Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-01-26

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Tacoma Nsva.
The earnest and sonesimee even pa
thetic appeals for information Uhlrh
come from Eastern peoo!e for informa-
-tlon about the Northwest are perhaps
hot it subject for ridicule but could
our readers peruse the many letters
which are daily received by the real
estate men Of Tacoma they would find
provocation for many q hearty laugh.
The Ignorance Of the average fastener
of the Topography. resources, character
Of the inhabitants. and the openings ex-
istinR in this region j. somewhat app "
ling.
One idea Is very noticeable In many
OF these letters. The writer's have the
most ridiculous idea Of the size Of Pu-
get Sound. They seem 70 think it IL a
small body of water instead of one of
the greatest inland seas of the world
A real estate man showed us letter
fr III New Yorker the ether day, in
which be asked il be could buy farm
on Puget sound. He said it must lie
close to the Sound 90 that be could get
water for his cattle.
A letter came addressed 20 c. b.
Wright the other day. in which the
writer said he had seen his name adver-
tissd as q real estate agent or some
thing. He asked a. . favor Of Mr..
Wright that he would pick him out a
homestead not more than half mile
from Tacoma, and he Was very particu-
lar that II must all be prairie land.
One prospective emigrant writes to
Howell d Nixon that he has about $500,
and that he wished 10 buy 70 acres for
cash, right in the city, on which 10 start
q market Garden. The writer would be
very much astonished TO learn that such
q tract would probably bring about
$4,000.
Another writer wants TO know how
deep he would have to dig for water if
be bought farm on Puget Sound.
Another writer, Who II evidently hard
TO suit. wants q farm which must b
part timber and part prairie, half under
pillow, not more than three miles from
the city, near school house and on the
railroad, for which he 10 willing to trade
a house and lot in Futon, ILL.,, valued at
$1,000.
Another emigrant in Pennsylvania
writes to the Land Company that he
has q wife and three daughters who are
good workers, aud he wants TO know if
there il some public spirited citizen in
Tacoma who will build q boarding
house, which his wife and daughters
will guarantee to run in the "Rood old
Pennsylvania STYLE" II the wife and
three daughters can really run hosse
hope tbs "poblie spirited citizen" may be
found. II there il anything this city
does need 1t il boarding house run
In the good old Pennsylvanis style"
Another anxious individual wants
homestead near the CITY, and wants to
know II he could get job a. deputy
sheriff TO earn money With which to de-
velop his land. He says be has had COL =
siderable experience 40 deputy sheriff
in Missouri.
Another asks Howell d Nixon to send
him an estimate of the cost of q log
house l6xO and what a yoke Of oxen
costs.
Another eminent geoeraphef wants
TO know II there are any saWmills ON
Puget Sound, and which of Seattle or
Tacoma il situated AZ the mouth of the
Columbia river.
A shrewd business man in Browns
vile, Missouri, wants to know il there
- . chance TO start store on Puget
Sound; and still another wishes the real
estate agent TO send him q description
Of good farm q few miles back II. N
the Sound. and also tell him what q
house suitable for q family of nine
would cost.
One seeker after knowledge in Al
tOOnA, Pa, saws his folks have Aivava
been used TO COED society in the East,
and wants TO know il Tacoma has a
church and school house. He ,ys that
he understands that new towns in the
West do not come no to the East in this
matter, and he does not expect il, but
he would not like to locate where there
II nothing Of the kind.
One writer blocks out tho hsrculean
task to real estate agent of going clear
around the Sound 10 pick hiau out a
good homestead. He very fairly agrees.
however, 70 pay him for his time. He
employed q travelling locator by the
year.
II the real estate men replied to all Of
the letters received the balance of their
lives would be devoted to the gentle
task Of welding pen, and il they sent
newspapers and maps 10 every appli-
can't for them they would need the
wealth Of Vanderbilt.
II must not be supposed that all of
She letters show such absurd ignorance
A. those quoted above. On the contrary
many correspondents possess q more
accurate knoWredge of the country than
e-fOurths Of the people here al
homo. They have subscribed for the
newspapers, treasured up statistics,
studied the mapa and possessed them
selves Of every available information.
These last are the monied men. The
others are poor and unfortunate people
who, forced BY want and the increasing
difficulty of getting ahead in the far
east, form sudden resolve to 60 TO the
new Eldorado. One Of their first in
Quiries always 10, Can I get q job?'
What would be more difficult 70
answer?