Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-08-23

EDrToH PosT-IxrrLL1oKxcrn:

More than q year ago drew your At
tention to the condition Of the Snoqua ual-
mie saeon road, leading from Seattle
TO the Columbia river. then men
TONED that about fifteen miles of a csp
required TO be graded and improved, 10
make a good road from the Sound 10
toe interior beyond toe Cascade noun
t@ins. It Eas my easy to 90 over this
same road little more than a week aro.
and vas much surprised by the
snoant of aork that has been done 4,
improve the road. Good substantial
bridges span all the streams, st-eB
grades heye been Gus down, stumps and
rocks have been cleared out OF the
track, and only eight miles or there
absnts Of this road require 20 be fiuish-
ed 20 make a good road for teams and
wagons clear over the mountains When
say good, | mean cd compared with
tAe average c9uutry road of Western
Washington. The eight miles excepted
above are quite passable for saddle
horses, or teains vita stout wagons. A
little substantial help Just nov, from
tbs business men of Seattle, will opsu
this part Of the road so that q buggy can
go thFOagh ali right. There are
along the roed, except the sixty mil. 9
between SaoqaoimIe Prairie on sne
west, and tne supply camp, twenty fivs
f25) miles cegoad the suamit. Vita a
stout pony and a pair Of blanket il 10
osly nice ride through the p4ss, and
the fishing in Lake kltchllass Is unsur
passed at she proper season-Jane and
July. This beaatIfnI lake lies with its
vest end. four miles beyond rhe summit,
In SnoQaolmie P4ss, aud extends SIX or
seven miles along side of the road.
Ffeeipitous and lofty mountains rise on
the north and south, whose melting
SHOWS feed the uumet0as streams,
which empty into, and join the course of
the Yakima river, which flows in a
broad and beautiful stream from the
lower end of tue lake. The whole
Yakima valley, with its divisions, is
simply the dry beds of succession of
lakes. the waters of which have cut
through their mountain barriers, and in
tue lapse of centuries have worn
down their channels until a rapid river
is all that remains OF chain of inland
seas, not less beautiful, II more exten-
sive, than those which remain as the
birth places of each main trlbutory of
t0b ubbcr A0Alhh- Auu CACrAACdb NO1d
from Yakima City to Lake kitchelass, 3
distance of one hundred miles, 10
well beaten in the summer season
by the tourists and campers who are
fast iuding out what q delightful place
il IL to have q rusticatiOn. With first class
fishing thrown in. | understand that
the wagon road company, who have
opened up this road and have had
force Of men working on it all summer,
have put pony express line upon 1t,
starting from Seattle at the beginning
aud returning about the middle of each
mouth. Cost of ride, $40. Already
valuable products, such as ham and ba-
oon, have been and are being transported
from the upper Yakima valley TO Seattle.
Settlers are going into those mountain
valleys, ahd they must have an ontlet.
Even after tbs Northern Pacific Rail-
road shall have tunneled the Cascades
and commenced delivering Eastern
goods Thy It's branch linel in Seattle, a
thriving local trade will be developed
over this wagon road, II 80 be that the
road shall bs made fit for travel and
kept In that state. A little of that spare
cash which the good people Of Seattle
" saIted down" daring the hush times of
q year and a half ago. could with
advantage TO your city be brought 10
the light of day, and spent upon the
unfinished eight miles OF tho Saoqual.
miie wagon road. J. Il. THOMPSON.