Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-09-25
Some Territorial Wants.
STELACooM, Sent. %. 1855

SrEILAcooM. Sept. %, 1885.
EDITOR STANDARD:
Last Saturday The young, enter
pri>ing, wideawake, i've Delegate of
Washington Territory, G. S. Voor-
hees, called uron few of the lead
ing citizens Of this place ard made
inquiry as 10 our present and future
prospects, and expressed himself
anxious to do something in his rep
resentative capacity for our local ben
eft and the general good of ibe Ter
itoiy. And CIV. ry word and acton,
indicated that he vas sincerely aud
honestly IN earnest, as he SAID nOth.
lug OF the threadbare hobby If Tor
fixture, which has answered is W.
pose and ought 10 be dropped. He
made special itq"iy about TIE Iva
dozen mill arv reserves located on
Tho Nalrows, joining on and below
Puget Sound proper, and which is
said to he the Da: dir elles of Amer
lea. But after it WAS explained o
HIM that the curly engineers Of the
Cover umeni m i'd these reserves in
the in crest Of the General Govern
meDt. and not local interest specially,
and that four of them were 70 loca.
ed that a vessel III going past would
be in range Of water level and pluuS
ing shots from all of them at once,
and some OF the time only about
two miles distant from any tf th,m
and less than half mile from others,
and that Gig Harbor was embraced
III one of these four, and it was only
approacbable at high tide and then
but by narrow passage Of about
one hundred feet in width, in which
harbor a navy could tide in safety
and engage in any conflict, and that
still above these four reserves is an
other on Walla'chet Bay, land-locked
and admirably designed for navy
yard and retreat for merchant ma
rine shipping, he sill seemed to be
determined 10 make q desperate ef-
fort TO have Uncle Sam Gig canal
and build Che necessary locks for the
largest shipping to pass freely from
Salmon Bay. below Seattle, 10 Lake
Union, back of that city.
But in tue opinion of your CORES
pondent, Notwithstanding Mr.. Voor-
hees may feel under obligations to
the people of King county, he will
hardly place himself very strongly
on record advocating a scheme that,
If accomplished, would result in
squandering the public money for no
good purpose; for after the e1pendi-
ture of millions to make the ship ca
nal and other millions for fortifca-
tons to defend it, and the continual
drain upon the treasury 20 keep it in
repair, it could not answer any pur-
pose, outside of local ones, but what
The Columbia river would answer
better, and with comparatively no
expense. All naval vessels now be-
ing made of iron or steel, or cop
pered, need not of necessity be
towed through canals to fresh wa.
Ter, ihen back again to salt water, be-
fore they can he used. This canal
business at Seattle is scheme, a
job. for local benefit, without any
public good to result there from. OF
course we don't object to our good
Uncle disbursipe few millions on
Puget Sound, but we would like TO
have something of public utility to
show for it.
1t is more than probable that our
Delegate will find enough OF public
necessities Oh which to expend all
the spare dollars he can coax out OF
tho Government. For instance,
would not few Thousand dollars ex-
pended to enable deep water vessels
to reach The wharves of the Capital
OF the Territory be more sensible
han squapderlng millions to get the
same vessels into fresh water pond
back Of Seattle. Why, the denizens
of that burg themselves would be
ashamed of tue trap they had caused
10 he made il after their lake is filled
with shipping, a squad of an enemy
should march up through some Of
their streets aud plant u battery on
some of The nobs overlooking the
little lake and DESTROY all The ship
ping afloat therein. Tho truth is.
ibis whole scheme is very like a lot
OF cbild,en begging of a PAL eut Tor a
toy that is ouly 10 be seen and not
used.
Very respectfully yours,
nrMoCpar