, 1889-01-24
COAST DEFEN CES
Gen. Miles Draws Attention to the
Heed OF FGrtifcatIons

Gen. Miles, commander of the mill
tary division of the Pacific Coast, has
addressed a letter TO the adjutant-
general of the army, calling after
ton to the defenscless condition
the coast. and the imperative nee
sity of the government making ap@
preparations not only for the con-
structiOn OF fortifications and other
important works, but also for the
gauiscning and proper sheltering
OF troops along the coast. Special
reference i made to Seattle and Ia
coma. which, Gen. Miles says. are at
the mercy OF any single naval craft
that might enter Puget Sound.
While, almost in hail;ng distance Of
the Sound the British government
las expended one million dollars in
establishing naval stations and ercc-
ting fortiiicatiOns The General rec
ommeuds that S100,0G0 be appropri-
ated to construct suitable buildings
for the accommodation of garrisons
necessary to defend the entrance TO
Puget Sound; 100000 for the Con-
strnciion Of suitable buildings at the
. entrance OF the Columbia river;
: S200,OG0 for properly garrisoping
troops required 10 defend the harbor
of San i rancisco, and that SI00, 600
le appropriated for the buildings at
San Diego, Cal.
AS TO PUGET SOUND.
General Miles continued, as fol-
| lows; The condition of affairs may
be stated in brief, as follows: The
entrauce TO tie great inland sea
known as Puget Sound, where the
fleets of the whole world could float
i'll safety, and where the government
! has here ofore selected places for the
erection of naval and military sta
tons. not Il shovelful of earth has
been turned, not company of troops
stationed there, and, though it can
easily lie defended. it has, upt
this lime, been wholly neglected
! Puget Sound embraces the terminu,
of the Northern Pacific railroad, a.
well as the coast line oftne Southern
Pacific road. and also The cities of
| Seattle and Tacoma, which are en-
tirely at the mercy of any single
naval craft that might enter those
waters"
There are mparatively few peo-
pie in this Territory who know that
nearly eleven years ago a state con-
stiiution was formed preparatory to
the admission of Washington. and of
those who do know the fact there are
very few who are acquainted with
its provisions. The convention WIS
composed as follows: Alex S. Aber
nethy, president. Lyman b. An
drews, Charles NJ Bradshaw, Benz.
L. Dennison, Edward Eldridge,
Francis Henry, S. NJ. Gilmore. Wyatt
A George, II. b. Emery, D. B. Han.
nab, c. H. Larrabee, Oliver p Lacy,
Alonzo Leland. James V. O'Dell,
George H. Steward, Sylvester NJ.
Wait and W. Byron Daniels, secre-
tary. The constitution was submit
ted to the people and adopted, with
the exception of three separate arti-
cles, providing for woman suffrage,
that women may hold Office, and To-
cal option These three were de-
feated. The work Of framing the
constitution was completed on July
| 9th, 1878. 1t is a very elaborate
affair, from the preamble, which is
nearly a copy of the immortal one
introducing the constitution of the
United States, to the concluding res
olntions in which congress was re-
quested to do whole lot Of things
The boundaries of the state were de-
fined so as to include all the terrific
ry embraced within the present lin
its, and also parts of Nez Perce.
Idaho and Shoshone counties iu
northern Idaho, and provision WAS
made fer the submission of the con-
stitutiun to the people in those coun
ties for adoption.-Er.
Probably the salmon packing in
/ dustry in Alaska is of greater i'm
| portance at prese Mt than either its
! mines or seal firheries, and froEi ap-
peHranceS il will assume at no far
distant date enormous proportions,
and be Il very prominent factor IN
the commercial interests of this
coast 1t is only a few years since
the packing of salmon on the Paclf-
ic coast was mOnopolized almost en-
tireiy by the canneries In and around
Puget Sound, but as the demand IN
creased, the supply diminished, and
those engaged III the occupation
were naturally forced to seek another
source from which to draw their sup
plies. Alaska presented this field,
but met with many objections, ow-
ing to an erroneous impression that
had gone forth regarding the size
and quality OF the fish, II being
claimed that they lacked the flavor
of the Co.umhia river product and
were much smaller; time seems, how
ever, to have developed the fact that
they were equal in every respect,
though no, so large, the latter OH
lection being overcome and more
than balanced by the vast difference
in tie price.-Alaska Letter.
The ship Sonth America has ar
rived at San Diego from Sydney
with a cargo Of coal after making the
smartest passage on record. The
trim was made in tifty-four days,
which puts Ter at tie top of the
heap. Her quick run wos made not
withsfanding the fact that she en-
countered some extremely bad
weather, during which she split sew
eral sails On December 4th she
made 353 miles. on which day she
ID .'--..- .,~:h-n0rthwesterly
.'. -- h she lad her
AIN and miz
e.. ..-. 3,.;,ii.s;iil and fore
roy al epilt az. c-4T.ed away. For
the rest of the voyage she bad light
and bafiiS>C77~Ainds and squally