, 1884-03-06

Correspondence ST. CEgoDi,ls.I
PoRT TOWNSEND, ". T., Jan. %, 1854. |
Port Townsend is the only town of
considerable Importance on Puget
Sound that has not grown under the
excitement of a boom and an intense
real estate speculation. The town
has been % years in becoming what
it is today, and the signs of its age
are plainly visible when it is compar-
ed with some of the other Sound
towns that have grown in two sum
mers. The business portion of Port
Townsend is located at the foot of a
high bluff, on low,sandy plain, only
slightly elevated above the tide-water
land. The streets of the commercial
part of the town have the appearance
of having been gradually extended as
the necessities of business demanded,
and not of having been made, as the
principal streets of Seattle and Ia
coma have been, by hewing miles of
road through the forests and making
deep cuts in the hills, giving street
space enough for the growth Of the
towns during the neXt half-century.
The business houses are substantial
iy built, with a greater regard for
convenience and economy than for
display. On the bluff, which is
reached by broad, well-built road
that rises gradually, is the residence
portion of the town. Here there are
no signs of haste or speculation. No
houses are being built in the midst of
a pine forest which is being cleared
by fire, as is the case with Seattle.
There are no lots covered with
standing sturnps that are Charred and
smoking and inclosed by a modern,
freshly painted fence, with a sign
board announcing that the city lot is
for sale. The streets are broad and
well made and the sidewalks are
planked. The greater number of the
houses have been standing for years,
and the well-cultivated flower gar
dens and lawns give the place more
the appearance of a New England
town than frontier city.
THE TowN's INDUSTRIES.
But Port Townsend has grown rap
idly during the last three years, which
have been so profitable for all the
towns along the Sound Real estate
has advanced so per cent during the
last twelve months, and many new
houses have been put up on the out
skirts of the old town. AS Port
Townsend is the port of entry for
Washington Territory, its chief bus
mess is connected with ships and
shipping, and this is the trade that
has enabled it to grow gradually,
while the other towns on the Sound
never grew beyond the dimensions of
a sawmill village till the railroad pre-
sented the dazzling possibility of
making one of them the terminal city
of an overland road. All vessels
whose crews are not shipped for a
return voyage discharge their sailors
here, and the business of keeping
Jack-until he ships again and fitting
him out for his cruise has created
quite profitable business for this
little place. This is doubtless the
safest place In the world to land Jack
with the wages of his voyage
in his pocket 1t is not a
rough place, and the houses devoted
to the low amusements, which often
allure the sailors have not yet been
established here. Jack ships again
from Port Townsend with more mon
ey in his pocket than he would from
any other seaport in the world.
SURROUNDED BY GOOD LANDS.
Port Townsend possesses what no
other place along the Sound enjoys to
the same extent, that is, tolerably
well developed agricultural country.
There are two valleys In the vicinity
of this place that have been under
cultivation for twenty years, and well
built farm houses, with barns, are
scattered over the country back of the
coast line. The land is best adapted
to the growth of vegetables, oats and
fruit Wheat does not mature and is
little cultivated in any part of the
Sound country. One of the first in
dustries in a town along the Sound is
a saw mill. The one established here
is at present closed on account of
some difficulty that the proprietors
have fallen into, much to the incon-
venience of the builders, who must
send to Seattle of Tacoma for their
lumber, which might, with greater
benefit to the town and less cost to
the buyers, be bought here, if the
mills were in operation Another
company is talked of, and unless the
owners of the saw mill can settle
their quarrel in short time they will
be relieved of further embarrassment
by the establishment of rival mill.
There is also shipbuilding yard
here. A tug boat is now on the ways
In course of construction. This bust
ness promises to grow rapidly. The
advantages here for the construction
of vessels are as great as anywhere
on the Sound, and being the point |
where vessels first touch and leave |
last the business of repairing ships