Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-10-31
FROM FAMED TACOMA.
A Solid and Picturesque City and What
1t is Like and Is.


Valley, that never tires singing praises
Of the Peerless Princess of the Prairies,
nor in tearing with the beak and talons
Of the miscreants who dare misrepresent
the metropolis of Kansas. Nor would l
stop now, amid the busy whirl of events
in the metropolis of Puget Sound, to do
so, had not that same familiar old EAGLE
brought me the misrepresentation of
one of your own citizens, touching our
own fair city. | refer to communi-
cation from one Appelby, published
in your issue of October 8, which a score
OF well known Wichitans, who have
been here during the summer, will bear
me out in branding as tissue of willful
misrepresentation. [ say willful because
the man knew better, Notwithstanding
that he tarried only long enough to fight
tieas part of night and to write the
communication referred to next day.
In these brief hours he seems to have
learned more about Tacoma than J. N.
Steele, who has been here five years:
John P. Hovey and Lee Nixon who have
been here seven years, and score of
well known, respectable and truthful
citizens of Wichita who have been here
and had spent time enough, and
who had sense enough to distinguish
the bay from the eide flats" and who
remained sober enough to tell a tele-
graph pole from stump, and fruit and
ornamental trees from brush.
Time and time again has the EAGLE
had occasion to nail the lies of sooner
| correspondents from back east who
passed through Wichita in the night or
stopped at some fifth class hotel long
enough to prove their assinine attain
ments in a column of nothing: make be-
lieVe that they stopped at the leading
hotel and were the guests Of the city.
This is about what Appleby did here.
He came at night; put up at fourth
class house; was sent to the emigrant
quarters in the garnet because his gen
eral appearance suggested live stock
in the corridors of his
garments. In these congenial quarters
he seems to have distinguished himself
in single combat with nimbler stock
than his own body guards, until the
glorious Orb of Day ushered in one of
those Autumn mornings peculiar to the
grand Northern Pacific country. Then
Crab-Appleby, took tumble over;
looked out On the tide flats and
thought he saw the bay; then he har-
messed himself sand rushed into print.
He sandwiches in word of truth about
''bustle, building and business but the
body of his daub is SO inlaid with ma
licious misrepresentation that it is pure
ly misleading, as every one at all famil-
lar with Tacoma knows. He saw no
ships 81. Had he taken stroll along
our SIX miles of water front
and laundried his optical apparatus,
he might have seen a ship unloading tea
from dong Kong: four large vessels
loading wheat for Europe and one for
Valparaiso; two more loading lumber
for Japan, and one for Australia and
four for San Francisco; also four loading
coal and one coke for San Francisco and
other California ports. BY reference to
the official records | find that there were
forty-six vessels in port the piece of
day Appelby was here; yet he saw none.
When people get away from Prohibit
ion state to where it is free they should
not make hogs OF Reconsideration
Kansans kept respectfully sober while
here. If Appelby had his specs along he
might have caught the dim outlines of the
largest lumber mills in the world going
up on the tide fats" where he thought
the ships ought to be lying at anchor.
If he had gone down among the wharfs;
the great warehouses; coal ounkers:
miles of side tracks filed with long trains
of coal and wheat and cast his off eye
over the wonderful paraphernalia apper-
tanning to the ocean terminus of a I
mighty transcontinental railway: Had /
his royal tallness moved down still fur /
Their he could have seen host of men at |
work on grain elevator and warehouse /
whose capacity will be 800, 900 bushels, |
and Just below this he could have seen a |
gang excavating for the foundation of |
Touring mill of 1000 barrels per day |
capacity. Next he would reach the /
Tacoma mills, which cut ship load of |
lumber before noon. Further down he |
would have run into the ship yards, /
where he could have seen how steamers
grow. A mile further down the great Z.
harbor he would find the Pacific mills |
turning out lumber like house a-fire, /
and still further down he would have |
encountered the foundation of the |
mighty smelter that will reduce the ore
by the ton. If your jolly Bohemian had
gone up among the hop houses of the |
famous Puyallup valley and over into
the stock bottoms he would have Toasted |
his eyes upon products such as the east
ener never dreamed of. Had he
taken ride through our already
famous natural park and out to
the bright and beautiful lakes
the cobwebs might have fallen from
his visionary bumps: but that would
have been dangerously near the insane
asylum for him. If your wondrous and
wandering scribe and pharisee had been
so fortunate as to be at the Tacoma last
night at the banquet rendered the presi
dent. vice-president and other magnateS
of the Northern Pacific railway by our
chamber. of commerce he might have
learned something about hotels and style
Had he listened to the president of that
powerful corporation telling the people
that instead of 900 new box cars TO
haul wheat from the interior TO Tacoma
they found that the business calls for
2 900 cars-which means 2,CO) cars a
dav coming here for the export to
feed the world. If your voluntary
contributor had driven along our seventy
miles of fine graded streets and eyed our
splendid dwellings, green lawns. fine
schools, colleges ana churches he would
have probably have been less impressed
with the two or three stumps he saw.
And, again | advise your flying cores
pendent when he spreads his coat tails
here again to run out TO see the coal
mines and the vast coke ovens that are
now supplying the smelters and IRON and
steel works west Of the Rocky NOUN
tains, and which are ali owned by Taco
ma rich men. Yes, sir. l could write
for months and not have told half Of the
vast industries, productions and re-
sources of our great country