Middletown transcript., 1886-02-26
Washington Territory.

Washington Territory.
! THE INDIANs.-NATURALF FEATURES OF
THE CoUNTY.-oHINooK wINDs.-THE
KNIGHTS OF LABOR AND THE CHINA
MEN.-THE RToT.-MILD WINTERS,
PLENTY OF GAME AND SMALL oYs-
TIERS.
The following extract from a private
letter has been kindly handed us for pub
| lication:
SEATTLE, w. T., Feb. 10th, 1861
will try and answer some of your ques-
tons about this country. In the first
place Seattle is on Puget Sound and is a
town of eight or nine thousand inhabitants,
The people here are mostly State of Maine
lumbermen and are good deal like the
Yank wherever found. There are good
many Swedes and Norweigians here and
tow Irish. There is an Indian reservation
north of US about fifty miles and another
south about thirty. miles. The Indians
are called Siwash. There are lots of them
around town all the time peddling pitch
pine for kindling, and CLAIMS. They are
harmless inoffensive kind of critters.
This part ofthe Territory west of the Cas-
acde Mountains is timber land covered with
fir spruce and white cedar and the only
agricultural land worth speaking off is in
bettetffs subject to overflow when The ttiffe
rivers get high. All the towns are along
the sound and when you get out of town
you are in the woods. Loggers will cut
down tree from two feet across the
stump to four feet and probably cut off
two lengths of sixteen feet and leave the
rest to rot, you never see logs as small as
one foot in diameter at mill. There are
several saw mills here and one of them
can cut one hundred tn ousand feet per
day.
All the land see where it has been
cleared off around here is a gravelly soil
splendid for briars of all kinds which
abound. 1t is about ninety miles from
here to Victoria, B. c., by the Sound, and
about one hundred and seventy-five to
Portland, Oregon by the Northern Pacific
R. R. think it is about seven hundred
miles to San francisco by steamer.
Eastern Washington Territory is quite
a different country. There they raise
plenty of wheat and there is very little
timber, the weather is much colder there.
Here we. generally get one snow storm
each winter and that generally goes off in
day or two. All through this country
they have what are called chinook winds
that come up suddenly. and are as warm
as If they come from furnace. Some-
times a chinook will come when there is
a foot tof snow on the ground the snow will
disappear like twas swept off with a
broom; it does not seem to melt as snow
mostly does but seems to shrivel up.
Last Sunday morning the Knights of
Labor concluded to make all the Chinese
leave Seattle on the steamer which was
to sail that day for San Francisco and be-
gan hustling them down to the wharf
and buying tickets for them. The sheriff
swore in hundred deputies to preserve
order and they went to the wharf and
kept things quiet. Some one got out a
writ holding the steamer until Monday
and the Cinnamon were marched up to
court and asked if they wanted to go or
stay, the judge telling them if they want
ed to stay the law would protect them.
All but sixteen said they were willing to
60 and were marched back to the dock.
At twelve o'clock the steamer had nearly
two hundred Cinnamon on board and as
she had all the law allowed her to carry
she left a lot to be taken on the next
steamer. The deputy sheriffs started with
the Cinnamon to take them back to their
quarters when mob met them and tried
to drive them back and attempted to take
the guns away from the guards. In the
melee there were five men shot one of
whom died next day. The Governor pro-
claimed martial law and the town is
patroled by soldiers and all have to have
passes to 60 around at night. While
am writing troops from the q. 8. barracks
at Vancouver are disembarking and will
stay here till things quiet down. THE
TRANSCRIPT comes regularly. One thing
I forgot to say about this country is that
there is no lack of rain here through
the winter. Have not worn my overcoat
more than half-dozen times since came
here. Ducks, fish and deer are plentiful
and oysters about the size of twenty-five.
cent piece. 1t takes five days to get
letter from California here as the Post
master General has had all the mail
carried as far east as Ogden then across
country here instead of by steamer which
only takes three DAYS. HARRY.