Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-09-18
DAILY -IRTEluGENCER'
THE oREGex IMPROVEMENT CEN
PANY.

a very considerable proportion Oh '''
business il done in King county ana al
the vharyes of this city. In Us prop
erty, projects and the successfui opera
.;on Of the coal mines, railroads and
lines Of steamships owned by it, Seattle
has had, nov has, and mus. continue 70
feel. much interest. From the annual
raoort of its President, Elijah smith,
made in June of this year, we give the
following abstract. 1t will be found 10
.on,aip muoh information of local In
terest
The different properties owned and
managed by the company are ~ steam
ship property, (2l coal props rites t")
hand and miscellaneous. The steam
sbio property is managed under the
o,oanization Of the Pacific Coast
Steamship Company, Of which the Ore
oon Improvement Company owns 1868
ont of the 1000 shares Of its stock. IL
operates five routes, to wit, ths Alaska
route, the Puget Sound route, ths Ore
CON route, the California Northern
route. and the California Southern
route.
The Alaska route extends from Port
land. Or, 10 juneau. Alaska. Monthly
trips are made by the inside passage
II is not yet profitable, bat will tecome
40. Tue net earnings in 1888 were
$1,634.i4.
The Puget Sound route ~ from San
Fr.poisco to Victoria, b. g., $50 nauti-
cal miles) thence to Port Townsend,
Seattle and Tacoma. Service Is now per
formed by the Queen Of the Pacific an
iron steamship, owned by the Pacihc
Coast Steamship Company, and valued
AT S5OO 900, and the Mexico, wooden
screw steamer, valued at $780, 600, and
under lease at 500 PER day until No
vsmber 9, 1884. Each makes round
trip in sixteen days. Twenty two thou
saud three hundred and seventy eight
passengers and 1890 tons of freight
ware carried on this line in 1883, and
the gross earnings were $673,i526
Over half OF this west 10 the Oregon
Railroad and Navigation Company, FOL
whose benefit the George W. Elder
which it swned, was operated. Dat Of
the remainder the charter Of the Mexico
($l4,OOO) was paid, and operating ex
penses, leaving a net profit to the steam
ship company Of $37,Ol6.sS-a small
showing tor so very large business.
The Oregon route is from San Fran
cisco to Portland. Or, being G6l nau
tical miles, 555 miles on the ocean anc
log miles on the Columbia and William
cite rivers. The draught OF steamers
on this route il limited 10 Is feet on 40
count of the Columbia river bar, and Il
10 and IL feet by bars in the two rivers
at low water. The service is performed
by steamers of the D. X. Il N. Go. and
P.S. @. Co., which are run under pool
contract and joint management. Prior
10 the opening Of the N. p. k. X. there
were four steamers, the Columbia, Ore
gon, State of California and Queen of
the Pacific. The two former belong 10
the q. X. Il N. Co., the latter to the
=. g. y. Go. There are now but three
steamers ON that route. The net earn
ings in 1888 we're SOS, 95059. Details of
the other routes are net of especial in
terest to our readers. The net earnings
of the whole =. q. s. Co.'S system in
1883 we're, deducting 1882, 30 for de-
probation of steamer property, 1854, 81.
The estimates for 1884 are $4,000. the
decrease being due 10 the large falling
of anticipated on the Oregon route.
The coal properties owned by the Or
cyan Improvement Company are di-
vided into three groups, VIZ: (D the
Newcastle, (2) the Green River, t3l the
Wilkeson. The Company owns 1870
acres in the Newcastle group, lying
about two miles from Lake Washington
and ten miles in straight line from
Seattle. The Newcastle mine stands in
the name of the Seattle Coal and Trans.
portation Company, the stock of which
is owned by the Oregon Improvement
Go. II is connected with Seattle by
marrow gage railroad 20 miles long, be-
longing to the Columbia aud Puget
Sound Railroad Co., the stock of which
is also owned by the o /. Co. The
O. and p. s. Il. Il. Co. also owns a large
quantity of real estate in this city.
Coal mined al Newcastle lie shipped via
the narrow gage TO Seattle, thence TO
San Francisco and Portland by steam
golfers which are owned and operated
directly by the o. l. Co. which leases
the Beale street wharf in San Francisco
and owns considerable adjoining real
estate. The Newcastle mine has three
veins, two of which are feet and the
other 10 feet thick. In 1883 the product
was 2ll, All tons. Il Is the largest mine
on the Pacific Coast. The coal Is called
Ignite, but IL is semi-bituminous. The
village of Newcastle is owned by the
Company. The estimate of the out put
of the Newcastle mine is 100000 tons
yearly for an indefinite period, and tn
net profit thereon is placed at about
Sl.00 per ton.
The Green river coal fields comprise
ll2O acres Of coal lands and leo acres
Of timber land, owned by the .. |. Co.
The only development made in this
field is on section 10, where openings
have been made on the Mckay vein.
The mine Is to be called the Fran siin
colliery. The Green river runs diaeo
nslly across this section. exposing three
veins Of coal of good thickness for
mining. This coal is bituminous, and
Is superior to the Newcastle product.
The Franklin colliery is to be reached
by the Cedar river extension Of the C.
and p. s. Il. r., being ao7 miles long
from Renson to the colliery. The road
has been fully located and grading I'm.
ished for half the distance. Track has