, 1889-06-27
ROOM FOR ALL.

n r"'""e"s yusstt"n Regarding wash
,nEt"n lntsi,iEentIy Apswsrtd.
f. V. Smalley, in the Northwest Maya
zine, says:
An enormous immigration IL pouring
into the new state OF Washipvtop. Wa
are frequently asked whether there 1,
room and opportunity for all these new
people. Will there not be q back cur.
rent OF disappointed honesseksrs iu,t
as there Was from Southern California
last YEAR, Can Washington assimilate
the thirty or forty thousand immigrants
who vii arrive within her borders during
the spring and summer of the present wear.
u the present daily average IL kept upp
inese questions are important to many
who would like to join the movement II
they could feel assured that 1t would be
prudent for them to do 30. We answer
them with knowledge OF the resources
and characteristics ot Wa-hinx xton viiaed
from seven years of travel and ob,erva.
tion.
Yea, there is room in the new state for
a'l the people who will seek homes there
this year and next and the year after.
even II the remarkable influx OF new pop.
ula'ion which we are now witnessing
should 90 on without check. No Just
comparison can be made between
Washington and Southern Califor.
mia. The latter is desert, with a
few narrow strips of irrigated or irri.
gable valleys. where all land that can be
artihcially watered is held ut high pric =.
The former has immense areas of rolling
plains az fertile AZ the prairies of Dakota.
No irrigation Is required on these lands.
IL 10 also. In the comparatively arid belt
immediately west of the Columbia river,
more square miles OF irrigab!e valleys
than Southern California possesses. and
these valleys are marvelously fertile.
producing heavy crops OF hops, fruits
grain, vegetables and tobacco. Further
more, Washington has scores Of lightly
timbered valleys in the region of heavy
rainfall between the Cascade mountains
and the Pacific. where the soil 10 exceed.
iuRly rich, where clearing 10 not very eX.
pensive, and where ten or fifteen acres
IN crops. with q woods range for stock.
will support q family better than 100
acres OF prairie in Kansas. so much for
the agricultural resources. Bnt this is
only the hrst chapter of the story of the
natural wealth OF the new state. There
are vast forests OF valusbls timber, where
one acre viii yield as much timber as ten
In the Wisconsin pineries; there are mines
OF coal and iron; there are deposits OF gold,
silver and copper; there are beds OF
potters clay and Gre-brick clay; there
are salmon in the rivers, oysters and
CLAIMS in the bays, and cod, halibut, bass,
and dozens OF other varieties in the waters
OF Puget sound and the ocean. To the
usual avocations of agricultural communi-
ties are tnos added numbering, mining,
fishing. navigation and manufacturing in
various lines.
Washington Is a big country 40 we'll as q
country rich in natural resources. It will
not be oyercro wded when it has a popula-
lion OF 100000. 4 few among the
thousands OF i'm migrants will return TO the
East and say the country is overratel, but
they will be people OF visionary ideas and
little practical sense, who go out hoping
to strike streak of luck and make
money rapidly without capital or per-
sistent industry. Such people are
always found. like driftwood in a
freshet, in every new current of west
ern migration. The great mass OF the
settlers in Washington will speedily
MT themselves into the new conditions of
life in the Pacific Northwest, will be suit.
ed with the country and will speedily
prosper.