Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-01-06


picturesque, sisty background 70 all
views N that direction. Back Of yOu,
10 miles sO1th Of Tacoma, tcSeFs the
monster Rainier st Seattle, ~ miles
further away. II still saver- IN ugdiuiu-
Ished grsndeor and beauty, sAs on its
dope you can trace the 2Iseiers carving
their way beiov-giseiefs that senator
Ednuuds prono1ne~z the equal of zny
IN Switzerland. Leaving seattle at s
o clock N the morning. y91 sail directly
from Rainier, and almost all day, and
tlll the boat turns INTO ths Straits OF
FacA, roanding . point OF the Olym-
plan Mountains, 9 hundred miles away,
this mighty monster piesces the eloads
OF the horizou. distinct and massive, a
great psak when all intervening rHoun-
taios and ranges Of mountains have
sank from sight From all points on
the Sound. mountains rim the horizon.
The Oiymplan range IL snos-cspped
much Of the year; Aount Bakers bead,
TO tbs northeast; - always hoary: 50,
too. 10 81. Hslen's, to the south.
As we sail near the shores 90 SEE the
magnificent trees of this reeion-the
finest, probably, for ship building in
the world. They are. 50 symmetrical that
one does EsO. get true idea of their slZ9
except by measurements. saw many
that, earsfally estimated, were found to
bs over 80 feet in hight. Six feet
tn diameter as the butt was common,
aud many reached eight. One in par
tionlAr We measured and found ten feet
IN diameter. and beautifully trim, not
q branch so much as q twiR for more
than hundred fees. Reliable authuri-
ties give the sizss Of these trees as mure
than the feures ! name, making she
hight often 80 feet; bat I saw mono
that could Do estimated at that sizs.
Often fires sweep throngh these for
ests, leaving their tracks for years to
conne. At one point on Vancouver Is
land, back many miles from all habits
tons Of men, for that island is NOT in
habited even by Indians except along
the shores ze met strstoh Of forest
possibly tea miles long and three broad,
through which bad aweps one of these
devastating fires. Il was called the
"deadening," name truly appropri-
ate, for in It's midst vas nothing bet
death. The blackened trunks lowered
aloft, stripped Of every branch; the
ground was covered With fallen logs,
chsrred and decayed; an eagles nest
In solitary pine told Of life once there,
but there no more. As far a. the eve
could reach there was absolute dsseia-
tion; not a bird could be seen; not an
animal or creeping thing, and nos even
q breezs that spoiled that awful solitude
and silercs, A sight is was that made
Dsnte's desOlasion bat q picture to
this reality.
Possibly this gloomy sight was but a
happy contrast to she scenes of new
beauties that hourly burst upon N about
the Sound. There the water, the clear, |
WARM sky, the constant green foliage, !
and the ever reappearing snow caps 10 |
the distance, hidden for q time as We |
fioated on, grsw az last somewhat |
firing.
One Of the peculiar attractions of the |
Sound are the views TO be had at Sc |
attic. This town, q place Of remark |
able growth and prosperity, has the |
finest location, 80 far az natural beauties |
are concerned, Of any city of our oouu- |
try, excepting, possibly. San francisco. |
seattle is built around bay, on ground |
thst rises rapidly from the ater to the |
hight Of several hundred feet, and faces |
the west, looking over twenty, perhaps |
thirty, miles of water, to the sho.es of |
the Sound, where the Olynpisn range |
marks the horizon. The bay 10 covered |
with the shipping Of various nations;
vessels in the eoastin9 trade come and !
20 continually; fishing smscks are num- |
sross, and Indian canoes, alwAys the |
dug outs, With high prows and sterns. |
paddle aboat anong the rest.
Leaving this sight. aud mounting the |
bills back of town, you come to the |
crest, whence. looking east, you have |
spread before you Lake WASHINGTON, 20 |
miles or more long, and four or i've |
broad, nestled way down below you
among high hills that encompass il, |
backed by the bold. rocky Cascade
Mountains on the east. aud down 10 the
south, over the length of the lake, be-
tween mountains that part 10 allow the
view, rises malestioally the familiar
form ofIRainier. The pines moan about
you, the shores every ywhere are green
with the forests, and the hills beyond
all dense and interminable forest. Ii
is one of the sights 10 which all travel
ers bend their steps. and whence none
return disappointed.
The Indians of ths coast, called
Siwashes, n generic name, which there
supplants the word Indian altogether,
are an uaattraetivs race; they are short
and stanted. heavy and lumbering in
gait. stupid and staring in appearances,
greasy and indescribably filthy. Ali
along the Columbia, during the Summer
season, thsy gather from remote dis
tricts TO ish for salmon. They drop
their blankets and skins in any GRE.
vaase OF the rocks that will give any
protection, spread blanket ever poles
leaned agaiost the rocks for q canopy.
build smoky Gre al one end, and ASK
nothing Of the miRhtiest of the earth.
Their indifference 20 she weather 10
sublime. Two saw sitting facing each
other, q piece Of cloth but little more
than yard square on poles over them,
and driving rain drenching both; yes
they sat and smsked. chatting. aud ap-
parensly ohlivioas TO the weather. As
one locked upon them, IL vas possible |
20 realize the dislike, even hatred, that
dis ths ordinary white Who has been
thrown with the Indian long they
seem repolsivc IN every respect. without
a single resiesming quality; and IL was
not hard 10 believe that they are eaps-
ole Of any act dictated by brute pas