The Republican journal., 1886-05-20

FOR YOUNG MEN IN TIE TERRITORY. THE
CLIMATE
Correspondence of the journal.
COSMOPOLIS, CHEHALIS Co., W. T.. April
n. A number Of my eastern friends frequent
ly request me to give them description of the
Chchuli~ Valley and the country in general. |
am poor hand to talk on paper, but will begin
with description of the Chchals river. Lay
your hand upon table and spread out the fin
gers, leaving the largest finger straight out and
assuming it to be two hundred miles long, aid
you will have tolerabe map of the river and
lis principal sloughs-the Wyunch, the Wish
kaw, the IIoquain. and many more, all afordins
plenty of water to run logs As numbering is
now and will be for many years to come the
principal business, will take you in my boat
and We will 80 up the Moreehuck couple of
miles to a genuine logging camp. First the
soughs are hand-loggcd; that is the large trees
are felled by four men. Notches cut in the
tree, which will be from four to six feet
through, and what is called a springboard put
in. Then two men on one side with axes and
two on the other side with long saw get to
work, and presently the tree falls toward the
slough carrying all before it. 1t is then sawed
into lengths of from 16 to - feet, and with the
aid of jackscrews the logs are got into the wat
er. When all are cut that can be reached in
this way camp is established of from 30 to so
men and six yoke of heavy oxen. The men
and teams are brought TO the camping place in
Srows for there are no roads. \ part of the
crew now cut timber about two feet through
apart all of height across the road. When
this is done the trees felled to fall near
this skid road, and when pushed ard coupled
| together they are hauled to the landing and
rolled into the water. They are then held by a
boom made of large trees forty to sixty feet
long, held together by chains. An ordinary
boom holds from $50 to 200 logs and when it is
filled it is started for the mill.
There are now four mills on the river-the
Cosmopolis, the Wishkaw the IIoquaim and the
Westternare, and all are running but the latter.
1t is a fine mill and owned by man from Mich
gan. The IIoquam mill is owned by the Simp-
son Bros, of San Francisco, formerly of Maine.
| The business men here are all from the cast.
| These mills cut on an average about go Nj. per
| day. The lumber is principally carried to San
Francisco, although brig left here few days
ago with 315 NJ. for San Pedro. The timber is
| the finest on the coast. The only drawback to
the business is the shoal water on the bar there
being but q feet at common tides There are
| some fine coasters here, mostly three masted
| schocnerS and barkcntineS.
| There is but little cleared land and that is
| mainly held by ranchcrs Oh donation claims Of
$40 acres of the finest prairie land in the cou-
| ty. The ranchers are a great drawback to this
| part of the country. Some of them came here
| forty years ago and have subsisted on the Lord
| knows what Some came from the Sunny
| South to escape conscription. They are as big
| rebels as ever but were too cowardly to share
| the fortunes of war with their own people.
| But the ranchcrs will soon have to take a back
| seat as those who have come lately have brought
| improved stock and tools to say nothing of en-
| terprise and industry. The rancher's cattle are
of the old Texas breed, his sheep look like
cross between a goat and a cougar. and his hog
| like the upper half of grindstone. AS to the
horses, you get comfortably seated on the back
of one, and think you are going, when i'll fact
| you are only going into the air, and after rid
| ing three-quarters of an hour you dismount to
| find you are where you started from. Such is
| the stock of the genuine rancher.
| am asked if this is good place for young
man to come. If man has capital to go into
business it is; but if he expects to build up
| home by his labor only he had better wait two
hundred years for the big stumps to rot out be-
fore coming to a country into which the North
ern Pacific railway has dumped the otfscourings
of Norway, Sweden, Germany, England and
Ireland. From this plain statement you may
| think am dissatisfied with the country, but |
and my boys have been here long enough to get
| the outside track. | am in business here; Ro-
| bert is on barkentine running to San Francis
co anl likes this coast; Henry is on tug Oh
Puget Sound; George is on tug boat on the
| Columbia bar: Fred is in store at Ilwaco and
Frank is in the life-savng station at Fort Can
by, at the north part of the Columbia river.
The climate is delightful except there is
good deal too much rain in the winter season.
Mr.. Griffin struck the keynote of the situation
when he said if young man is doing well in
Maine he will not be the gamer by going west.
But little is known of the coast from Greys
| Harbor to the Straits of Firca or Cape Flattery,
and will give little history of it as it may in
| tercst some of our eastern people. ]. W.M