut to forget that We are continu-
i.; ~" IN receptive condition, and that
ans ans,r time great splash is made in
es.r' eaur nooI of prosperity that = stray
,vS pr two is waited across the Ump-
INN .l and is pre-empted on sight.
T;sh the approach of spring everybody
,.a,sa W., inspired with the spirit of pro-
90 During the splendid season Of
sga;shino vouchsafed by a beneticent
nnso,;dence to even the spring, summer,
.JfaIl sforn lambs of those indefa-
s.:aab,e shearers, the North Pacific and
n.soou Railway & Navigation Compa-
.;sa our people were busily engaged in
sanling fencing and building material.
Tha nrobabilities are now that many
ssres of land will he enclosed and cult
.sted during the present season that
.ha ORIGINAL settlers never dreamed of
sa;nc OF sufficient value TO justify the
,,sceasary outlay. A few weeks since
n,anv Of us were in daily expectation
.hat nat vour section at least would be able
- hssr witness to the fact that ground
had been broken for railroad TO the
connd. and although We thought it pos
able that considerable time might elapse
hsfore our domain would be tapped, We
had fondly hoped that We would at
sast not be denied the poor privilege
Il oIimbing up on Mount Rainier and
watching the smoke curl up, and the
sseam ascend in feecy rinQlets, as the
engineer of an incoming train blew the
whistle to let some farmers fair daugh-
ter know that her especial admiration
vas making "home run,' and would
soon divest himself of SCOT, oil-begrimsd
oyeraIls, ETC.. and arrayed in his best
abib and tucker" seat himself in her
father's parlor with an I've come to
stay" air that would speak louder than
words the dread intelligence that the
old man had underestimated by at least
one-third the amount of wood required
to carry him through the winter; unless,
per chance, the company might trans
fer the dashing engineer to another di-
vision of the road. But foolishness
aside, Mr.. Editor, we we're sorely vexed
vhen We learned that Me8srs. Gould
and Willard had concluded that it would
mot Be we'll to burst in upon Us with all
their spIendor, as we might, perhaps, be
stronger and better able to bear pros
psrity eight or ton years hence. We
clothed ourselves in gunny sacks and
nt down In the mud and thought what
q sad thing itwould be If Gould and
Willard should gain controlling inter
est in the brOad-gage road at present
controlled by his Satanic Majesty, as il
they did they certainly would direct all
the traffic in that directinn and -
would be to pay. As misfortunes sell
dom come singly We next expected to
hsas that the admirable effort, inv0lv-
ing several thousand dollars expense,
Of our enterprising tOwnsman, George
F. Smith, of Smith Bros. d Co., to keep
the Snoqualmie trail open during the
present winter had proven failure.
Also that Puget Sound had gone dry,
and that land gobblers were already
wading around in the mud stalking it off
as an addition to Portland. When, 10.
Glad news! We learn that the indefa-
tigable cattle king, merchant, ranch
man, hotel proprietor, and generally
philosophical pioneer. backed by his
more subdued, but not the less earnest
business associates and friends, had
made it through .. X; had sat
isfied Seattle people that n
wagon road could be built and kept open
between Eastern Washington and Puget
Sound by way of the Snoqualmie Pass,
and that il only remained for Seattle.
Yakima, Walla Walla, the PaiOuse and
Spokane countries to awaken to the ad-
vantaRes to be enjoyed by the possess
sion of thoroughfare upon which the
cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and other
products of the eastern section could
be driven or hauled to salt water and
exchanged for the commodities, or coin,
of the other, without being liable to a
continual tax, levied by parties who
know no limit short of the last cent the
trnffic will bear. With this road, too,
the immigrant, who now pays as much
70 get up the Columbia river as ii would
cost them to outfit in Seattle, would be
landed at that port, buy "bunch grass
cayuses, ETC., and pass on their way re-
joicing by direct wagon road to the
homes Of their adoption. We don't
know whether the trade of this inland
empire is a sufficient inducement to
lad King county people to make an
other of their grand efforts TO have
road orened; neither do we know
whether the Walla Walla, Palouse and
spokane counties are alive to the i'm
portapce Of a direct outlet to the sea.
But ve do know that single individual
u the face Of grave doubts of many Of
his best friends has demonstrated that
the road in question is possibility,
and believing that railway will never
be built direct to Puget Sound, unless
preceded by a wagon road, the writer
hoped that Mr.. Smith will persist in his
hudable effort until good wagon road
.hall have been built to Puget Sound,
doubling not that men and money will
speedily be forthcoming to secure it's
completion at an early date. e